Lucas Bastin QC’s practice covers a wide array of commercial and international law work, drawing especially on his expertise in international arbitration (commercial and investment), public international law, and commercial litigation relating thereto. He has acted in matters before all levels of English courts. He has been engaged in much of the recent litigation relating to questions of sovereign immunity, including in the context of enforcement of arbitration awards against foreign sovereigns, and in proceedings relating to the enforcement of awards not involving sovereigns and orders in relation to ongoing foreign proceedings and arbitrations. He has also acted in proceedings before the commercial and administrative courts dealing with discrete issues of international law. He has acted in several dozen investment arbitrations, and a similar number of commercial arbitrations, across a wide variety of arbitral rules and applicable laws.
Before taking silk, Lucas was routinely a Band 1 junior in the legal directories, and the Legal 500 International Arbitration Junior of the Year. He has been described as “highly impressive in action, he is excellent with clients and a formidable advocate”, “a go-to barrister for complex quantum cases”, “extremely smart, commercially-minded and very good at explaining complex situations in a simple way”, and “simply superb, with vast experience in the field of arbitration; with a brilliant mind, and commercially astute”. He has been marked out for his advocacy as well, with clients and peers noting he is “great on his feet and brutal in cross-examination”, “a superb advocate” and “a top cross-examiner”.
Lucas’s has recently appeared for Libya in the Supreme Court in the leading sovereign immunity case in respect of service on a foreign State, and for Pakistan in the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal in the leading sovereign immunity case in respect of enforcement of ICSID Awards. He also appeared for Heathrow before the Court of Appeal in a judicial review, involving novel questions of WTO law, of the HMRC’s and Treasury’s decision to withdraw from VAT schemes that provided for VAT-free shopping for non-EU-resident visitors to the UK and passengers travelling to a non-EU country. Lucas is also instructed in a number of large ongoing matters, including by Libya and Pakistan in further proceedings relating to sovereign immunity, numerous corporate entities and States in large-scale commercial and investment arbitrations, and by a number of States to advise on pending proceedings before various fora (English courts, several foreign enforcement jurisdiction courts, the International Court of Justice, and the WTO Dispute Settlement Body).
Lucas is a Lecturer at King’s College London in Investment Arbitration and Adjunct Professor of International Law at Pepperdine University. He speaks regularly at events, including recently at a CIArb event on cross-examination and is available to speak on any number of topics within his range of experience noted above.
See Lucas’s full profile here.
