Tariq Baloch
Call: Call: 2001 (in practice since 2008)
Practice Overview
Tariq's practice encompasses international arbitration (international investment treaty claims and international commercial arbitration), public international law and general commercial litigation.
He is one of a small group of five UK barristers aged under 45 recognised by Who’s Who Legal in international arbitration. The group was described as the “most highly regarded individuals”, amongst the “outstanding members of the next generation” and “considered to be the future leaders of the international arbitration community”.
He has represented or advised private parties and states under all the major arbitral rules including the ICC, LCIA, SCC, ICSID, UNCITRAL and DIAC rules, in a range of sectors including banking, oil and gas, insurance and reinsurance and telecommunications and energy. His experience includes acting for some of the world's largest companies in high value complex arbitrations involving disputes around the world. The international dimension of Tariq's experience is further reinforced by the 4 years he spent practicing international arbitration in Freshfields' offices in the Middle East and North Africa region and Paris. He also sits as an arbitrator. In 2012 he was nominated to the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators. In 2014 he co-taught the inaugural course on the practice of international arbitration at the LSE. Prior to entering practice Tariq was an assistant professor at the LSE.
He is also an expert in the English law of obligations. His book Unjust Enrichment and Contract (Hart, Oxford, 2009) is cited in leading English texts, including Chitty and Goff and Jones, and was described by Professor Robert Stevens (Oxford) as the "definitive" work in the area.
Tariq was called to the Bar in 2001, but has practised as a barrister since 2008.
Arbitration
Some highlights of his contentious work include acting for:
Greek investors in a more than one billion Euro ICSID claim against Cyprus under the Greece-Cyprus BIT, in connection with the demise of Cyprus’s second biggest bank. The case is ongoing and will make precedent on the proper regulation of banks in international law.
a large telecommunications company in a treaty claim at ICSID against a North African state arising out of a number of government measures, including taxation measures, customs blockades, and the commencement of a formal nationalisation process. The dispute relates to a multi-billion US dollar investment in the telecommunications sector;
a major French shipping company against an Asian state (UNCITRAL rules) in connection with an investment in the ports sector.
a European multinational in a treaty claim against an Asian state (UNCITRAL rules) in connection with an investment in the telecommunications s sector;
a leading German insurance company in connection with ad hoc arbitration proceedings against a large Indian owned insurance company;
Danone against its Chinese joint venture partners in a multi-billion dollar dispute under the SCC rules, which has been described in the press as “arguably the largest Sino-West business dispute yet”;
a large German conglomerate in an ICC arbitration against its Brazilian licensee;
a Middle Eastern national oil company in a LCIA arbitration about the expansion and operation of an oil refinery.
Advisory Work
As part of his non-contentious work, Tariq has developed a practice advising governments and government agencies on a range of PIL issues including those that sit at the cross-section of law and policy. This has ranged from advising on the reform of municipal laws in line with international law and best practice to advising (and sometimes representing) government agencies in high legal content policy discussions with their foreign counterparts and international agencies.
Recently, he advised the Royal Court of Bahrain on the establishment of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (“BICI”), the first time any sovereign state has established a national commission entirely composed of international commissioners.
He was a member of the drafting committee tasked with formulating best practice guidelines for International, Regional and National Fact-Finding Bodies. The guidelines were published in late 2013 as the Sircausa Guidelines (Intersentia, Cambridge, 2013).
