Sophie Halverson
Biography
Sophie Halverson is an associate in Baker McKenzie’s Dispute Resolution team based in London. She has a broad range of dispute resolution and advisory experience, having represented clients in litigation, arbitration, advisory and coronial proceedings.
Sophie is experienced in both international commercial arbitration and investment treaty arbitration. She also has experience in commercial litigation and advisory work, including preparing submissions before the International Court of Justice and in judicial review proceedings.
Sophie acts for clients across a number of industries, including in the media and technology, infrastructure, oil and gas, and government sectors.
Sophie also works with clients on a pro bono basis, including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. She has also volunteered as a Legal Advisor for United Legal Access.
Before being admitted to practice, Sophie completed a year as a Judge's Associate to his Honour Judge Rafter SC in the District Court of Queensland, Australia.
Representative Legal Matters
- Advising Anaklia Development Consortium LLC on an investor-state arbitration arising out of the Anaklia port in a claim against Georgia for wrongful termination of the Investment Agreement entered into for the construction, development and operation of the Anaklia port.
- Acting for a Dutch national in an ICSID claim against Georgia under the Netherlands - Georgia BIT in claims arising from the government's unlawful and expropriatory conduct regarding the Anaklia development.
- Assisting a Middle Eastern State in relation to the preparation of submissions to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The case was referred to the ICJ by the UN General Assembly, and will require it to consider complicated questions of international law relating to States’ obligations with respect to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. The decision made by the ICJ will be hugely important, not only because of its current topical significance, but because it will represent an authoritative advisory opinion and may carry serious implications for nations that seek to exercise their rights to exploit their natural resources, in particular oil producing nations.
- Acting for a leading newspaper on a privacy and data protection claim brought by UK and US-based high profile individuals in the High Court of England and Wales.
- Acting for a leading social media platform in a Coroner's inquest.
- Acting for a wealthy Saudi Arabian businessman in a follow up claim to a number of high-value proceedings in the High Court. The first proceedings related to a GBP 35 million fraud claim which our client had brought against his former business partner. The claim settled, recovering over GBP 30 million of our client's stolen money. The follow up claim relates to the scope of the claims released by the parties under the settlement agreement.
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Queensland Law Society - Member
Corporate Responsibility
Admissions
- Queensland~Australia (2019)
Education
- The College of Law (Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice) (2019)
- Queensland University of Technology (Bachelor of Laws (Hons)) (2018)
- Queensland University of Technology (Bachelor of Media and Communications) (2018)
Languages
- English
Firm Committee Memberships
- Women in Arbitration – Member