Speaker details

Biography

Diora Ziyaeva is a Partner at Dentons LLP in New York. Her practice focuses on investor-state arbitration, international commercial arbitration, and public international law. Dual qualified in Uzbekistan and New York, she has 14 years of experience successfully representing sovereign States and corporate clients in over 30 significant international arbitration proceedings. Notably, she is currently acting for a Canadian mining company in a US $300 million ICSID claim against Colombia. She has successfullydefended the state of Turkmenistan in seven investment disputes and the Republic of Kazakhstan in a $1.2 billion arbitration involving energy reserves. She also successfully represented the Republic of Venezuela in a number of disputes, including US $30.3 billion arbitration, the Republic of Uganda in a $435 million oil and gas arbitration, and the State of Papa New Guinea in US $100 million dispute. Diora has been recognized as a "Rising Star" by Law360, as a "Future Leader" in Arbitration by Who's Who Legal, and as one of the American Bar Association's On the Rise - Top 40 Young Lawyers. Diora is the first female from the Republic of Uzbekistan to graduate from Harvard Law School. In addition, she is a member of the ICC (International Commercial Court) Commission on Arbitration and co-chairs the Investment Law committee of the International Law Association, where she also seat on the Board of Directors. Diora is a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Term Member, a certified mediator, arbitrator, and serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Cornell Law School and at Fordham University School of Law, where she teaches investor-state arbitration.