Nick Gallus

Expertise and Practice

Nick has extensive experience in Australia and abroad, as a solicitor and advocate for states, companies and individuals in courts and in investment treaty and commercial arbitrations, WTO disputes, and treaty negotiations. His current clients include governments around the world and major resource companies and his work has involved a broad range of sectors, including energy & resources, construction, aerospace and finance.

Nick teaches international dispute resolution at Adelaide University and taught the subject at Monash and Queen’s Universities. His writing appears in leading international academic journals and his books have been published by Oxford University Press, LexisNexis and BIICL.

Nick has a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Economics from Flinders University, and a Master of Laws (First Class Honours) and a Master of Economics from the University of Oxford, where he studied under a Rhodes Scholarship. Nick is admitted in the Supreme Courts of South Australia, Victoria and England and Wales. He has worked in Canada and France.

In Doyle’s Guide 2022 and 2024, Nick was recommended as a leading Australian Arbitration Lawyer.

Project Highlights

Energy & Resources

Investment Treaty Restructuring

Advising Australian resource companies operating abroad on restructuring for investment treaty protection.

ICSID Award Enforcement

Representing the European Commission as intervener in enforcement proceedings before Australian courts.

Mobil v Canada

Lead Counsel for Canada in an ICSID investment treaty arbitration with Mobil regarding regulation of the oil industry.

MCI New Turbine v Ecuador

Counsel for a US energy company in an ICSID investment treaty arbitration regarding power generation.

Japan and EU v Canada

Counsel for Canada in WTO disputes with Japan and the EU regarding renewable energy.

Petrochemical Pricing

Counsel for a major oil company in an ICC contract arbitration regarding petrochemical pricing.

Construction

new Royal Adelaide Hospital

Representing the South Australian State Government on various strategic and legal issues, including acting in arbitral and Federal Court proceedings. Issues included major defaults, delays and disruption arising out of the AU$2.5 billion public-private partnership for the design, construction and operation of the State’s major health facility.

Oil Refinery Upgrade

Counsel for a state-owned oil company in an ICC contract arbitration arising from delay in the upgrade of an oil refinery.

Financial

Continental Casualty Company v Argentina

Counsel for a US insurance company in an ICSID investment treaty arbitration arising from the Argentine financial crisis.

Insurance Regulation

Expert on international law for an insurance company in an investment treaty arbitration with a European country regarding regulation of the financial sector.

Aerospace

Aircraft Warranty Dispute

Counsel for a major aircraft company in an ICC arbitration with a European country regarding the scope of an aircraft warranty.

Satellites

Acting for and against satellite companies in disputes.

Publications

Published Books

Annotated Investment Treaty Provisions of Australia’s ASIAN FTAs

(with Kanaga Dharmananda SC, Lee Carroll, Jo Feldman and Leon Firios), LexisNexis (2027)

The Temporal Jurisdiction of International Tribunals

Oxford University Press (2017)

The Temporal Scope of Investment Protection Treaties

British Institute of International and Comparative Law (2008)

Published Articles and Chapters

Managing Contracts Through an Oil Shock

LK Insights, Nick Gallus and Alison Rahier (April 2026)

Australia’s Cabotage Rules Limit Using Queensland Gas to Fill the Southern States’ Shortfall

Australian Energy Producers Journal 66 (2026) (with David Close)

The Legacy of Salini and Non-Profit Organizations Claiming Under Investment Treaties

10(2) EIALR (2025) (with Liam McInerney)

Investment Treaty Claims by Australian Resource and Energy Companies

42(1) ARELJ (2023) (with Liam McInerney)

Article 28 of the VCLT and Investment Treaty Claims

31(2) ICSID Review 290 (2017)

Pac Rim v El Salvador Case Note

28(1) ICSID Review 15 (2013)

Protection of U.S. Non-Governmental Organizations in Egypt under the Egypt – U.S. Bilateral Investment Treaty

14(3) The International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law 62 (2013)

The ‘Fair and Equitable Treatment’ Standard and the Circumstances of the Host State

in Chester Brown and Kate Miles (eds), Evolution in Investment Treaty Law and Arbitration, Cambridge University Press (2011)

National Grid v Argentina Case Note

103 American Journal of International Law 722 (2009)

Recent BIT Decisions and Composite Acts Straddling the Date the Treaty Comes Into Force

56 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 491 (2007)

International Investment Treaty Protection of Not-for-Profit Organizations

10(1) The International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law (with Luke Eric Peterson) (2007)

An Umbrella Just For Two? BIT Obligations Observance Clauses and the Parties to a Contract

24(1) Arbitration International 157 (2007)

International Investment Treaty Protection of NGOs

22(4) Arbitration International 527 (with Luke Eric Peterson) (2006)

State Enterprises as Organs of the State and BIT Claims

7(5) Journal of World Investment and Trade 761 (2006)