Nicolás Córdoba
Senior Associate
Office
Bogota, Colombia
Carrera 9 #80-45, Office 802
+57 60 1 691 5616
Nicolás focuses on investor-state and international commercial arbitrations involving Latin American parties. He has advised and represented dozens of clients in over 20 different disputes in Latin America.
He has particular experience in disputes involving clients in the mining, oil and gas, and telecoms sectors, as well as in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) matters.
Before joining Adell & Merizalde, Nicolás worked as a Senior Associate at a top-tier law firm in its Washington D.C. office and previously at the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). He also served as an adviser for international affairs in the Attorney General’s Office in Bogotá and worked at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg.
Nicolás is qualified in Colombia and as a Special Legal Consultant in the District of Columbia. He is fluent in both English and Spanish.
Nicolás holds a law degree from Universidad del Rosario (Colombia), a Master’s Degree in Law, with honors from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), and an LL.M. with honors in International Legal Studies from Georgetown University Law Center (Washington, D.C.).
Credentials
Bar Admissions
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Colombia
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District of Columbia (Special Legal Consultant)
Education
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Georgetown University, LL.M. in International Legal Studies
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Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Master’s Degree in Law
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Universidad del Rosario, Law Degree
Languages
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Spanish
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English
Relevant Matters
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Represents a Central American fruit producer in an ICC arbitration based in Miami, Florida, against one of the world's largest fruit companies concerning the termination of a long-term distribution contract. The language of the arbitration is English and Spanish.
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Represented two investors in an ICSID arbitration against Colombia, under the Switzerland-Colombia BIT, concerning state measures affecting their investments in a coal mining project.
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Represented an investor in its US$750 million ICSID arbitration claim against Colombia under the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.
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Represented two investors in an investment treaty dispute against Colombia under the Switzerland-Colombia BIT, concerning adverse anticompetitive measures affecting its investment in the mining and transport sector.
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Represented an investor in an ICSID claim against Colombia under the UK-Colombia BIT, arising in response to measures taken by the Colombian National Mining Agency and the Comptroller General’s Office.
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Represented an investor in relation to an investment treaty dispute against Colombia under the Switzerland-Colombia BIT, concerning the Constitutional Court’s indefinite suspension of an authorized mining expansion project.
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Represented an investor, in relation to an investment treaty dispute against Colombia under the UK-Colombia BIT, concerning the Constitutional Court’s indefinite suspension of an authorized mining expansion project.
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Represented four investors in their investment treaty claim against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in a claim related to measures taken by Venezuela which affected the claimants’ investments in the dairy production and distribution sector.
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Represented an international mining company in its notified ICSID dispute against Colombia regarding the State’s suspension of an authorized mining project due to environmental considerations.
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Represented an international conglomerate and its local mining company in a notified investment treaty dispute against a South American country as a result of the State’s measures relating to the environmental licensing of their mining project.
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Advised a US fund in a potential investment treaty claim against a South American state in connection with their investments in a local telecommunications company.
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Represented four subsidiaries of a Swiss multinational in a multi-party ICC arbitration regarding claims and counterclaims arising from two long-term contracts for the transportation of coal by rail. The amount in dispute was over US$1 billion.
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Represented a State-owned entity and its international subsidiaries in a multi-party ICC arbitration against a State-owned mining company, regarding claims arising from agreements for the set-up and operation of a large copper mining project.
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Represented a Mexican conglomerate in a threatened LCIA arbitration against a State-entity in relation to the construction and operation of a gas pipeline in North America.
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Represented two international mining companies in an ICC arbitration against a Latin American State in connection with the State’s arbitrary and inconsistent conduct in the reassessment and collection of royalty payments.