Paolo Busco

Paolo is a lawyer admitted to practice in Italy and registered as a European lawyer with the Bar of England and Wales. He specialises in public international law, arbitration and general dispute settlement. His international practice covers a wide range of matters, with a focus on investment law, law of the sea, land and maritime boundaries, law of international organisations, international recovery of works of art and human rights. Paolo also brings to his legal practice expertise in complex diplomatic negotiations and experience in assisting international adjudicatory bodies, which he developed while working as an Assistant Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

Paolo is an external advisor to the Italian Ministry of Home Affairs on issues of international law and has been selected as an expert with the General Legal Affair Service of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. He assists States, international organizations and private companies. In addition to advisory work, he is currently involved in matters pending before Annex VII Arbitral Tribunals, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, investment Tribunals and the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Before joining Chambers, Paolo practiced international law in a number of capacities. As a senior legal consultant to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations in Riyadh he advised the Saudi Government on law of the sea and international law of fisheries. At the Permanent Court of Arbitration, he assisted arbitral Tribunals in inter-State disputes regarding the UNCLOS, such as the Chagos Marine Protected Area Arbitration (Mauritius v UK) and the Atlanto-Scandian Herring Arbitration (The Kingdom of Denmark in respect of the Faroe Islands v the European Union); and in investment disputes, including Yukos Universal Limited v The Russian Federation (damages) and OAO Gazprom v The Republic of Lithuania.

Before this, he trained as a lawyer for two years with the Office of the Attorney General of Italy, where he was assigned to the Deputy Attorney General. He assisted the Italian Republic in international negotiations and high profile contentious matters, including a dispute against the Jean Paul Getty Museum of Malibu for the recovery of the Victorious Youth of Lysippus, based on the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property; a dispute against Sotheby’s in London for the recovery of ancient manuscripts and the case EU Commission et al v Kadi before the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (Kadi II). While at university, he interned with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where he was involved in some of the cases stemming from the Argentinean bond crisis.

Paolo taught courses on the case law of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the University of Milan Statale and is a regular lecturer for the Italian Armed Forces on issues of international law and international humanitarian law.

He holds degrees from Luiss University in Rome and from the University of Cambridge, where he returned after his LLM as a visiting fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law. In 2011, he was awarded the Daniele Padovani Prize for international procedural law by the Italian Society of International Law.

Specialisations:

Public international law

Counsel for a company in proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union pursuant to Article 267 of the TFEU, involving issues of EU and public international law (further details are confidential).
Adviser to a State with regard to the application of the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad of 1970.
Adviser to an oil company with respect to certain human rights obligations.
Consultant to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations in Riyadh, advising the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on law of the sea and international fishery law matters, in the context of the Saudi Vision 2030 program.
Adviser to the Italian Ministry of Home Affairs on international law of the sea and human rights aspects related to NGOs operations in the Mediterranean Sea, in the context of the international migration crisis from North Africa.
ITLOS Case No. 25 The "Norstar" case (Panama v Italy) - Counsel and advocate to the Italian Republic in the phases of preliminary objections to jurisdiction/admissibility and merits in a case brought by Panama concerning the alleged illegal arrest and detention of a vessel engaged in bunkering activities.
Adviser to a State in potential proceedings before the International Court of Justice on certain duties of judicial cooperation under a Treaty (further details are confidential).
Adviser to the Sovereign mediator in an inter-State maritime dispute (further details are confidential).
ITLOS Case No. 24 The "Enrica Lexie" Incident (Italy v India) - Counsel and advocate to the Italian Republic in a request for provisional measures concerning India’s arrest and detention of Sgt. Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, two marines of the Italian Navy accused of having killed two Indian fishermen.
Court of Justice of the European Union, European Commission et al v Kadi, joint Cases C-584/10 P, C-593/10 P, C-595/10 - adviser in the intervention by the Italian Republic in the appeal brought by the Commission, while at the Office of the Attorney General of Italy.
Adviser in a case brought by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Italy against the Jean Paul Getty Museum of Malibu for the recovery of the Victorious Youth of Lysippus, before various Italian courts, while at the Office of the Attorney General of Italy.
Adviser in a case brought by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Italy against Sotheby's for the restitution of ancient manuscripts stolen from the Girolamini Library, while at the Office of the Attorney General of Italy.
Adviser in diplomatic negotiations carried out by the Italian Republic with a number of international museums and two States over the restitution of cultural properties acquired in contravention of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, while at the Office of the Attorney General.

International arbitration

Hela Schwarz GmbH v People's Republic of China (ICSID Case No. ARB/17/19), as an assistant to the Arbitral Tribunal.
Counsel to an Italian multinational company in an investment dispute against an African State (further details are confidential).
Counsel to an Asian company in connection with investment arbitral proceedings pending against an Asian State (further details are confidential).
PCA Case No. 2015-28: The "Enrica Lexie" Incident (Italy v India) - Counsel to the Italian Republic in a request for provisional measures and in the merits phase of a dispute concerning India’s arrest and detention of Sgt. Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, two marines of the Italian Navy accused of having killed two Indian fishermen.
PCA Case No. 2013-30: The Atlanto-Scandian Herring Arbitration (The Kingdom of Denmark in respect of the Faroe Islands v The European Union), as an Assistant Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
PCA Case No. 2011-03: Chagos Marine Protected Area Arbitration (Mauritius v United Kingdom), as an Assistant Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
PCA Case No. 2011-06: OAO Gazprom v The Republic of Lithuania, as an Assistant Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
PCA Case No. 2005-04/AA227 Yukos Universal Limited (Isle of Man) v The Russian Federation, as an Assistant Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
PCA Case No. 2010-13 Dunkeld International Investment Limited (Turks & Caicos) v The Government of Belize, as an Assistant Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
PCA Case No. 2013-33 Mattioli Joint Venture v The Ministry of Water and Energy representing the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, as an Assistant Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
PCA Case No. 2013-32 Consta Joint Venture v Chemin de Fer Djibouto-Ethiopien, as an Assistant Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Education and Career:

Education

University of Cambridge, LLM in international law (2011)
Luiss University of Rome, LLB with specialization in international and EU law (2010)

Career

Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Senior Legal Consultant, Riyadh (2017)
Ministry of Home Affairs of Italy, External Adviser on international law, Rome (2016 - present)
Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, Visiting Fellow, Cambridge (2016 - 2017)
Rome Bar, Legal Adviser (self employed) on international law, Rome (2014 - 2017)
University of Milan Statale, Assistant Lecturer, Milan (2014 - 2016)
Permanent Court of Arbitration, Assistant Legal Counsel, The Hague (2013 - 2014)
Office of the Attorney General of Italy, Trainee Lawyer assigned to the Deputy A.G., Rome (2010 - 2012)
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, Intern, Rome (2008)

Scholarships and prizes

Prize Daniele Padovani for International Procedural Law of the Italian Society of International Law (2011)
Regione Marche Scholarship for postgraduate education (2011)
Luiss University Gold Medal for academic performance in the LLB (2010)
Lamaro Pozzani Scholarship for undergraduate education (2004 - 2009)

Publications:

Book chapters and journal articles

The function of procedural justice in international adjudication (with F Fontanelli) in The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals, 15, 2016, 1.
What we talk about when we talk about procedural fairness (with F Fontanelli) in A Sarvarian, F Fontanelli, R Baker and V Tzevelekos (eds), Procedural Fairness in International Courts and Tribunals (BIICL: London, 2015, 17).
Thou shalt only partly judge! Jurisdictional review in the opinion of the intervening states in Kadi II, in M Avbely, F Fontanelli, G Martinico (eds) Kadi on Trial: a Multi-faceted Analysis of the Kadi Proceedings before the CJEU (Routledge: London, 2014, 33).
Caveat Emptor: pre-purchase due diligence duties of US merchants for transactions outside the temporal scope of the 1970 UNESCO Convention (with F Fontanelli) in Transnational Dispute Management, Special Issue on Art and Heritage Disputes, 5, 2013, 34.
Questioni di giurisdizione e immunità nella vicenda della Enrica Lexie, alla luce del diritto internazionale (with F Fontanelli) in Diritto Penale Contemporaneo, 3, 2013, 399.

Appointments and Society Memberships:

Bar admissions

Bar of England and Wales, Registered European Lawyer (2017)
Italian Bar (Rome), Avvocato (2014)

Society memberships

The Honorable Society of Middle Temple
European Society of International Law
American Society of International Law
The Aspen Institute (Junior Fellow)

Privacy notice:

paolo-busco-privacy.pdf

Talk to The Practice Management Team

Areas of expertise