Nicolle Kownacki
Biography
Overview
Nicolle Kownacki is a Partner in the Firm's International Arbitration and Litigation Groups. She represents and advises foreign sovereigns, international organizations, financial institutions, and private companies in the resolution of complex international disputes.
Nicolle has extensive litigation experience representing clients under the US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, the Anti-Terrorism Act, the Federal Arbitration Act, and 28 U.S.C. § 1782 (for discovery in aid of foreign proceedings), as well as in commercial disputes. Named a "rising star" and 40 under 40 by Bloomberg (2021) and Law360 (2022), she routinely litigates international and cross-border disputes in DC, New York, and federal district and appeals courts across the country. She also has represented clients in arbitrations before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and in other forums. In 2019, she won a case before the US Supreme Court on behalf of the Republic of the Sudan arising under the "terrorism exception" to foreign sovereign immunity.
Nicolle previously worked on extradition and mutual legal assistance requests to and from Mexico, as an international analyst at the US Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Office of International Affairs. She also previously worked as a clerk at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Office of the Prosecutor, in The Hague, Netherlands.
Nicolle is actively involved in pro bono matters, including a matter in which she argued and won the vacatur of a preliminary injunction before the DC Court of Appeals on First Amendment and employment law issues.
Experience
US Litigations on Behalf of Foreign Sovereigns and State-Owned Entities, International Institutions, and Multinationals:
- Successfully obtained vacatur of multi-million dollar default judgments in Republic of Sudan v. Harrison, 139 S. Ct. 1048 (2019).
- Successfully defended premier Saudi bank alleged to have financially supported terrorism. Won pre-trial dismissal of consolidated multidistrict actions claiming over US$1 billion in the Southern District of New York; won appeal in Second Circuit and successfully opposed US Supreme Court review.
- Successfully resisted enforcement of $200 million sanctions judgment against state-owned entity in long-running litigation under FSIA expropriation exception; obtained vacatur of underlying judgment and turnover order against the sovereign.
- Successfully defended international organization in trial involving organizational immunities issues and breach of contract claims in the DC District Court.
- Successfully obtained dismissal of all claims against multilateral international organization in price-fixing antitrust action in the US District Court for the District of Columbia and successfully defended dismissal on appeal to the DC Circuit.
- Successfully obtained dismissal of all claims in breach of contract action against foreign-state owned oil company in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
- Successfully obtained dismissal of all claims in Southern District of New York action against INTERPOL by asserting sovereign immunity defense under International Organizations Immunities Act.
US Litigations Related to the Enforcement of Judgments and International Arbitration Awards:
- Successfully obtained recognition and satisfaction of ICSID award against Republic of Guatemala in the US District Court for the District of Columbia and obtained attachment of sovereign bond payment in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
- Successfully represented multinational company against the Municipality of Lima, Peru in seeking enforcement and resisting vacatur of two arbitral awards totaling $200 million in the DC District Court.
- Representing the Republic of India in global proceedings to resist the enforcement of two arbitral awards, including in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the DC Circuit, and a related proceeding in the US Supreme Court.
- Representing foreign sovereign in litigation before the US District Court for the District of Columbia to resist the enforcement of +US$50 billion arbitration award.
- Successfully represented foreign-state-owned company in defense of +US$18 billion arbitral award in US District Court for the Southern District of Texas and the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
- Represented the Republic of Uzbekistan in Oxus Gold v. Republic of Uzbekistan, an UNCITRAL arbitration under the UK – Uzbekistan BIT in a dispute concerning mines that contain gold, silver, and other metals. Successfully defeated more than 99% of the claimant’s US$1.3 billion claim, and represented the Republic in related US litigation.
- Successfully obtained recognition of billion-dollar New York Convention awards and UK judgment against Republic of the Congo in the US District Court for the District of Columbia and Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
International Arbitrations:
- Abaclat and others v. Argentine Republic. Represented tens of thousands of Italian holders of Argentine sovereign bonds in an ICSID arbitration under the Italy-Argentina Bilateral Investment Treaty. The bondholders received a substantial settlement in resolution of all of their claims.
- Oxus Gold plc v. Republic of Uzbekistan. Represented the Republic of Uzbekistan in an UNCITRAL arbitration under the UK-Uzbekistan Bilateral Investment Treaty concerning two mining projects. Uzbekistan prevailed in obtaining the dismissal of more than 99 percent of the claimed US$ 1.33 billion in damages.
- Güneş Tekstil Konfeksiyon Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Şirketi and others v. Republic of Uzbekistan. Represented the Republic of Uzbekistan in an ICSID arbitration under the Turkey-Uzbekistan Bilateral Investment Treaty concerning a shopping complex.
Are Antitrust Violations Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude?, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers' The Champion Magazine, April 2012, (co-author with Eric Grannon)
Prospects for ICSID Arbitration in Post-Denunciation Countries: An Updated Approach, 2010, 15 UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs 529
