Profile
Year of Call:
2021Year of Silk:
2017Overview
Ben Juratowitch KC serves as counsel in disputes between commercial parties, disputes between foreign investors and States, and disputes between States.
He has been counsel for corporations and States before:
- The courts of England, France and Belize;
- Arbitral tribunals constituted by the International Chamber of Commerce, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, the London Court of International Arbitration, the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, and arbitral tribunals applying the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules; and
- The International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the European Court of Human Rights and the Caribbean Court of Justice.
Ben practises at the English Bar. He is not entitled to engage in legal practice in Australia.
Experience
Representative cases in the areas of international commercial arbitration, investment treaty arbitration, public international law and related court proceedings, as counsel for:
- Shell, the Africa Finance Corporation and a consortium of banks in two consolidated commercial arbitrations with more than $2 billion at stake, and in multiple related proceedings before the High Court of England and Wales concerning an anti-suit injunction and challenges under the English Arbitration Act to the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal and to the impartiality of one of the arbitrators;
- A multinational energy company in a commercial arbitration against an Asian State under a contract stabilising taxation obligations and governed by English law;
- Investors in and the owner of the submarine natural gas pipeline between Egypt and Israel in two arbitrations brought under different investment treaties against Egypt and two commercial arbitrations governed by English law against entities owned by the Egyptian State, all arising from the termination of gas supply from Egypt to Israel during the Arab Spring;
- A multinational energy company in two commercial arbitrations against an African State under a contract stabilising taxation obligations and governed by that State’s law;
- Indo Gold in an arbitration against India concerning a gold mining project;
- The Republic of South Africa in an arbitration in which foreign investors claimed that implementation of South Africa’s black economic empowerment policies in its mining sector contravened investment protection treaties;
- The United Kingdom in proceedings before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea arising from the request for an advisory opinion submitted by the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law and in proceedings before the International Court of Justice concerning the obligations of States in respect of climate change;
- Italy in its dispute with India under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea concerning the exercise of jurisdiction over two Italian Marines, in provisional measures proceedings before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and in an arbitration administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (The Enrica Lexie Incident).
Recommendations
Select comments from Chambers & Partners, Legal 500 and Who’s Who Legal:
“Ben Juratowitch KC wins admiration as ‘one of the best advocates in the business’, especially when it comes to the technical aspects of an arbitration case.” Who’s Who Legal 2023
“He is a pleasure to deal with. He is exceptionally smart, quick to get on top of a brief, and then launches in with determination.” Chambers Global 2019
“at ease with the most difficult of issues of law and fact.” Chambers Global 2019
“combines an excellent legal mind with a very strategic and practical approach.” Legal 500, 2016
Career
2025 Door Tenant at Level Twenty Seven Chambers, Brisbane
2021 Joined Essex Court Chambers, London
2021 Called to the Bar of England and Wales
2019 Called to the Paris Bar
2018 Called to the Belize Bar
2017 Appointed Queen’s Counsel, England and Wales
2017 Appointed by the Attorney General of the United Kingdom to the ‘A panel’ of counsel for public international law matters before English courts and international courts and tribunals
2014-2021 Head of the public international law practice at Freshfields
2013-2021 Partner in the international arbitration group at Freshfields
2010 Admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales
2008-2013 Associate at Freshfields
2007 Associate at Shearman and Sterling
2003 Admitted as a solicitor in Queensland
2001-2002 Associate to the Chief Justice of New South Wales, The Hon James Spigelman AC
Education
2009-2020 Teaching an annual course of seminars on international dispute resolution at the University of Paris V
2013-2014 Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of Law at the London School of Economics
2004-2006 D Phil (doctorate in law), University of Oxford
2003-2004 BCL (masters degree in law), University of Oxford
1996-2000 Bachelor of Laws, University of Queensland
1996-1999 Bachelor of Arts (international relations) University of Queensland
Awards
2023 Silk of the Year for International Arbitration, Legal 500
2023 45 under 45, Global Arbitration Review
2003-2006 Rhodes Scholarship
2000 University Medal for Law, University of Queensland
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