Liz, a partner in the Washington, DC office, has twenty-five years of experience as an advocate and adviser in international arbitration matters. She has acted in arbitrations around the world, with notable experience of disputes arising in Africa, India, and Asia. Her practice is a mix of commercial and investment treaty arbitration, with a focus on the upstream energy, power, and mining sectors. Liz has particular expertise handling disputes involving States and State entities, including investment treaty cases, fiscal disputes under long term-contracts, and disputes that implicate both contract and treaty implications.

Liz’s experience includes:

• Representing a subsidiary of an Australian mining company in a dispute with a Central Asian State concerning tax and royalty demands in breach of stability guarantees in a long-term investment agreement relating to one of the world’s largest gold/copper mines
• Representing Elliott Associates in a pending UNCITRAL arbitration against the Republic of Korea under the investment chapter of a free trade agreement, arising out of alleged governmental corruption and political interference in the activities of a State-controlled entity
• Representing consortia of oil majors in a series of arbitrations against a West African State-entity arising out long-term production sharing contracts
• Representing the Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese subsidiaries of a globally diversified mining company in an ICC arbitration with a US glass manufacturer arising out a licence agreement and concerning issues of patent infringement
• Defending an ICC arbitration brought by a counterparty to a technology licensing agreement against a Fortune 10 technology company. Governed by Delaware law, the dispute involves the development of cutting-edge mobile phone technology and a claim of unpaid royalties

Liz is recognised in leading legal directories. The Legal 500 describes her as “the real deal at the elite level of intellectual analysis and experience”, who provides “excellent, timely advice, demonstrating a thorough understanding of the business”, and Who’s Who Legal notes that she is “a wise and hugely knowledgeable lawyer with excellent written advocacy skills”. She is also ranked in Chambers.

Liz is a member of the International Bar Association, the Advisory Board of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, and the North American Users’ Council of the LCIA.

Liz holds degrees from the University of Virginia and the University of Oxford. At Virginia, she was an Articles Editor for the Virginia Law Review. She clerked for the Hon. Judge J.H. Wilkinson, then Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Liz has taught courses on international arbitration and global disputes at University College London (2007-2012), American University’s Washington College of Law (2019-2023), and Georgetown University (2021-2023).