Marco De Sousa

Senior Associate, Herbert Smith Freehills

Marco acts as counsel and advocate in commercial and investment treaty arbitrations in a broad range of industry sectors and jurisdictions. He has particular experience of disputes in the Energy and TMT sectors in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Marco has acted in commercial arbitrations under most major institutional rules and ad hoc arbitrations under the UNCITRAL rules. He advises both investors and states in investment treaty claims, and on issues of Public International Law and Business and Human Rights.

Marco has considerable experience of acting on arbitration-related court proceedings in England & Wales, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Accolades

Marco is listed as a "key lawyer" in international arbitration and public international law in Legal 500 UK 2021 & 2022.

Recognised by Chambers & Partners (UK-wide) as a "notable practitioner": "Marco is technical and has good judgement. He is also very dedicated to his work."; "He has fantastic legal and practical skills."

Background

Marco joined the firm as a trainee solicitor in 2011, having graduated from UCL with a first in law and from Cambridge University with an LLM in public international law (also first class).

Marco has worked in several offices around the globe, including Dubai, Hong Kong and London. He is currently based in New York.

Contributed to

1

State immunity and arbitration—general considerations

Practice Notes

This Practice Note considers the general principles of state immunity (also called sovereign immunity), the scope of state immunity, state immunity from jurisdiction and state immunity from execution and gives practical steps that should be considered when dealing with state immunity in the context of international arbitration. It also considers transactions with foreign states. This Practice Note is written in partnership with Herbert Smith Freehills.

Arbitration