LL.M. Programme in Arbitration & Dispute Resolution

Speaker: Robert Volterra, Partner at the Public International Law Firm of Volterra Fietta, London
Chair: James Fry, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong
Date: 22 October 2025
Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm
Venue: Academic Conference Room, 11/F, Cheng Yu Tung Tower, HKU
For Registration, please click here.

About the Speaker:
Robert Volterra has acted as counsel or arbitrator in more than 80 investment arbitration cases. He has unparalleled experience before the ICJ and various international tribunals. He has been teaching for over the past twenty-five years. He is a Visiting Professor at UCL and a Visiting Senior Lecturer at KCL. The Chambers and Partners has ranked his practice in the top tier for the past 25 years and describe him as “probably the best public international lawyer on the planet.”

About the Lecture:
States retain an inherent right to regulate, even when such regulation results in economic loss for foreign investors. Measures falling within this doctrine are not considered expropriation and do not trigger compensation obligations owned to investors. The doctrine reflects not only legal principle but also philosophical questions about the limits of State sovereignty, the protection of foreign investments, and the discretion to arbitral tribunals. This lecture explores the tensions and trade-offs in balancing sovereign regulatory autonomy with the investors’ rights.