State Department Appoints Covington’s Johnson to Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal
February 7, 2012
WASHINGTON, DC, February 7, 2012 — The U.S. Department of State has appointed O. Thomas Johnson Jr., a long-time partner and senior counsel in Covington & Burling’s global arbitration practice, to the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague, effective April 1st.
The Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal was established in January 1981 to resolve existing disputes between the two countries and their nationals in the aftermath of the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran. It is comprised of nine judges: three appointed by Iran, three by the U.S. and three by the party-appointed members acting jointly or, in absence of agreement, by an appointing authority.
At Covington, Mr. Johnson’s practice has focused on international boundary disputes, international investment disputes and international commercial arbitrations. In his boundaries practice, Mr. Johnson has advised governments, oil companies, and other interested parties concerning actual and potential boundary disputes. He represented Eritrea in proceedings before a special tribunal in The Hague that resolved its land-boundary dispute with Ethiopia. In international investment disputes, Mr. Johnson has represented claimants in arbitrations before the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal and in arbitrations conducted under the rules of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.
Mr. Johnson will leave Covington effective March 31st in order to assume his duties in The Hague. He is an adjunct professor at the Columbia Law School, where he teaches a course on international investment law, and until recently, served by U.S. Presidential appointment on the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators.
Covington is widely recognized as a leading international arbitration law firm with rankings in GAR30, Chambers Global, Legal 500 UK, Legal 500 US and PLC.
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