Curtis Announces New International Arbitration Partners

Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP is pleased to announce the elevation of three partners across its Astana, Dubai and London offices. These promotions reinforce the firm’s reputation as the world’s leader in sovereign representation in international arbitration.

Curtis Chairman George Kahale III said: “These three remarkable and dedicated individuals have all demonstrated excellence in their practice and have already built strong international reputations in their respective areas of specialty. These promotions reinforce the firm’s longstanding position as a leader in international arbitration.”

Astana

Nurlan Mukhitdinov has been promoted to partner in the firm’s Astana office. Mr. Mukhitdinov has a particular focus on the oil and gas sector and is a key member of the Curtis team representing States and State-owned entitles in several investor-state and commercial arbitrations under the rules of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), including some of the world’s largest cases in the petroleum industry.

Mr. Mukhitdinov has a deep understanding of the oil and gas sector in Kazakhstan, having also advised the country’s national oil and gas company on negotiations relating to production sharing agreements covering several of the world’s largest oil and gas fields.

Mr. Mukhitdinov is admitted in both Kazakhstan and New York. Trilingual in English, Kazakh and Russian, he holds an LL.M from Duke University School of Law and a J.D. from Kazakh State Law Academy. He was formerly a lecturer in subsoil, land and ecological law at the Kazakh State University in Almaty.

Dubai

Mr. Mohannad El-Murtadi Suleiman becomes a partner in the firm’s Dubai office. Mr. El-Murtadi joined the New York office of Curtis in 2011, where he advised States, national oil companies, and other State-owned and commercial entities on a broad range of dispute resolution matters across different sectors, with a particular focus on oil and gas and construction disputes. He has been an integral part of the Curtis international arbitration group and worked alongside Curtis’ teams in New York and its other offices in numerous arbitration proceedings under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

In addition, Mr. El-Murtadi has been involved in numerous enforcement and other local proceedings arising from international arbitrations and has advised governments and State entities on enforcement actions. He was a key member of the Curtis team that helped secure numerous victories for the National Oil Corporation of Libya (NOC) and its subsidiaries.

Mr. El-Murtadi has full rights of audience within the UAE’s main international courts, the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), as well as the Libyan, New York, and Washington D.C. courts. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and holds an LL.M. from Fordham Law School and a Licentiate Degree from the University of Tripoli, Faculty of Law, where he took the First In Class Award.

London

Ms. Lise Johnson is promoted to partner in Curtis London. Ms. Johnson is widely recognized as an expert in international investment law and arbitration and public international law. She works at the intersection of investment law and complex regulatory spheres, including climate policy, governance of extractive industries and infrastructure, and development of industrial policy.

As a practitioner, Ms. Johnson has represented governments in investment arbitration and public international law matters, including the defense of India in a pending claim relating to telecommunications. She also advises governments from around the world on both domestic and international investment law and policy, evaluating risks of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) and developing strategies and options for minimizing those risks. This includes supporting governments in reviewing and managing their existing treaty network, developing or revising model treaties, and negotiating new agreements. Ms. Johnson has also supported non-governmental organizations in their efforts to participate as amicus curiae in high-stakes ISDS cases involving corporate challenges to climate-related measures.

Ms. Johnson has been participating as a delegate in UNCITRAL Working Group III’s efforts to reform ISDS since the launch of that work in 2017, engaging on issues related to development of a court and appellate mechanism, procedural rules reform, and the development of a treaty to implement these reforms. She joined Curtis from the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI) at Columbia University in New York, where she remains a Senior Fellow, and has also worked with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). She is a prolific writer and a thought leader in international arbitration.

Ms. Johnson holds an LL.M from the Columbia University School of Law, a J.D, summa cum laude, from the University of Arizona, Rogers College of Law and a B.A. from Yale University.