Isabella Bellera Landa
Isabella Bellera Landa
Biography
Isabella is an associate in the Firm's International Arbitration Practice and Litigation groups. She represents and advises multinational companies, foreign sovereigns, and financial institutions around the world and in the United States in the resolution of complex commercial and investment disputes.
She has represented clients in cross-border and U.S.-based arbitrations before major arbitral forums, as well as in litigations in U.S. federal and state courts. Her experience spans a wide range of sectors, including critical minerals, energy, and financial services.
Isabella's dual training and experience in both common and civil law jurisdictions, combined with her extensive knowledge of international law, enable her to bridge different legal systems and craft creative dispute resolution strategies to maximize clients' position and leverage.
She routinely advises clients on developing strategies to prevent and resolve disputes at early stages, using various legal finance tools to hedge risks and unlock capital, as well as structuring foreign investments. Her experience with sovereign relations and contracting has also allowed her to contribute significantly to high-profile transactions, whose innovation has been recognized by the Financial Times and other major publications.
Isabella also developed and co-teaches a dispute resolution course at Duke Law School called "International Investment Law: The Protection and Financialization of Foreign Investments," which explores concepts of International Investment Law and legal finance.
She is actively involved in pro bono matters at the Firm, which include initiatives to promote the use of alternative dispute resolution in developing countries and the representation of human trafficking victims. Prior to joining White & Case, Isabella assisted the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking in drafting the Basic Principles on the Right to an Effective Remedy for Trafficked Persons.
Experience
Representing Asian and European lithium companies in an ICSID arbitration against a Latin American State and related litigation in multiple fora.
Representing Asian investors in a multi-billion dispute concerning tax measures impacting one of the largest copper mining projects in the world.
Representing various renewable solar energy investors in multiple ICSID arbitrations against a Latin American State.
Obtaining a favorable settlement in favor of the respondent in a New York-seated ICC commercial arbitration concerning a shareholding dispute, which also implicated parallel proceedings before New York state courts.
Obtaining a favorable settlement in favor of an African development bank and effectively preventing litigation before a US state court.
Successfully represented a Japanese investor in an ICSID arbitration against Spain under the Energy Charter Treaty involving investments in the CSP sector.
Successfully represented the road authority of an Asian State as the respondent in an ICC commercial arbitration and parallel litigation proceedings in Spain involving a road construction project in which the claims of the claimant were fully dismissed in a preliminary jurisdictional stage.
Successfully represented an Asian State in an ICSID arbitration relating to an investment in the manufacturing sector, in which more than US$ 700 million in claims were dismissed.
Successfully represented an Asian State in an ICSID arbitration relating to another investment in the manufacturing sector, in which claims valued at more than US$ 300 million were dismissed in their entirety on jurisdictional grounds.
Represented a consortium of European infrastructure developers in multiple ICC arbitrations concerning the development of a major construction project.
Represented a Spanish holding company in an international arbitration case against a Latin American State involving price control measures and changes to dispatch rules in the power generation sector.
Represented tens of thousands of Italian holders of Argentine sovereign bonds in an ICSID arbitration under the Italy-Argentina Bilateral Investment Treaty. The bondholders received a substantial settlement in resolution of all their claims.
Duke Law Clinics International Advocacy Award, 2014
Arbitration of Complex Contracts, XI International Arbitration Symposium of the Lima Chamber of Commerce (June 2023)
Energy Security in a Changing World - International Arbitration and Global Energy Regime at Duke University School of Law (November 2022)
Decarbonization in Africa and International Investment Law, 11th Annual Conference – Africa and the Challenge of Climate Change in Cairo, Egypt (October 2022)
Investor-State Relations: An Arbitration Case Study at Duke University School of Law (February 2021)
Advocacy Skills in International Investment Arbitration at Westminster International University of Tashkent (December 2020)
Discussion on FET and State's Regulatory Discretion, a side event to the 2020 FDI International Arbitration Moot Competition organized by the Center of International Legal Studies (November 2020)
New trends and challenges in investment arbitration, organized by the Venezuelan Association of Arbitration (June 2020)
Legal Pathways to Decarbonization in Latin America, De Gruyter Handbook of Energy Law in the Low-Carbon Transition (G. Bellantuono, L. Godden, H. Mostert, H. Wiseman, and H. Zhang eds. 2023).
Protecting Energy Investments in Latin America in Routledge Handbook of Energy Law (T. Hunter, I. Herrera, P. Crossley & G. Alvarez eds. 2020) (with Silvia Marchili).
Are the Right Rights Protected? The Literalist Approach to Determining Protected Rights in International Investment Agreements in Investment Treaty Arbitration And International Law 3 Vol 9 (2016) (with Matthew N. Drossos and Suyash Paliwal).
