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About
Dr Hailes joined LSE as an Assistant Professor of Law in January 2023, where he teaches all aspects of international law and arbitration, including advanced courses on energy, investment, and environmental law. He is also Academic Director of Mooting and co-coaches LSE’s team for the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.
Oliver is Assistant General Editor of the ICSID Reports, previously co-Editor-in-Chief of the Cambridge International Law Journal (CILJ), and a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of International Economic Law (JIEL) and the Review of Comparative, European & International Environmental Law (RECIEL). He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Academic Forum on Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) and an expert group on fossil fuel supply and just transition reporting to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Environmental Law.
Oliver has presented his research on international arbitration and energy transition to leading universities around the world, as well as to governments (eg UK Department for Business and Trade) and international organisations (eg OPEC Fund for International Development). He has contributed to expert opinions for NGOs and to submissions before international tribunals, including the advisory proceedings on climate change before the International Court of Justice and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Before LSE, Oliver earned his LLM (First Class) in International Law and PhD in Law at the University of Cambridge as a Woolf Fisher Scholar, held short-term research and teaching posts, practised commercial litigation, and clerked for an appellate court. He earned his first degrees in law and politics from the University of Otago and remains enrolled as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand.
Research
Research Interests
- Public international law
- International dispute settlement
- International economic law
- International environmental law
- International energy law
- Investment treaty arbitration
- International commercial arbitration
- State responsibility
- History of international law
Publications
‘A Reasonably Well Organized Modern State’: Investment Treaty Arbitration and the Reformation of Economic Sovereignty in Customary International Law (PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, October 2023)
Jorge E Viñuales and Michael Waibel (eds), ICSID Reports, Volume 20: Attribution of Conduct to the State (Cambridge University Press 2022) (as Assistant General Editor)
Jorge E Viñuales and Michael Waibel (eds), ICSID Reports, Volume 19: The Meaning of Investment (Cambridge University Press 2021) (as Assistant General Editor)
Jorge E Viñuales and Michael Waibel (eds), ICSID Reports, Volume 18: Defence Arguments in Investment Arbitration (Cambridge University Press 2020) (as Assistant General Editor)
- ‘Fossil fuel abolition in international law and arbitration’ Journal of Environmental Law (2026)
- 'Mismatched commitments: treaty law solutions for multilateral ISDS reform' Journal of International Economic Law (2025) (with Daniel Peat and Chunlei Zhao)
- ‘Article 5: Conduct of Persons or Entities Exercising Elements of Governmental Authority’ in Patrícia Galvão Teles and Pierre Bodeau-Livinec (eds), The Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts: A Commentary (Oxford University Press forthcoming) (with Jorge E Viñuales).
- ‘Valuation of Compensation in Fossil Fuel Phase-Out Disputes’ in Anja Ipp and Annette Magnusson (eds), Investment Arbitration and Climate Change (Kluwer Law International 2024) 139–161.
- ‘Article 5 of the ARSIWA: Conduct of Empowered Entities’ in Andreas Kulick and Michael Waibel (eds), General International Law in International Investment Law: A Commentary (Oxford University Press 2024) 264–279 (with Jorge E Viñuales).
- ‘Police Powers in a Pandemic: Investment Treaty Interpretation and the Customary Presumption of Reasonable Regulation’ in Panos Merkouris, Andreas Kulick, José Manuel Álvarez-Zarate and Maciej Żenkiewicz (eds), Custom and its Interpretation in International Investment Law (Cambridge University Press 2024) 233–260.
- ‘From Guano to Green Hydrogen: Food Security and Fertilizer Disputes in International Energy Law’ (2023) 26 Journal of International Economic Law 663–683.
- ‘The Energy Transition at a Critical Juncture’ (2023) 26 Journal of International Economic Law 627–648 (with Jorge E Viñuales).
- ‘Putting to Work the Uncanny: Historical Argument in International Economic Law’ (2023) Global Intellectual History, 1–17, DOI: 10.1080/23801883.2023.2183880.
- ‘Unjust Enrichment in Investor-State Arbitration: A Principled Limit on Compensation for Future Income from Fossil Fuels’ (2023) 32 Review of Comparative, European and International Environmental Law 358–370.
- ‘The Customary Duty to Prevent Unabated Fossil Fuel Production: A Tipping Point for Energy Investment Arbitration?’ (2023) Transnational Dispute Management, 1–39, URL: https://www.transnational-dispute-management.com/article.asp?key=2984.
- ‘Lithium in International Law: Trade, Investment, and the Pursuit of Supply Chain Justice’ (2022) 25 Journal of International Economic Law 148–170.
- ‘The Politics of Property in Constitutional Reform’ (2017) 15 New Zealand Journal of Public and International Law 229–263.
- ‘The Trans-Pacific Partnership in New Zealand’s Constitution’ (2016) 27 New Zealand Universities Law Review 226–262 (with Andrew Geddis).
- Tethyan Copper Company Pty Limited v. Islamic Republic of Pakistan, ICSID Case No. ARB/12/1, 20 ICSID Reports 453 (case summary).
- Enkev Beheer BV v. Republic of Poland, PCA Case No. 2013-01, 19 ICSID Reports 630 (case summary).
- Standard Chartered Bank v. United Republic of Tanzania, ICSID Case No. ARB/10/12, 19 ICSID Reports 485 (case summary).
- Philip Morris Brands Sàrl and others v. Oriental Republic of Uruguay, ICSID Case No. ARB/10/7, 18 ICSID Reports 450 (case summary).
Teaching
Engagement and impact
Engagement and Impact
- Webinar: Investment Arbitration and Climate Change(International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), 8 April 2024).
- Webinar: Investment Arbitration and Climate Change(Wolters Kluwer, 7 March 2024).
- Webinar: Energy Dependence and Supply Security: Energy Law in the New Geopolitical Reality(Association of International Energy Negotiators (AIEN), 12 December 2023).
- Interview: Caroline Simson, ‘"White Gold’ Will Color Next Generation of Energy Disputes’ (Law360, 16 June 2023).
- Blog: ‘Human Rights in the Hyphen: Reframing Investor-State Arbitration Through the Duty to Regulate’ (Völkerrechtsblog, 12 March 2021).
- Blog: ‘Epidemic Sovereignty? Contesting Investment Treaty Claims Arising From Coronavirus Measures’ (EJIL:Talk!, 27 March 2020).