Parliament buildings, and city skyline of The Hague, The Netherlands.
Since retiring from the Tribunal, Judge Ameli has appeared as an expert witness for European companies in major international investment treaty arbitrations and international commercial arbitrations conducted under UNCITRAL and ICC Arbitration Rules. He has opined on issues of Iranian law, international investment law, and the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts in telecommunication and petroleum disputes regarding expropriation and breach of contract claims against Iran or Iranian state entities.
Turkcell v. Iran, BIT, PCA Case 2009- -, Final Award of 15 Oct 2014 (Neil Kaplan, Charles Brower, and M. H. Abedian, arbs.):
In Turkcell v. Iran, Judge Ameli testified for the claimant in their $600 million claim for expropriation and fair and equitable treatment under the Iran-Turkey Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments Treaty of 1996, which entered into force 13 April 2005. The claim concerned Turkcell’s 70% property interest in a 15-year license agreement with two five-year renewal options and a corresponding 70% shareholding in the operating company, Irancell Telecommunications Services Company. Irancell was to build, operate and transfer Iran’s second global system for mobile communications, for which claimant had won the public tender in February 2004 and concluded the license agreement for in September 2004 with the Iranian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. However, that license agreement was (as asserted by claimant) wrongfully, and due to a series of corrupt activities of government officials and state organs, reassigned to MTN of South Africa. In that case, Judge Ameli was instructed by international law firms Clifford Chance, and later, DLA Piper.
The Award in this case is in the public domain, as it was published at the time, although it has been withdrawn now. The Award has also been widely reported on here:
https://www.iareporter.com/arbitration-cases/turkcell-v-iran/ (subscription required)
http://www.pattonboggs.com/professional/kristen-johnson
https://www.dlapiper.com/en/france/people/o/ostrove-michael/?tab=experience
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=5c92925e-6f97-4189-9495-4a7553e5e7a9
http://globalarbitrationreview.com/news/article/33081/iran-wins-landmark-investor-state-case/ (subscription required)
https://www.iareporter.com/articles/long-confidential-turkcell-v-iran-award-reveals-reasons-for-tribunal-divergence-and-brower-dissent-as-well-as-tribunals-views-of-corruption-investigation-led-by-lord-hoffman/ (subscription required)
East Asian Consortium v. Iran Electric Development Company, ICC Case 15597, Final Award of 17 April 2012 (KH Bockstiegel, B. Hanotiau and J. Seifi, arbs.):
In East Asian Consortium v. Iran Electric, Judge Ameli testified for the claimant against the respondent state entity in their claim for $600 million in damages for breach of the shareholders agreement of the operating company, Irancell Telecommunications Services Company. The respondent was the claimant’s local minority shareholder in the operating company and minority partner in the License Agreement for Iran’s second GSM telecommunication project with the Iranian Government, in each of which the claimant held a 70% share and ownership interest. The Award in this case has been referred to in the Turkcell Award. As in the PCA case, in this ICC case, Judge Ameli was instructed by international law firms Clifford Chance, and later, DLA Piper.
Caspian Oil Resources, Limited v. Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO), ICC Case 17553, Final Award of 9 May 2014 (Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler, Peter Leaver KC and M.H. Abedian Kalkhoran, arbs.):
In Caspian Oil Resources v. NICO, Judge Ameli testified for the claimant against the trading subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, in which the claimant sought $94 million in lost profit damages for the breach of a five-year crude oil swap and marketing contract. Judge Ameli’s testimony was vital for the success of the claimant in the case. He was instructed in the case by international law firms Salans, and later, Dentons. The Award was relied upon in in the published Partial Award on Remedies in Crescent Petroleum v. National Iranian Oil Company, PCA Case 2009-03, of 27 September 2021, paras. 504-511, in which Judge Ameli acted as co-counsel. You can read more about Judge Ameli’s work as Counsel in PCA and ICC Cases here. The Award also refers to his earlier article, in which he discussed the issue and quoted parts of the Caspian Award without identifying the parties. See, Crescent Petroleum Award, para. 375.
Crescent Petroleum Company and Crescent Gas Corporation v. National Iranian Oil Company, PCA Case 2009-20, Partial Award on Remedies of 27 September 2021 (Murray Gleeson AC, Sir Jeremy Cooke and Lord Phillips, arbs.)
In Crescent v. NIOC I, Judge Ameli acted as counsel together with the international law firm, Gibson Dunn, as counsel for claimants in their multi-billion dollar claims. His participation with the counsel team in this case has been vital for the success of the claimants, which resulted in the awarded sum of USD 2.4 billion plus interest in lost profit damages for the first 9 years of the 25-year long term of the natural gas sales contract for the claimants. The Award is available here.
The Tribunal also issued its Further Partial Award on Remedies in this case on 24 February 2025. It reserved its jurisdiction to decide the merits of a claim for declaratory relief concerning potential third-party damages, while denying other such claims as not ripe, but which may be the subject of another arbitration when they are crystalized, reserving jurisdiction for such later costs, while dismissing the respondent’s counterclaim, and awarding the claimants all their costs of arbitration by that date plus interest. The case is pending to the extent the Tribunal has reserved its jurisdiction. This Award has been reported on here (subscription required).
Crescent Petroleum Company and Crescent Gas Corporation v. National Iranian Oil Company, PCA Case 2019-03 Award on Termination [of Contract] of 5 May 2020 (Laurent Aynès, Charles Poncet and Klaus Michael Sachs, arbs.):
In Crescent Petroleum v. NIOC II, Judge Ameli acted as counsel for the claimants together international law firm, Three Crowns. His participation with the counsel team was vital for the claimants’ success in the Award. In this case, the claimants are seeking USD 32 billion in damages for the remaining 16 years of the same 25-year natural gas sales contract, based on the Award in Crescent Petroleum I PCA Case. The case in pending for the part on liability and quantification of damages. The Award on Termination was reported on here (subscription required).
ICC Case 17233 (2010), Final Award of 20 August 2012:
This ICC case was between two private Iranian businesses and their international commercial dispute for breach of a share purchase agreement concerning a Danish general trading company and related business claims. Judge Ameli, acting as counsel for the claimant, was able to persuade the ICC International Court of Arbitration to reject the designation of a co-arbitrator on the basis of his prejudgment in a related prior case and a number of other factors. However, in 2011, Judge Ameli also withdrew from the case due to a potential conflict of interest in another arbitration case.
MPC Arbitration Case No. 310552, Arbitral Award, 13 September 2018:
In this reasoned ex aequo et bono arbitration award, Judge Ameli led the counsel team for the claimant and succeeded to secure an award of damages plus interest from the date of breach to the date of payment for them. The case concerned claim of an Iranian private company against a Dutch company for breach of a dairy products sale contract and a claim for damages. MPC arbitration is organized by Gemzu, the umbrella organization of Dutch diary trade and affiliated associations, under the MPC Arbitration Regulations, which may be found here.