Bledi is a disputes specialist who advises on international arbitration and commercial litigation. He has worked on a wide range of disputes, including banking, corporate, construction, intellectual property, oil & gas, and fraud disputes. Many of the disputes Bledi has assisted with have been multi-jurisdictional or cross-border, involving multiple jurisdictions such as the UK, EU, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and the US. He has appeared before the High Court, Court of Appeal, Privy Council and Supreme Court.
His clients are companies, state entities and high-net-worth individuals.
Bledi can speak English, Italian, Albanian, and conversational Spanish and is currently learning Russian.
Expertise
- International arbitration
- Commercial litigation
- Construction disputes
- Banking disputes
- Oil and gas disputes
- Fraud and trust disputes
- Intellectual property disputes
Experience
Arbitration
- Represented Italian investors in their investment treaty claim against an East African state for cancellation of a biofuels start-up project ($100 million value).
- Represented a Kazakh oil company in a London-seated UNCITRAL arbitration in the defence of a claim against a bank for breach of a corporate guarantee in relation to a construction project.
- Acted successfully for a Slovenian oil and gas company in a London-seated LCIA arbitration claim against a Croatian company for damages over $32 million arising out of a contract for the supply of petrol-related products.
- Acted successfully for an international construction company in a London-seated arbitration in a claim against a state respondent for damages of $6 billion arising out of a contract for the supply and processing of natural gas.
- Assisted in enforcement proceedings against a state respondent in respect of $350 million New York Convention arbitration award in the UK courts leading to a settlement.
- Acted for the majority shareholders of a BVI company in an unfair prejudice dispute in an ICC Arbitration and construction of the arbitration clause in a shareholder agreement which was ultimately decided in our clients’ favour in the Privy Council (Anzen Limited and Others v Hermes One Limited [2016] UKPC 1).
- Acted for a Brazilian oil and gas company in a London-seated arbitration against a Norwegian rig.
- Advised a Russian company in an LCIA claim in relation to a Put Option involving the operation of a copper mine.
Litigation
- Acted successfully for a wealthy Kuwaiti family in a claim for over $21 million against Credit Suisse UK Ltd for breach of FSA/FCA rules in selling index-linked notes and a related London-seated LCIA arbitration claim following the litigation.
- Acted for two governors of London schools, involving high-profile individuals in a claim involving conspiracy, fraud and breach of statutory law.
- Acted for the designer of the Stormtrooper helmets used in the Star Wars films in relation to unsuccessful copyright infringement proceedings brought by Lucasfilm in the Supreme Court (Lucasfilm Limited and Others v Ainsworth and Another [2011] UKSC 39).
- Acted for a Brazilian oil and gas company in one of the biggest recognition cases of cross-border insolvency in England and Wales.
- Acted for Russian Commercial Bank (Cyprus) Ltd in contempt proceedings against a defendant (Russian Commercial Bank (Cyprus) Ltd v Fedor Khoroshilov [2013] EWHC 3139 (QB), [2013] EWHC 4433 (Comm)).
- Acted for OJSC VTB Bank against two Russian directors and an English company in a tort and conspiracy claim in the Commercial Court (OJSC VTB Bank v Parline Limited and Others [2015] EWHC 1135).
- Acted for a travel company and related property companies in litigation against a former finance director for an account and payment of sums found to be due from the finance director in the Chancery Division and Court of Appeal.
- Advised the directors of a BVI company developing a villa complex in Brazil and bringing a successful injunction in the High Court to enforce a contractual option under section 44 of the Arbitration Act 1996.
- Assisted in Inversiones Frieira & Others v Colyzeo Investors II LP & Others [2011] EWHC (Ch) 1762 involving the rights of limited partners in a real estate equity fund to the delivery up of its books and records.
- Assisted the defendants in one of the longest contempt hearings before the Commercial Court (Munib Masri v Consolidated Contractors International Company SAL & Others [2011] EWHC 1024 (Comm)).
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Recognition
Recognised by The Legal 500 2021 for Fraud: Civil
Career
Bledi qualified as a solicitor in 2016. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2019, he worked at the following firms:
- Cubism Law
- SCA Ontier