Ruxandra Irina Esanu specializes in international arbitration, working across both investment treaty arbitration and commercial arbitration matters. As counsel, she has acted in over 20 international arbitrations arising out of the energy, oil and gas, mining, telecommunications, real estate, armament and construction sectors in Europe and Latin America. Ruxandra has experience in arbitrations governed by a range of procedural rules, including ICC, ICSID, UNCITRAL and GAFTA, as well as in ad hoc proceedings. She has also represented clients in annulment proceedings under the ICSID Rules. Ruxandra also acts as tribunal secretary in commercial arbitrations. She routinely works in English, Spanish and French.

Ruxandra serves as a Co-Chair of the Young Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA) Mentorship Program, and is an ITA Advisory Board Representative under 40.

Alongside founding partner José Manuel García Represa, Ruxandra co-teaches the Damages module in the Transnational Dispute Settlement (TADS) LL.M. at Sciences Po University in Paris. She also teaches courses on cross-examination and procedural rules at the ARBANZA School of Arbitration. Between 2017 and 2021, Ruxandra coached a team of students from HEC University in Paris for the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. She also previously coached a team of students from Sciences Po for the Latin American International Commercial Arbitration Moot.

Prior to joining Wordstone, Ruxandra worked for nine years as an associate in the international arbitration practice of an international law firm in Paris. Before that, she was a legal intern at the Paris and London offices of another international law firm, and worked in the Bucharest offices of a French law firm. Ruxandra has also held a clerkship with the Second Civil Chamber of the French Court of cassation.

• Advising a Bolivian state entity in an arbitration before the Grain and Feed Trade Association (GAFTA) arising out of an alleged breach of a sale contract for 60,000 metric tons of wheat.
• Advising the Spanish subsidiary of an American energy company against a Spanish electric utility company in an ICC arbitration arising from a supply agreement for a generator circuit-breaker in nuclear plant.
• Advising a Bolivian state entity against an Indian company in an ICC arbitration arising from a contract for the joint exploitation of a mining concession.
• Advising an Asian State against four French defense companies in two ICC commercial arbitrations arising from a military procurement contract and the payment of illicit commissions.
• Advising two major Eastern European construction companies in an ICC arbitration arising from a major highway design and construction project in Bulgaria.
• Advising a European State in an ICC commercial arbitration arising from the construction of a bridge and associated infrastructure.
• Advising an Italian pharmaceutical company against a Chinese pharmaceutical distributor in a HKIAC arbitration arising from disputes in Hong Kong and England related to the distribution of pharmaceuticals in China.
• Advising a Chinese railway rolling stock manufacturer against a Cameroonian rail company in an ad hoc arbitration under the rules of UNCITRAL arising from several international sales contracts of trains.
• Advising a group of Costa Rican and Dutch investors, Álvarez y Marín Corporación S.A. and others, against the Republic of Panama in an ICSID arbitration arising from the construction and development of an ecotourism resort on the Panamanian coast.
• Advising the Georgian State in an ICSID arbitration against Mr. Nasib Hasanov arising from the acquisition of a controlling interest in a Georgian telecommunications company which is the sole owner of a major submarine fibre optic cable in the Black Sea.
• Advising the Argentine Republic in an ICSID arbitration arising out of tariff calculation and adjustment mechanisms with regard to several electricity generation companies in Argentina.
• Advising the Plurinational State of Bolivia against South American Silver Ltd. in a PCA arbitration under UNCITRAL Rules arising from the reversion of mining licenses.
• Advising the Plurinational State of Bolivia against Glencore (Bermuda) Finance in a PCA arbitration under the UNCITRAL Rules arising from the reversion of Bolivia’s largest tin/zinc mine (Colquiri), a tin smelter and an antimony smelter.
• Advising the Plurinational State of Bolivia against a U.S. citizen and the Bolivian company in which he owns a controlling interest in a PCA arbitration under the rules of UNCITRAL arising from a mining concession held by the company in Bolivia.
• Advising the Republic of Colombia against Glencore International A.G. and C.I. Prodeco S.A. in an ICSID arbitration arising from the alleged threat of annulling a modification of a mining exploitation contract for a large-scale coal project in Colombia.
• Advising the Republic of Colombia against América Móvil S.A.B. de C.V. in an ICSID arbitration arising from the State’s enforcement of a contractual clause regulating the restitution of assets to the State after the termination of a concession contract for the provision of mobile telecom services in Colombia.
• Advising the Republic of Colombia against Telefónica S.A in an ICSID arbitration arising from the State’s enforcement of a contractual clause regulating the restitution of assets to the State after the termination of a concession.
• Advising the Republic of Colombia against Glencore International A.G., C. I. Prodeco S.A. and Sociedad Portuaria Puerto Nuevo S.A. in an ICSID arbitration arising from the construction and maintenance of a port facility.
• Advising the Republic of Ecuador in two ICSID arbitrations arising from the termination of a participation contract to explore and operate petroleum fields, which also involved a counterclaim for the environmental harm caused to the Amazonian rainforest.
• Advising the Republic of Ecuador and its National Mining Company (Enami EP) against a Chilean company in an ICC arbitration arising out of a copper mining project.
• Advising the Republic of Guatemala against an Israeli investor in a PCA arbitration under the UNCITRAL Rules arising from a change in the energy distribution market and the tax framework.
• Advising the Republic of Paraguay against a Portuguese construction company in a PCA arbitration under the UNCITRAL Rules arising from the construction of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.

Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), B.A., Political Science, 2010

Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), M.A., Economic Law, 2013

Paris Bar School, Certificat d’aptitude à la profession d’avocat (CAPA), 2015

Paris

French, English, Romanian and Spanish

• Churchill Mining Plc and Planet Mining Pty Ltd v. Republic of Indonesia — ICSID Reports, pp. 527- 553 (2020) (co-author)
• The State of Necessity in Public Health Emergency Measures: A Proposition from the Latin American Experience – TDM 4/2022 (co-author)

• Co-Chair, Young Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA) Mentorship Program
• ITA Advisory Board Representative under 40
• Member of ArbitralWomen
• Member of the Comité Français de l’Arbitrage
• Member of the French chapter of the Club Español e Iberoamericano del Arbitraje