Andrew Battisson

Andrew leads our International Arbitration practice in Asia and the Middle East, working within the global International Arbitration practice.

Andrew has extensive experience of disputes in the energy, infrastructure and natural resources, financial services, space and telecommunications sectors as well as undertaking general commercial disputes. He is experienced in acting for and against States in investment treaty matters and advises clients on dispute resolution structuring in commercial contracts and investment agreements. Andrew acts in disputes under both national laws and international law worldwide. He acts as counsel under all the major arbitral rules.

Andrew is an active member of the international arbitration community. He is an ACICA Fellow, a member of the ICC Australia Nominations Commission and serves on the SIAC Users Council. He is a former Australian delegate to the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, and served as a mentor to members of the Young Institute for Transnational Arbitration.

Among other leading matters, Andrew recently acted for renewable energy investors against Spain in the Federal Court of Australia and High Court of Australia in a dispute resulting in the first contested ICSID award to be recognised and enforced in Australia. The resulting judgments have provided important clarification on the meaning and effect of the enforcement articles in the ICSID Convention and on the approach to treaty interpretation and sovereign immunity in Australia.

Andrew is highly ranked in the major legal directories including as a Global Leader in Who’s Who Legal - Arbitration (2022 and 2023) and previously in Who’s Who Legal’s top 10 future leaders for arbitration in APAC (2017 to 2020). He is also ranked by Who’s Who Legal – arbitration as a National Leader – Australia & New Zealand (2022).

Andrew is also recognised by Chambers & Partners and was ranked Band 1 in Chambers APAC (Arbitration – Australia) for 2022 and 2021: He wins praise from clients for "overall legal acumen," one particularly emphasising his "strong grasp of issues and excellent ability to develop an appropriate strategy" and his "timely and succinct responses, which are always on point." Andrew is the only arbitration practitioner to be ranked in the 2022 editions of the Legal 500 Arbitration Power List for both Southeast Asia and Australasia. Andrew is also ranked as a leading individual in Singapore by Legal 500 (2022).

Work Highlights

Among the many matters Andrew has worked on, he has advised:

Investor-State Disputes

• A regional government in defending an investment treaty claim concerning an alleged expropriation of certain rights in relation to a mining project. The sum claimed exceeds US$175bn.
• ICSID award creditors in five ICSID enforcement proceedings in the Australian courts against the Kingdom of Spain arising from solar energy investments in Spain, against a plea of sovereign immunity from the jurisdiction of Australian courts: (i) Eiser Infrastructure Limited, Energia Solar Luxembourg S.A.R.L & Anor v Kingdom of Spain; (ii) Infrastructure Services Luxembourg S.A.R.L & Anor v Kingdom of Spain; (iii) RREEF Infrastructure (G.P.) Limited and RREEF Pan-European Infrastructure Two Lux S.a.r.l v Kingdom of Spain; (iv) 9Ren Holdings v Kingdom of Spain; and (v) NextEra Energy Global Holdings B.V. and NextEra Energy Spain Holdings B.V v Kingdom of Spain. The sums in dispute exceed US$750m.
• The Islamic Republic of Pakistan in successfully defending two related UNCITRAL claims brought under the UK-Pakistan and Mauritius-Pakistan bilateral investment treaties arising from the alleged expropriation (and other alleged breaches) of a liquid petroleum gas importation facility in Port Qasim, Karachi. The sum in dispute exceeded US$500m.

Energy, infrastructure and natural resources

• A major trading house in ad hoc arbitrations seated in Singapore, and related court proceedings, arising from a large fuel oil contamination event. The sums in dispute exceed US$100m.
• Gorgon (Chevron, Exxon, Shell, Jera, Osaka Gas and Tokyo Gas) in relation to three gas price review arbitrations, subject to Western Australia law, seated in Perth. Acting successfully in related proceedings in the Supreme Court of Western Australia and the Court of Appeal of Western Australia in respect of one gas price review.
• A joint venture in defending an ICC arbitration, subject to English law, seated in Singapore brought by Timor-Leste arising from the termination of a production sharing contract for an offshore block in the Timor Sea. The matter was settled after mediation and lengthy negotiations. The dispute was valued at US$50m.
• A Middle East contractor in defending a DIFC-LCIA dispute, subject to the UNIDROIT Principles, seated in the DIFC brought by the owner arising from the construction of an integrated development in Dubai. The dispute is valued in excess of US$100m.
• An Asian contractor in two ICC arbitrations, subject to Indian law, seated in Delhi against an Indian employer concerning the expansion of a steel plant in India. The client was successful in both matters.
• A US energy services company in a dispute with an Asian energy company arising from the loss of drilling equipment in an exploration campaign in Indonesia. The matter was subject to Indonesian law, Jakarta seat, BANI Rules and was successful.

Financial Services

• Citibank NA and Citicorp in successfully defending Australian court proceedings arising from the collapse of a project to develop and launch a telecommunications satellite. The sum in dispute exceeds US$250m.
• An Asian listed real estate investment trust in defending ad hoc arbitration proceedings brought in respect of a significant retail asset by an anchor tenant. The matter is subject to Australian law.
• A global investment bank as respondent in successfully defending a Singapore seated, SIAC arbitration subject to English law, concerning the alleged mis-selling of complex foreign exchange derivative instruments to an high net worth individual. The claim exceeded US$90m.
• A global investment bank in multi-jurisdictional proceedings arising from a real estate investment in Thailand. The matter involved two SIAC arbitrations, a SIAC emergency arbitration (successfully obtaining an anti-suit injunction restraining Thai court proceedings), successfully defending three sets of Thai court proceedings (including both civil and private criminal proceedings), a BVI court proceeding and enforcement proceedings before the Singapore courts. The dispute involved issues of Singapore law, Thai law and BVI law. The claims exceeded US$100m. 

Prior to joining Linklaters, Andrew led the Singapore based international arbitration practice at Norton Rose Fulbright, based in Singapore and Sydney. Prior to Norton Rose Fulbright, Andrew spent 13 years at Allen & Overy (in London and Singapore), where he was elected to partnership in 2016.

• Bachelor of Civil Law, University of Oxford
• Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Australian National University
• Bachelor of Laws (1st class), Australian National University
• Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting), Australian National University

Andrew co-authored (with Tamlyn Mills) a chapter on “Enforcement and Recovery: Theory” in The Guide to Investment Treaty Protection and Enforcement published by Global Arbitration Review, edited by Noah Rubins KC and Mark Mangan (2022).