Barristers

Chester Brown

Chester BrownChester Brown
Overview

Chester’s practice focuses on international arbitration and other general commercial matters, and encompasses advisory work and appearances in court and before arbitral tribunals. He has particular expertise in disputes which raise issues of public and private international law, and he is presently engaged in a number of disputes arising under bilateral and multilateral investment treaties.

He was previously an Assistant Legal Adviser at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, and a Senior Associate in the International Law and International Arbitration Group of Clifford Chance LLP, London. He is Professor of International Law and International Arbitration at the University of Sydney Law School, and an overseas associate of Essex Court Chambers, London.

Chester is frequently ranked in Legal 500, Best Lawyers and Doyles Guide Australia. Most recently, Chester was ranked as a Leading Junior Band 2 in Legal 500's Asia-Pacific Australia Bar Guide in Commercial Disputes with feedback including:
'Chester is a leading Australian expert on matters of public international law and has a depth of expertise and experience in investor-state dispute settlement that is rare in the Australian market.'

Recent Cases
Perspective

Admissions and Appointments
  • Admitted to the New South Wales Bar: 2010
  • Fellow of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration: 2009
  • Admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales: 2007
  • Admitted as Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria: 2000
Qualifications
  • Certificate in Law, War and Human Rights, London School of Economics: 2008
  • PhD in public international law, St John’s College, University of Cambridge: 2001 – 2004
  • BCL (Distinction), Magdalen College, University of Oxford: 2000 - 2001
  • BA (German and French) (1st Class Hons), University of Melbourne: 1991 - 1998
  • LLB (1st Class Hons), University of Melbourne: 1992 - 1997
Practice Areas
Arbitration
Commercial Law
Equity & Trusts
International Law
Publications
  • Malcolm Holmes QC and Chester Brown, The International Arbitration Act 1974: A Commentary (LexisNexis, 3rd ed, 2018)
  • Chester Brown (ed), Commentaries on Selected Model Investment Treaties (OUP, 2013)
  • Chester Brown and Kate Miles (eds), Evolution in Investment Treaty Law and Arbitration (CUP, 2011)
  • Chester Brown, A Common Law of International Adjudication (OUP, 2007)