Emma A. Iannini

Emma is a dual-qualified New York lawyer and English solicitor whose practice focuses on investment treaty arbitration, international commercial arbitration, and high-stakes cross-border contentious matters.

She has experience representing States, investors, and commercial parties in complex international arbitrations under the ICSID, LCIA, ICC, UNCITRAL, ICDR, SCC, and SIAC rules, including proceedings conducted bilingually in English and French. Her practice has a particular focus on disputes in the mining, oil and gas, renewable energy, medical device, and pharmaceutical industries.

Before joining Boies Schiller Flexner, Emma served as a Judicial Fellow to H.E. Judge Peter Tomka at the International Court of Justice in The Hague and practised in the international disputes groups of several international law firms. Emma is bilingual in English and French, with working proficiency in Italian and conversational fluency in Mandarin Chinese. Her ability to advise clients on complex, high-stakes, and often politically sensitive disputes is enhanced by her experience living and working in the U.S., France, China, the Netherlands, and the U.K.

Emma’s experience includes:

• Acting for U.K. investors in a bilingual English-French ICSID arbitration against the Kingdom of Morocco concerning the expropriation of a more than US$1 billion potash mining project
• Representing a Canadian gold mining investor in a bilingual, over US$ 200 million ICSID arbitration against Burkina Faso
• Advising a Swiss company and its Cayman Islands subsidiary in a contentious matter involving a build-operate-transfer contract in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and related possible LCIA arbitration and Cayman Islands litigation
• Representing Emirati investors in a bilingual, over US$ 200 million ICSID arbitration under the UAE-Algeria BIT concerning the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria’s breaches of an investment agreement related to a mixed real-estate development project in the city of Algiers
• Defending a French beauty and health care products company and its U.S. subsidiary in an over $200 million S.D.N.Y. litigation commenced by a Korean company concerning alleged breaches of a manufacturing and supply agreement and issues of liquidated damages and COVID-19-related force majeure
• Defending an American medical device manufacturer in an ICDR arbitration concerning alleged breaches of an exclusive distribution agreement governed by California law commenced by the company’s exclusive distributor in the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong and Macau SAR.  
• Representing European investors in more than half a dozen Energy Charter Treaty arbitrations under the ICSID, UNCITRAL, and SCC rules against the Kingdom of Spain, the Italian Republic, the Republic of Bulgaria, and Romania concerning retroactive changes to renewable energy incentive regimes, as well as in related enforcement proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
• Defending the Republic of Türkiye in a $20 billion inter-State ICC arbitration commenced by the Republic of Iraq concerning alleged breaches of the Iraq-Türkiye Pipeline Agreements and in related enforcement proceedings before the Paris Court of Appeal and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
• Defending the Republic of Türkiye in an ICSID arbitration brought by an American investor concerning the Republic’s alleged expropriation of a uranium mine
• Defending an American subsidiary of a Japanese gas company in an LCIA arbitration arising out of an LNG supply agreement with an American subsidiary of a German energy company
• Representing Italian investors in an ICSID arbitration against North Macedonia concerning the expropriation of a landfill concession and related rights under the Italy-North Macedonia BIT

Co-author, Perspectives from Civil Society: The Utilization of Advisory Opinions at the International Court of Justice as a Vehicle for Social and Political Progress, International Community Law Review (March 2026)

The Next Generation of Energy Transition Disputes: What Might Be the Future for Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage and Arbitration?, Kluwer Arbitration Blog, (July 2024)

Les perspectives des allégations de l’Ukraine concernant les violations de la Convention sur le génocide par la Russie : quel sera l’impact de l’absence d’un tribunal international spécial sous l’égide du Chapitre VII de la Charte des Nations Unies ?, Le blog – Droit International Penal, (January 2024)

NJSC Naftogaz et al. v. Russia, PCA Case No. 2017-16, Quantum Quarterly, 4Q 2023 (also in J. of Damages In Int'l Arb.)

Euroscepticism and the Fading Dream of a 'Federal' Europe: The Driving Forces Behind the Conflict Between EU Law and Investment Arbitration?, Conn. J. of Int'l l. (Vol. 38, Spring Issue) (2023)