Justin M. Jacinto

Mr. Jacinto has been active for more than 15 years in assisting clients in resolving complex and often international disputes, including in investment treaty arbitrations, international commercial arbitrations, and public international law proceedings. He has served as counsel to sovereign States, state-owned entities, and private companies in arbitrations under ad hoc and institutional arbitration rules, including those of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), and the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC). He also represents clients in related litigations, including set-aside and enforcement actions and discovery proceedings.

His experience spans a wide range of sectors, including banking and financial services, oil and gas, mining, telecommunications, construction, transport, and health. He has also handled some of the highest profile international tax disputes.

As lead counsel, Mr. Jacinto has successfully represented the Republic of Cyprus in several investment treaty arbitrations under the ICSID, ICC, UNCITRAL and SCC rules relating to the country’s financial crisis and the failure and resolution of its two largest banks, Bank of Cyprus and Cyprus Popular Bank (Laiki), and the resolution of another bank, FBME Bank Ltd., which was subjected to anti-money laundering (AML) sanctions. Mr. Jacinto also led Curtis’ team that successfully acted for the Kingdom of Spain in the Antonio del Valle Ruiz and Others v. Kingdom of Spain UNCITRAL arbitration in obtaining a complete dismissal of the claims brought by shareholders and bondholders relating to the failure and resolution of Banco Popular and an award of more than €7 million in costs to Spain. Mr. Jacinto has successfully represented numerous other clients in complex and high value treaty and contract-based disputes, including oil & gas, mining, construction, healthcare, transport, tourism and tax cases, often obtaining large awards of costs for his clients.

Mr. Jacinto has experience with infrastructure project matters, particularly project finance, joint ventures, and concession and licensing arrangements. He has been relied on to assist clients in negotiating contracts and in resolving disputes through negotiated buy-outs, established governance arrangements and other means. An example was leading the negotiation of the buy-out by Libya’s National Oil Corporation and the Libyan Investment Authority of Yara’s ownership interest in the Libyan Norwegian Fertiliser Company (LIFECO).

Mr. Jacinto also has extensive experience assessing the environmental impacts of infrastructure projects and advising on compliance with environmental laws and regulations, including as a lawyer and from his time with the World Bank. He additionally advises on climate change initiatives, including recent efforts to facilitate climate financing, particularly in developing countries.

Mr. Jacinto has experience with infrastructure project matters, particularly project finance, joint ventures, and concession and licensing arrangements. In addition to advising on negotiating contracts and resolving disputes, Mr. Jacinto has experience assisting with compliance with environmental laws and regulations and climate change and hazardous waste initiatives.

Mr. Jacinto supports Curtis’ leading practice assisting clients, including both private entities and governments, in navigating complex, ever-evolving sanctions laws, including those established by the U.S., E.U., U.K., and the U.N.

Mr. Jacinto advises clients, particularly sovereign entities, on anti-corruption and asset recovery matters. His experience includes supporting broad initiatives to improve governance and fight bribery and corruption, including by developing effective asset recovery programs, as well as targeted efforts to locate and recover assets, including by assisting with mutual legal assistance and litigation proceedings and enforcement of the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

Mr. Jacinto has a sports background having played basketball at the University of Cambridge. He maintains a keen interest in sports law issues and successfully represented a client accused of match-fixing in proceedings before the Tennis Integrity Unit established by the ITF, ATP, WTA, and the four Grand Slam tournaments.

Previously, Mr. Jacinto worked in the World Bank’s Latin America & Caribbean department, where he focused on infrastructure investment and environmental policy and management, including compliance with the Bank’s environmental and social safeguard policies. He has also been a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution focused on efforts to improve governance in low- and middle-income countries, an assistant to a U.S. Congressman, and a White House intern. He was an incorporator and member of the Board of Directors of Results for Development, an international development-focused non-profit organization. He is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center and frequent lecturer at the International Law Institute. He is also a member of the Cambridge in America Regional Committee for the Washington, DC region.

Mr. Jacinto is a widely published writer on legal and international development topics and frequently speaks at conferences and symposia. He was a member of the organizing committee for the 2023 Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) and chaired a panel on the Recognition of the Right to a Healthy Environment.