Linklaters represented the Public Bar Association of the City of Buenos Aires and a group of leading Argentine scholars in an amicus brief that helped secure the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s historic reversal of the largest judgment ever entered against a sovereign state in a U.S. court.
Argentine President Javier Milei remarked this victory as “historic, unthinkable, the greatest legal achievement in national history.”
The case arose out of the Republic of Argentina’s expropriation of shares in YPF, the country’s largest energy company. In 2023, the Southern District of New York entered a $16.1 billion judgment against Argentina.
Linklaters’ amicus brief argued that the District Court misapplied Argentine law, and in doing so, recognized a cause of action that does not exist under Argentine law—damages for bylaws breach between shareholders. Adopting the brief’s central arguments, the Second Circuit held that plaintiffs’ contract-based damages claims were not cognizable under Argentine civil or corporate law.
The Linklaters team was led by Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations Partners Adam Lurie and Patrick Ashby and Latin America Corporate Finance Partner Emilio Minvielle. The team also included Associates Aviva Kushner, Nicolle Sayers, Bhavana Sunder, Ty Cadogan, and Thomas Tiphaine-Koffman.
