Zachary Douglas has a substantial practice before international courts and tribunals as counsel, expert witness and arbitrator, and also appears before the English courts in cases with an international law element. He is an Associate Professor of International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and was formerly a member of the Faculty of Law of Cambridge University. Prior to joining Matrix, Zachary practised for several years in international arbitration and public international law at Freshfields in Paris. Zachary is recognised as a leading specialist in public international law and arbitration by Chambers and Partners and Legal 500. He was named International Arbitration 'Junior of the Year' at the 2011 Chambers and Partners Bar Awards.
Zachary has been instructed by States in relation to proceedings in the International Court of Justice and the Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. He has acted as counsel in investment treaty arbitrations and commercial arbitrations under the ICC, LCIA, SCC, UNCITRAL and ICSID Arbitration Rules and in cases before the English courts and other municipal courts relating to state immunity, human rights and humanitarian law, state succession, challenges to investment treaty awards and money-laundering.
Zachary has been appointed as an arbitrator in more than thirty cases under the LCIA, ICC, UNCITRAL and ICSID Rules, including as chairman and as sole-arbitrator.
Zachary has acted for individuals and companies in proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights. He has also acted in dozens of cases before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, having formerly represented the International Olympic Committee.
In addition to contentious matters, Zachary has advised governments on issues of public international law (law of the sea, treaty law, international human rights, sovereign immunity, humanitarian law, state succession), arbitration legislation and constitutional reform.
Zachary is fluent in both Russian and French and has conducted bilingual arbitration proceedings in Russian.
Zachary's academic research is currently focused on investment treaty arbitration and the application of international norms in domestic legal orders. He is the author of one of the leading studies on investment treaty arbitration 'The International Law of Investment Claims' published by Cambridge University Press in 2009.