
Cameron Miles
Call: Call: 2015; 2009 (Australia)
Practice Overview
Cameron has substantial experience with all areas of public international law, with a particular expertise in the law and practice of international courts and tribunals, state responsibility, recognition of states and governments, state and diplomatic immunity and international investment law. He has been involved in proceedings before the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. He also appears regularly in the English courts on public international law matters, particularly where they involve a nexus with 3VB’s core practice areas of banking and commercial law.
In light of his practice, Cameron has been instructed directly by states, state organs, corporations and international organisations. He is comfortable working alone or as part of a team.
He regularly publishes and lectures in public international law in the UK and internationally.
Cameron is ranked as a Leading Junior for Public International Law in the Chambers & Partners UK Bar Guide 2022, described as, "...bright, astute and on top of the subject matter. He's responsive and gets his head around a huge amount of material in a short space of time" and "an energetic team player."
Significant cases
Gold Pool JV v Republic of Kazakhstan [2021] EWHC 3422 (Comm) – appeared led by Ali Malek QC for the Republic of Kazakhstan in a case under s 67 of the Arbitration Act 1996 concerning state succession to treaties under customary international law.
Tethyan Copper Company Pty Limited v Islamic Republic of Pakistan & Anor BVIHCMAP2021/0014 (handed down 4 June 2021) – appeared led by Vernon Flynn QC for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to successfully resist the imposition of interlocutory orders on appeal on the basis of state immunity.
Tethyan Copper Company Pty Limited v Islamic Republic of Pakistan & Anor BVIHC(COM)2020/0196 (handed down 25 May 2021) – appeared led by Vernon Flynn QC for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to successfully resist enforcement of a USD 6 billion ICSID award on the basis of state immunity.
Hulley Enterprises Ltd & Ors v Russian Federation [2021] EWHC 894 (Comm), [2021] 1 WLR 3429, [2021] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 617 – acted for the Russian Federation led by Laurence Rabinowitz QC and Christopher Harris QC, resisting enforcement of the largest investment treaty award in history (USD 50 billion +) in the English courts on the basis of state immunity. Successfully resisted application to lift stay of proceedings and/or impose security on the basis of state immunity.
Argentum Exploration Limited v The Silver [2020] EWHC 3434 (Admlty), [2021] 2 WLR 615, [2021] QB 585 (noted: (2021) 137 LQR 385; (2021) 35 ANZ Mar LJ 1) – appeared led by Stephen Hofmeyr QC to successfully resist a claim of state immunity by South Africa over a salvage action in the first ever case involving s 10(4)(a) of the State Immunity Act 1978.
Republic of Korea v Dayyani & Ors [2019] EWHC 3580 (Comm), [2020] Bus LR 884, [2020] 2 All ER (Comm) 672, [2020] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 212 – appeared led by Ali Malek QC to successfully resist a challenge to an investment treaty arbitration award under s 67 of the Arbitration Act 1996.
State A v Party B [2019] EWHC 799 (Comm) – appeared led by Christopher Harris QC in the High Court seeking an extension of time to challenge an arbitral award under s 80(5) of the Arbitration Act 1996.
Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik Uretim AS v Islamic Republic of Pakistan, ICSID Case No ARB/13/1 – acted for the respondent in parallel proceedings seeking revision of a USD 1.2 billion ICSID award before the original tribunal whilst resisting enforcement of the same in the English courts. Secured an extremely advantageous settlement for the client.
The Nova Group Investments BV v Romania, ICSID Case No ARB/16/19 – currently acting for the claimant in a long-running case under the Netherlands–Romania BIT concerning alleged state harassment and the collapse of an insurance company in Romania.
The Carlyle Group LP & Ors v Kingdom of Morocco, ICSID Case No ARB/18/29 – currently acting for the respondent in the first case brought under the US–Morocco FTA. The case concerns the insolvency of an oil refinery in Morocco and its interaction with a sophisticated offshore investment structure.
Cem Selçuk Ersoy v Republic of Azerbaijan, ICSID Case No ARB/18/6 – acted for the claimant in a case concerning a contract for tunnelling works under the Turkey–Azerbaijan BIT.
Aktau Petrol Ticaret AS v Republic of Kazakhstan, ICSID Case No ARB/15/8 – acted for the applicant in ICSID annulment proceedings under the Turkey–Kazakhstan BIT.
Raymond Charles Eyre and Montrose Developments (Private) Limited v Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, ICSID Case No ARB/16/25 – currently acting for the claimant in a case concerning the flooding and expropriation of land in Sri Lanka under the UK–Sri Lanka BIT.
Belenergia SA v Italian Republic, ICSID Case No ARB/15/40 – acted for the claimant in a dispute concerning Italy’s solar power pricing regime under the Energy Charter Treaty.
PNG Sustainable Development Program Ltd v Independent State of Papua New Guinea, ICSID Case No ARB/33/13 – acted for the claimant in a dispute under Papua New Guinea’s foreign investment law concerning the alleged expropriation of a charitable organization charged with cleaning up the Ok Tedi copper mine disaster.
Louis Dreyfus Armateurs SA v Republic of India, PCA Case No 2014-24 – acted for the claimant in a case concerning alleged state interference in stevedoring operations under the France–India BIT.
Advised the Republic of Namibia on negotiations with the Federal Republic of Germany concerning the implications in international law of the Herero-Nama genocide of 1904–1908.
Discrete public international law advice on a variety of subjects (act of state, recognition of governments, diplomatic immunity, state immunity).
Publications
Books
Provisional Measures before International Courts and Tribunals (Cambridge: CUP, 2017)
- M Lando (2018) 77 Cambridge Law Journal 227 (“Miles has written a monograph which is likely to be regarded as a classic in its field”).
- L Bastin (2018) 19 Journal of World Investment and Trade 1065 (“Miles achieves not only more than has been achieved in any other modern comparative study of the topic, but also likely as much as can be achieved within the limitations placed on that study by the current ‘positive law’ under consideration”).
- N Grossman (2019) 113 American Journal of International Law 871 (“Miles’s book provides a comprehensive and deep review of the existing law and practice of interim relief before the bodies surveyed and is therefore a must-read for those assessing the benefits and costs of an application for provisional measures or preparing a request for or response to a request for interim relief”).
- D Greco (2020) 80 Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht 571 (“[A]n extraordinary antidote to the fragmentation of international law”).
Landmark Cases in Public International Law (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2017) (edited with E Bjorge)
- M Thomas (2019) 36 Australian Yearbook of International Law 261 (“Landmark Cases is truly, as Bjorge and Miles describe in their introduction, a ‘three-dimensional understanding of international law – ‘what it was, what it is, and what it might yet become’ – and shows how public international law itself has achieved a three-dimensional status”);
- H Cantú Rivera (2019) XIX Anuario Mexicano de Derecho Internactional 563 (“this work, widely recommended for the fineness of the analyses carried out, as well as for the diversity of jurisdictions and judgments that are reviewed, will allow the reader to know or explore in detail the international judicial function and some of its main contributions”).
Book Chapters
- ‘Procedural Powers of International Courts and Tribunals’, in A Kulick & M Waibel (eds), General International Law and International Investment Arbitration (Oxford: OUP, 2022) [forthcoming]
- ‘Sovereign Debt Moratoria and Covid-19: Some Necessary Thoughts on Necessity’, in G Affaki & V Khvalei (eds), Overriding Mandatory Rules and Compliance in International Arbitration (Paris: ICC, 2021) 124 (with A Malek QC)
- ‘ICSID Convention, Article 44’, in J Fouret et al (eds), The ICSID Convention, Rules and Regulations: A Commentary (London: Edward Elgar, 2020) 384 (with C Harris QC)
- ‘Crown and Foreign Acts of State before British Courts: Rahmatullah, Belhaj and the Separation of Powers’, in C Bradley (ed), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Foreign Relations Law (Oxford: OUP, 2019) 715 (with E Bjorge) – Winner of the American Society of International Law Robert E Dalton Book Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Foreign Relations Law (2020)
- ‘Indeterminacy’, in J d’Aspremont & S Singh (eds), Fundamental Concepts for International Law: The Construction of a Discipline (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2019) 447
- ‘International Dimensions’, in D Clarry (ed), UK Supreme Court Yearbook, Vol 8: 2016–2017 Judicial Year (London: Appellate Press, 2017) 447 (with A Malek QC)
- ‘Introduction’, in E Bjorge & C Miles (eds), Landmark Cases in Public International Law (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2017) 1 (with E Bjorge)
- ‘LaGrand (Germany v United States of America): International Court of Justice, 1999–2001’, in E Bjorge & C Miles (eds), Landmark Cases in Public International Law (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2017) 509
- ‘Four Ways of Thinking about the History of International Law’, in JC Sainz-Borgo et al (eds), Liber Amicorum Gudmundur Eiriksson (Delhi: LexisNexis, 2017) 265 (with J Crawford AC SC)
- ‘Articles, 113, 114 and 115’ in A Proelss (ed), The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: A Commentary (Oxford: Hart/Beck/Nomos, 2017) (with D Guilfoyle)
- ‘The Influence of the International Court of Justice on the law of provisional measures’, in M Andenas & E Bjorge (eds), A Farewell to Fragmentation: Reassertion and Convergence in International Law (Cambridge: CUP, 2015) 218
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- ‘James Crawford and the Law of State Immunity’ (2022) 40 Australian Year Book of International Law [forthcoming]
- ‘State Debts and State-Owned Corporations: Trans-Atlantic Perspectives’ (2021) 81 Questions of International Law 31
- ‘Provisional Measures and the ‘New’ Plausibility before the International Court of Justice’ (2018) 88 British Yearbook of International Law (advance access) – cited with approval in Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v Myanmar), Provisional Measures [2020] ICJ Rep 3, [2]–[3] (Judge ad hoc Kress, dec)
- ‘Thoughts on Domestic Adjudication and the Identification and Formation of Customary International Law’ (2018) 28 Italian Yearbook of International Law 134
- ‘Provisional Measures and the Margin of Appreciation Before the International Court of Justice’ (2017) 8 Journal of International Dispute Settlement 1
- ‘Where the Shadow Falls: Corruption in International Investment Arbitration’ (2016) 17 Journal of World Investment and Trade 489
- ‘Provisional Measures and the MV Arctic Sunrise’ (2014) 108 American Journal of International Law 271 (with D Guilfoyle)
- ‘The Franconia Sails On: Revisiting the Intellectual History of the Territorial Sea in the United States, Canada and Australia’ (2014) 13 Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 347
- ‘The Origins of Provisional Measures before International Courts and Tribunals’ (2013) 73 Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht 615
- ‘Corruption, Jurisdiction and Admissibility in International Investment Claims’ (2012) 3 Journal of International Dispute Settlement 329
- ‘Understanding Australia’s New Domestic Arbitration Regime: A Comparison of the Australian State Commercial Arbitration Acts and the New Model Commercial Arbitration Bill’ (2011) 77 Arbitration 7 (with S McComish & S Luttrell)
- ‘Access and advantage in investor-state arbitration: the law and practice of treaty shopping’ (2010) 3 Journal of World Energy Law and Business 260 (with M Skinner & S Luttrell)
Shorter Articles, Case Notes and Book Reviews
- ‘Decisions of British Courts during 2018 involving Questions of Public International Law’ (2019) 89 British Yearbook of International Law (with E Bjorge, O Murray and N Simonsen) [forthcoming]
- ‘Case Note: General Dynamics United Kingdom Ltd v State of Libya’ (2022) 116 American Journal of International Law 157 (with C Harris QC)
- ‘Case Note: M/V Norstar (Panama v Italy)’ (2020) 114 American Journal of International Law (forthcoming)
- ‘Sir Stafford Northcote’s Ode to the Fourth Article: An Insight into the Negotiation of the 1871 Treaty of Washington’ (2015) 4 Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law 167
- ‘Book Review: Miles, The Origins of International Investment Law: Empire, Environment and the Safeguarding of Capital (2013)’ (2014) 3 Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law 1355
- ‘Book Review: Fassbender and Peters (eds), Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law (2013)’ (2013) 84 British Yearbook of International Law 364
- ‘Book Review: Tams and Tzanakopoulos (eds), Basic Documents on the Settlement of International Disputes (2012)’ (2014) 3 Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law 600
- ‘Book Review: Von Bogdandy and Venzke (eds), International Judicial Lawmaking (2012)’ 2 Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law 671
- ‘Book Review: Guilfoyle, Shipping Interdiction and the Law of the Sea (2009), Klein, Maritime Security and the Law of the Sea (2011), Geiß and Petrig, Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea’ (2012) 82 British Yearbook of International Law 520
- ‘Foreign States before the Supreme Court in 2011’ (2012) 1(2) Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law 86 (with C Harris)
- ‘More Than an Empty Gesture: The Reversal of Eisenwerk’ (2012) 77 Arbitration 43 (with N Rudge)
- ‘Clarification of an Arbitrator’s Obligation to Give Reasons under the Australian State Commercial Arbitration Acts: the Emerging Requirement of Proportionality’ (2010) 76 Arbitration 571 (with N Rudge)
Presentations
- Thoughts on the Plausibility Standard and the ICJ’s Practice on Provisional Measures: Remarks to the US Branch of the International Law Association, International Law Weekend, New York, United States (11 October 2019)
- Investment Treaty Arbitration and Public International Law: A Short Primer, African Arbitration Academy, London, United Kingdom (3 June 2019)
- Recent Developments in the Law of Provisional Measures before International Courts and Tribunals, University College London, Book Launch for Provisional Measures before International Courts and Tribunals, London, United Kingdom (7 December 2017)
- Domestic Adjudication and the Identification and Formation of Customary International Law, International Law Association, Italian Branch, Third Biennial Conference, LIUC Università Cattaneo, Milan, Italy (17 November 2017)
- Provisional Measures and the Protection of the Environment: International Organizations in the Borderlands, Centre for International Sustainable Development Law, Symposium: Biodiversity, Sustainable Development and the Law, Cambridge, United Kingdom (22 March 2015)
- Provisional Measures and the Margin of Appreciation, PluriCourts and Centre Franco-Norvégien en sciences sociales et humaines, Seminar: A Future for the Margin of Appreciation in International Law, Paris, France (10 February 2014)