Shirin Gurdova is an associate at Wordstone Dispute Resolution, specializing in international arbitration. She has represented corporations, state-owned entities and States, in international commercial arbitrations and investor-State disputes both ad hoc (UNCITRAL) and under the auspices of major arbitral institutions (ICC and ICSID). Her experience covers a wide range of sectors, including energy, construction and banking.

Before joining Wordstone, Shirin worked as an associate at an arbitration law firm in Paris and, prior to that, at the international arbitration practice of a global law firm in Ashgabat.

Shirin served as a Co-Chair of Young ICCA, a leading arbitration organization for young practitioners and students operating under the auspices of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) between 2022 and 2024.

• Representing a state-owned entity of an Eastern European country against the state-owned entity of another Eastern European country under the ICC Rules in relation to a breach of a gas supply contract.
• Represented an Asian oil company against the Kingdom of Bahrain under the ICSID Arbitration Rules in relation to the expropriation of its investment in the Bahraini banking sector.
• Represented private Middle Eastern  shareholder banks in a Bahraini Bank against the Kingdom of Bahrain under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules in a multi-million investment treaty dispute.
• Represented Lebanese and UK investors against the Republic of Kazakhstan in an investment treaty dispute under the ICSID framework in relation to the expropriation of a pharmaceutical plant valued at USD 140 million.
• Represented Gulf Country in an ICC arbitration seated in Paris in proceedings commenced by an Asian construction company in relation to the construction of a waste composting plant.
• Represented a Middle Eastern investor in an investment treaty dispute against South Korea under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules in relation to the privatization of a State-owned company.
• Represented Turkmenistan in an ICSID arbitration brought by a UK investor in relation to the construction of highway bridges and overpasses valued at USD 100 million.
• Represented Turkmenistan in an ICSID arbitration brought by a Turkish investor in relation to its claims under State contracts concerning construction projects valued at USD 300 million.
• Advised the members of a European consortium regarding the validity of their potential claim in relation to an oil marine complex.

Georgetown University Law Center, LLM in International and Economic Law, 2022

University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute of Geneva, LLM in International Dispute Settlement (MIDS), 2016

Riga Graduate School of Law, LLM in Public International Law and Human Rights, 2014

American University of Central Asia, Diploma in Law, 2013

Qualified to represent clients across courts in Turkmenistan and the Kyrgyz Republic (Civil matters).

English, Russian, French, Turkish, Turkmen and Iranian Farsi

• Overview of Investment Arbitration Involving Turkmenistan (a section in the book chapter about investment arbitration in Central Asia), Open-Source Book on “Investment Law, Justice, and Sustainable Development”, 2024
• The State’s Right to Regulate in light of Climate Change, Book Chapter in the Open-Source Book on “Investment Law, Justice, and Sustainable Development”, 2024
• Azerbaijan Adopts a New Law on Arbitration (co-authored), Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 2024
• Procedural Order No. 1: practical aspects and key issues (co-authored), Collection of Articles by the International Commercial Court at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Kyrgyz Republic, 2023
• Bifurcation, Wiki Note, Jus Mundi, 2020
• Corruption (co-authored), Wiki Note, Jus Mundi, 2020
• Caspian – Enclosed Sea or Lake, Article, Latvian Institute of International Affairs, 2014

• Co-Chair at Young ICCA, 2022-2024
• Events Coordinator at Young ICCA, 2019-2021
• Member of the Executive Committee of Rising Arbitrators Initiative (RAI), 2020-2022
• Member of the Law Alumni Advisory Board of the American University of Central Asia