SOVEREIGN DISPUTES

Raedas is a leading investigations firm specialising in sovereign disputes. Our team works closely with legal counsel, prosecutors’ offices, and other legal representatives as part of broader teams in support of complex and high value arbitration under ICSID, ICC, LCIA rules and a range of other tribunals, as well as litigation across domestic courts. We work for sovereign states, state owned companies, sovereign wealth funds and state agencies as well as for investors and holders of claims and awards against a sovereign body.

We are engaged across common law and civil law jurisdictions and maintain networks of local counsel and other specialist practitioners who assist in navigating a range of legal landscapes. Working with these experts – including litigation PR firms, diplomacy and negotiation experts, and insolvency and receivership practitioners – we develop broader strategies aimed at maximising the client’s opportunities for success.

We regularly advise third party funders on the strengths of potential claims, and provide assessments of monetisation options and enforcement strategies.

Key Contacts: Joana Rego, Isabel Asquith 

Raedas works with investor claimants, award holders and their legal counsel in the development of legal strategies against sovereign bodies. Our investigations and forensic analysis teams specialise in evidence and intelligence gathering and provide advice on (i) enforcement and recoverability of future awards or judgments, (ii) security for costs applications, (iii) investigations into fraud, corruption and other malpractice; and (iv) monetisation and/or enforcement of awards. We devise enforcement strategies that combine asset tracing, the identification of counterparty vulnerabilities, and other pressure tactics to strengthen our clients’ likelihood of securing success through the courts or forced settlement. Our relationships with a wide range of local counsel allows us to use domestic legal nuances to produce analysis and evidence of alter ego, sovereign immunity and commercial purpose considerations.

We work closely with legal counsel supporting sovereign bodies, as well as directly with the offices of attorneys general or prosecutors, in-house legal teams and other state representatives. Our work is focussed on supporting these parties in the context of international and domestic litigation and arbitration. A key challenge faced by sovereigns is the difficulty of producing evidence around the underlying facts of a dispute in a form that will bear scrutiny by international tribunals. We are experienced in taking evidence from public prosecutors and other state investigators, with the aim of supporting and presenting it to tribunals and other international legal fora. This allows us to support our clients in defending and bringing claims relating to breaches of contract, bribery and corruption violations, and in the recovery of high value debts. We work with legal teams in the development of legal strategies relating to (i) suspicions of fraud, corruption and other malpractices carried out by counterparties; (ii) security for costs applications; (iii) forensic examination and analysis of internal data and documents in support of legal or internal proceedings; (iv) events underpinning contact breaches and other violations; and (v) the enforcement of awards and cost awards.