Suzanne Spears
Partner
London

Suzanne Spears
Partner
London
Contact Details
Suzanne is a partner in the International Arbitration group and Co-Head of the Global Business and Human Rights Practice.
Her international disputes practice focuses on investment treaty arbitration, international commercial arbitration, State-to-State disputes and transnational tort litigation. She has represented clients in international disputes under all the major arbitration rules (including ICC, UNCITRAL, ICSID and PCA) and before the International Court of Justice. She also has advised clients with respect to transnational litigation before United States courts and the courts of England and Wales. She has particular experience with disputes involving Latin America and Africa, the energy and natural resource industries, human rights and the environment.
Suzanne is recognised globally for her expertise in BHR law and serves as a trusted advisor to clients facing BHR-related regulatory and litigation risks. In her BHR practice, Suzanne advises clients on dispute prevention and resolution, risk management, compliance and governance. Suzanne also advises and represents private clients, governments and international organisations on a wide range of other contentious and non-contentious matters arising under public international law.
Suzanne has held positions with international human rights and foreign relations organisations, including the United Nations, the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights and the Council on Foreign Relations.
She is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Law at University of Notre Dame (U.S.A) in London, where she teaches International Arbitration and Business and Human Rights.
Other noteworthy experience includes advising:
- Merck Sharpe & Dohme (I.A.) Corporation in an UNCITRAL arbitration at the PCA against Ecuador under the US-Ecuador bilateral investment treaty.
- Occidental Petroleum in an ICSID arbitration against Ecuador under the US-Ecuador bilateral investment treaty.
- Fábrica de Vidrios Los Andes and Owens-Illinois de Venezuela in an ICSID arbitration against Venezuela under the Netherlands-Venezuela bilateral investment treaty.
- Egypt in an ICSID arbitration brought by Al Jazeera Media Network under the Qatar-Egypt bilateral investment treaty.
- Clients in numerous international commercial arbitrations, including in relation to the energy, financial, telecommunications and pharmaceutical industries, and the revision of gas prices and the diversion of LNG.
Expertise
Beratungsschwerpunkte
Litigation, Arbitration and Investigations
Public International Law and Investment Disputes
Sektoren
Standort
London
Allen & Overy LLP
One Bishops Square
London
E1 6AD
New York
Allen & Overy LLP
1221 Avenue of the Americas
New York
NY 10020
Qualifikationen
Fachlich
Attorney, State of New York
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Akademisch
Juris Doctor, Columbia University School of Law
Master in International Affairs, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs
Fulbright Scholar (Spain)
Bachelor of Arts in International Relations, Tufts University
News & Insights

Publications: 19 MARCH 2020
Covid-19 Coronavirus: Gerichtsverfahren während Corona
Covid-19 macht auch vor den Justizbehörden keinen Halt. Die Gerichte sehen sich gezwungen, den Publikumsverkehr einzuschränken. Zwar läuft der Geschäftsbetrieb derzeit weitestgehend normal. Dies kann…
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Publications: 28 AUGUST 2019
Das neue Verbandssanktionengesetz nimmt Gestalt an
Das neue Verbandssanktionengesetz würde zu einer deutlichen Erhöhung des Bußgeldrahmens für Unternehmen führen sowie umfassende Neuregelung bei der Strafverfolgung von Unternehmen und des…
Lesen Sie mehrReferenzmandate
Advising several multinational corporations and a development finance institution on human rights and ESG (environmental, social, governance) issues arising in relation to their overseas investments, operations or suppliers, including in conflict zones and countries affected by sanctions.
Advising EBL (Genossenschaft Elektra Baselland) and Tubo Sol in an ICSID arbitration brought under the Energy Charter Treaty against the Kingdom of Spain involving investments in a thermo-solar power plant.
Advising primary counsel to a European based multinational mining company in defending transnational tort litigations on alleged human rights violations committed by the police of an African state.

Expertise
Beratungsschwerpunkte
Litigation, Arbitration and Investigations
Public International Law and Investment Disputes
Sektoren
Standort
London
Allen & Overy LLP
One Bishops Square
London
E1 6AD
New York
Allen & Overy LLP
1221 Avenue of the Americas
New York
NY 10020
Qualifikationen
Fachlich
Attorney, State of New York
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Akademisch
Juris Doctor, Columbia University School of Law
Master in International Affairs, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs
Fulbright Scholar (Spain)
Bachelor of Arts in International Relations, Tufts University
Pro-bono experience
- Member of the Drafting Team for the Hague Rules on the Arbitration of Business and Human Rights Disputes.
- Representing a former government minister in a proceeding before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights against a Latin American State.
- Drafting a human rights organisation’s recommendations on procedural reform to a regional human rights system.
- Advising the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative on Business and Human Rights on international investment law.
- Leading the Political Asylum programme at a previous law firm.
Das sagen andere über uns
She is recognised for her expertise on public international law with notable experience in international dispute resolution.
Chambers, 2018
She is recognised for her knowledge of the UNGPs and the UK's Modern Slavery Act
Chambers, 2018
Market commentators are positive and commend her for having 'a very impressive practice'
Chambers, 2018
Published work
- "Protection of Investments in War-Torn States: A Practitioner Perspective on War Clauses in Bilateral Investment Treaties", with Maria Fogdestam-Agius, in European Yearbook of International Economic Law (EYIEL) (2019)
- “Environmental and social issues bring litigation risks home to multinationals” in Corporate Disputes, with Stephanie Hawes, (July – September 2019)
- Empresas y Derechos Humanos en el Litigio” in Retos y desafíos de las empresas y derechos humanos (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana & Grupo Editorial Ibáñez, 2019)
- “UK multinationals will face greater scrutiny after the Vedanta decision” in Ethical Corporation (10 May 2019)
- “The Law of Corporate Social Responsibility” in Corporate Social Responsibility – The Corporate Governance of the 21st Century (R. Lindsay & R. Martella eds.) (forthcoming
- “A Practitioner Perspective on War Clauses in Bilateral Investment Treaties”, with Maria Fogdestam-Agius, published as part of the European Yearbook of International Economic Law (EYIEL) Special Issue on International Investment Law and the Law of Armed Conflict (2019)
- “Foreign liabilities can come home to roost”, Petroleum Review (2016)
- “Energy Companies Beware!”, Energy, Oil & Gas (2016)
- “International Arbitration and India: ‘A Truly Excellent Judgment!’”, with Gary Born, 1 Indian Journal of Arbitration L.1 (2012)
- “United States to Resume Bilateral Investment Treaty Negotiations on the Basis of a Revised Model Treaty”, North American Free Trade & Investment Report (2012)
- “Making Way for the Public Interest in International Investment Agreements” in Evolution in Investment Treaty Law and Arbitration, pages 271-297 (C. Brown & K. Miles eds.) (2011)
- “The Quest for Policy Space in a New Generation of International Investment Agreements”, 13 Journal of International Economic Law 1037 (2010)
- “Out of the Conflict Zone: The Case for Community Consent Processes in the Extractive Sector”, with Lisa Laplante, 11 Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal 178 (2008)