Sophy Helgesen is an English-qualified solicitor in the London office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and a member of the firm’s Dispute Resolution and International Arbitration Groups.

Sophy specialises in international arbitration, with extensive experience in investment treaty cases and complex commercial arbitrations under ICSID, UNCITRAL and LCIA rules, across a range of sectors including energy, mining, construction and media, and associated English High Court applications.

Her investment treaty experience includes acting for investors in a major oil company in long-running multi-billion dollar proceedings against the Russian Federation under the Energy Charter Treaty, and for an international media company in an investment treaty dispute with a foreign state under ICSID rules. She was part of the team awarded International Arbitration Team of the Year at the 2020 British Legal Awards for its work on the Ipek Interim Measures Award.

Sophy’s recent commercial arbitration experience includes acting for a global engineering company in a multi-billion dollar ICC arbitration arising out of a Middle Eastern airport project, and for a global mining company in a multi-billion dollar LCIA arbitration concerning a long-term supply contract.

She also has considerable experience in financial regulatory and white collar crime investigations.

Sophy spent four years leading the London office’s pro bono committee and initiating and overseeing a number of human rights law research projects for various NGOs and human rights agencies.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Sophy trained in the London office of a Magic Circle law firm, where she spent six months seconded to the arbitration team in its Prague office. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oxford in 2009. She speaks fluent German.