Sir Daniel Bethlehem KCMG QC

Twenty Essex

A look to the horizon: where will trade and investment law, investment protection and investor-state dispute settlement be in 20 years? (morning panels session, day 1)

Daniel Bethlehem specialises in public international law, accepting instructions as counsel and adviser as well as arbitration, inquiry and expert witness appointments. From May 2006 to May 2011, he was the principal Legal Adviser of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

He has extensive advisory, litigation and arbitration experience. Daniel has appeared before a wide range of international courts and tribunals, as well as before English courts at every level. He advises and represents States, international and non-governmental organisations, corporations and individuals on issues across the full breadth of public international law. He also advises on high legal content policy and political matters, ranging from international peace negotiations to arms limitation talks.

Daniel has wide experience as arbitrator in both investor-State arbitrations and in non-investment cases engaging issues of public international law. His current appointments are broadly divided between presiding arbitrator, party-appointed arbitrator by the claimant and party-appointed by the respondent. Given his practice as arbitrator in investor-State cases, Daniel does not ordinarily accept instructions as counsel in such cases.

He is a Visiting Professor in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. He also has a long-standing affiliation with Columbia Law School in New York, where he has been a regular Visiting Professor of Law. Daniel is member of the Board of Palantir Technologies UK Ltd.