Ignacio Madalena
Biography
Overview
Ignacio is a local partner in the firm's International Arbitration Practice in Madrid.
Licensed in New York, England & Wales, and Spain, Ignacio's practice focuses on commercial arbitration and investment treaty international arbitration. He has acted for infrastructure funds and multinational corporations in proceedings under the ICSID, ICC, LCIA and UNCITRAL arbitration rules. Ignacio also has experience before the Madrid Court of Arbitration (CAM) and the Spanish Court of Arbitration.
Ignacio has represented investors in claims brought under investment treaties (including the Energy Charter Treaty), foreign investment laws and investment agreements, in a broad range of industries and sectors, such as renewable energy, electricity, oil & gas, construction & engineering, telecommunications and banking.
Having practiced in London, Washington DC and Madrid, Ignacio has extensive experience in commercial arbitration matters, in cases involving both common law and civil law jurisdictions. His most recent commercial arbitration experience includes post-M&A disputes and joint venture disputes.
Ignacio's expertise extends to advising clients on cross-border governing law and jurisdiction issues, sovereign immunity, dispute resolution clauses and public international law issues in the context of complex international business transactions.
Experience
Some representative examples of his experience include:
- Representing a Japanese investor in an ICSID arbitration against the Kingdom of Spain under the Energy Charter Treaty involving investment in the Spanish renewable sector.
- Acting for a Belgium industrial group as claimant in a post-M&A dispute against a Spanish company, brought under a Share Purchase Agreement in the Madrid Court of Arbitration.
- Representing a Spanish telecommunications company in an ICSID arbitration against the Republic of Colombia pursuant to the Spain-Colombia BIT, in a dispute relating to a concession agreement for mobile telephone services (pending).
- Representing a Spanish energy company in an ICSID arbitration against the Republic of Argentina pursuant to the Spain-Argentina BIT, in a dispute relating to measures affecting the claimant's investments in the power-generation sector.
- Advising a group of international lenders, on the management and implications of a dispute between the borrower and a Latin American State, as a result of various legal, regulatory and judicial measures affecting a project for the development and operation of an airport.*
- Acting for an energy company based in Argentina, the respondent in an ICC arbitration in London, concerning a dispute under a joint operating agreement and a gas balancing agreement governed by English law, relating to a natural gas exploitation and production project in Argentina.*
- Representing and advising multiple infrastructure funds and multinational corporations that had invested in solar and wind-power generation projects in Spain, in multiple ICSID and UNCITRAL arbitration proceedings involving claims against the Kingdom of Spain under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), as a result of Spain's changes to the regulatory regime for renewable energy projects.*
- Representing a US energy company and its Dutch subsidiary in multiple claims against the Republic of Kazakhstan under a bilateral investment treaty, the ECT and Kazakhstan's foreign investment law, arising out of a series of actions including fines and tariff restrictions imposed by Kazakh competition authorities and affecting the claimants' investments in a number of power-generation facilities and trading companies that held rights under long-term concessions with the Government.*
(*) Experience prior to joining White & Case LLP
Co-author: "Función y deberes del árbitro", in Flores Sentíes, H. (ed.), Retos Contemporáneos del Arbitraje Internacional (Tirant Lo Blanch, Mexico City, 2018)
Co-author: "Increased enforcement risk in intra-EU investment treaty arbitration," Legal & Regulatory Risk Note, A&O Publication (May 2018)
Co-author: "Spain" in The International Arbitration Review, 8th ed. (2017)
Author: "Medidas regulatorias y expropiación: tratamiento en la práctica arbitral", Lima Arbitration – Revista del Círculo Peruano de Arbitraje, núm. 7, 2016-2017
Author: "Concession Agreements and Investment Treaty Claims," GAR's Arbitration Review of the Americas 2018 (2017)
Author: "Trans-Pacific Partnership," GAR's Arbitration Review of the Americas 2017 (2016)
Author: "Ethics in International Arbitration: the Role of the Arbitral Tribunal," International Arbitration Law Review (Dec. 2012)
Co-author, "Human Rights and Investment Treaty Arbitration," A&O Publication (2012)
Co-author, "Dispute Avoidance and Management in Construction and Engineering Projects," in EPC Contracts and Major Projects: A Guide to Construction and Other Project Contracts, Nigel Pritchard and John Scriven (eds.) (2011)
Co-Author, "Advocacy from the Perspective of a Civil Law Arbitrator," in The Art of Advocacy in International Arbitration, 2nd Edition, R. Doak Bishop (Ed.) (2010)
Co-Author, "Parallel Proceedings in International Arbitration," Arbitration International, vol. 24, no. 4 (2008)
Co-Author, "The ICC Dispute Board Rules," International Arbitration Law Review, vol. 8 (2005) "The U.S. Model BIT," International Arbitration Law Review, vol. 7, Issue 3 (June 2004)
International Arbitration
Up & Coming: Chambers Europe, Dispute Resolution 2022
Highly recommended: Leaders League 2021
Recognition: Best Lawyers 2021
