Overview

Maurice is an international disputes lawyer focused on the energy and natural resources sectors and head of our international arbitration and transnational litigation practice. He is also known for his experience in complex insurance coverage issues where he has acted for various clients in numerous high profile matters over the last 20 years.

Educated in both South Africa and England, he has worked across five continents and handled disputes in the mining, oil and gas, renewables, power generation, telecommunications, infrastructure and insurance sectors. He has built a track-record leading teams and arbitrating cases under the ICC, LCIA and UNCITRAL rules, as well as at ICSID and in the English High Court. Maurice is described in Legal 500 as a “world-class litigator” with “particularly impressive” work in Africa.

Maurice has also assisted clients with corporate internal investigations and World Bank corruption investigations, while his extensive insurance experience is predominantly related to engineering, energy, mining and construction policies frequently involving business interruption and delay in start-up issues.

Experience

  • Representing the Natural Gas Infrastructure Company of Cyprus in an LCIA arbitration proceedings concerning the construction of an onshore and offshore floating LNG and regassification facility in Cyprus.
  • Representing Medco in ICC arbitration proceedings with the National Oil Company of Libya where disagreement about the method of developing the oil and gas field gave rise to a £1.5 billion dispute.
  • Representing Heritage Oil in an ICC arbitration against Tanzania concerning changes to legislation resulted in a bet the company dispute under a contractual stabilization clause.
  • Representing ZCCM in a multi-billion dollar UNCITRAL arbitration with Vedanta involving its investment in Konkola Copper Mines in Zambia and winding up proceedings initiated by the Government of Zambia.
  • Representing a mobile telecommunications company in LCIA arbitration proceedings concerning financial instruments issued in connection with a telecommunications network infrastructure project in Turkey.
  • Representing a Ghanaian state-owned oil storage and transportation company in proceedings involving the construction and use of a tank farm.
  • Representing an Australian mining company in ICSID arbitration and annulment proceedings concerning the wrongful seizure of a mineral sands mining and processing business in West Africa. ICSID case ARB/09/19.
  • Representing an independent oil company in ICSID arbitration proceedings against The Gambia. ICSID cases ARB/14/6, ARB/14/7, ARB/17/38, ARB/17/39, ARB/17/40.
  • Representing two former directors of a Cayman registered oil and gas production company in negligence proceedings in the English Commercial court.
  • Representing reinsurers in a £72 million contractual dispute in the English Commercial Court involving a dispute about damage to and the subsequent decommissioning of a power station.
  • Representing reinsurers following catastrophic flood damage to a run of the river hydro-electric facility in India.
  • Advising the owner of a hydroelectric power generation facility in Scotland on insurance issues arising from machinery breakdown.
  • Advising on liability and insurance issues following a multi-bench pit wall collapse at an open pit diamond mine in Botswana.
  • Representing the reinsurance market in a $600 million property damage and business interruption claim relating to the Samarco tailings dam collapse in Brazil.
  • Representing the reinsurance market in LCIA arbitration proceedings in relation to damage and delays in the construction of a dam and hydroelectric power project in Brazil.
  • Advising on English law insurance issues for the team representing Larry Silverstein in the New York Court insurance proceedings following the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001.
  • Conducting, on behalf of a minority shareholder, a wide ranging internal investigation into the mining, processing, financing and sales activities of an integrated copper and cobalt mining and processing business in Africa.
  • Conducting an internal investigation into suspected corruption within an internal business unit of a multinational telecommunications company.
  • Conducting an internal investigation and defending a Chinese state-owned road construction company in World Bank INT bribery and corruption investigations.

Accolades

Honors & Recognitions

News

Education

LLM, University of Kent, 1993

LLB, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 1991

BA, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 1989

Admissions

England and Wales (Solicitor)

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