ALG LLP

WHO WE ARE

ALG is a firm of diverse and accomplished international lawyers offering an integrated suite of services spanning institutional and transactional advisory, project-finance and infrastructure development, energy and extractives, banking and financial services, technology and agriculture as well as investment-law, dispute-settlement and public international law.

We are advisors in international dealings.

We are advocates in international disputes.

We are your trusted partners in international commerce, international investment, and international affairs.

Established nearly fifteen years ago, ALG has earned global recognition for its achievements in high-stakes international arbitration and transnational litigation. The firm is equally distinguished for its sophisticated and expansive advisory and transactional practice including extensive experience serving the needs of sovereign States, state-owned enterprises, public authorities and other governmental instrumentalities engaged in major national and cross-border projects.

In addition to serving the needs of private enterprise a pillar of ALG’s core identity thus rests in representing States and state-owned entities including in successful megaprojects of strategic national and international importance.

Across all dimensions of our engagements ALG remains ever committed to a holistic understanding of our clients’ goals. Our mission is to devise and execute strategies that secure maximum advantage whether behind the scenes, through dedicated capacity-building and institutional enhancement, at the negotiating table, or in adjudicative, arbitral, or judicial forums.

OUR VISION

Established in Washington, DC, ALG maintains offices in Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. Ethiopia is the diplomatic and political capital of Africa while the UAE serves as a top-tier global financial and commercial hub situated at the shifting crossroads of the North, South, East, and West.

ALG’s institutional structure is modern, efficient, and globally oriented. Our cultural intelligence and nuanced understanding of diverse political, regulatory, and financial environments enable us to deliver world-class legal services with the agility and precision our clients require. We pride ourselves on our lasting relationships built upon a foundation of tailored and specialist dedication to your needs combined with sustained partner-level attention to your matter.

ALG’s representation model is uniquely agile and value driven. Our founding philosophy is immersion in the cultural, political, economic, and technical contexts of each matter; mastery of the governing legal frameworks and instruments; and purposeful engagement with the most conscientious and distinguished decision-makers in any given deal or dispute.

OUR LAWYERS

ALG prides itself on the diversity and accomplishments of its lawyers. We have trained in both the civil and common law traditions. We have studied and taught the law in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. We have published several books and dozens of law review articles in leading journals. We have spoken on hundreds of panels and served on numerous boards and academic fora. We hold a depth of experience spanning decades.

ALG further engages specialist expertise where the tailored needs of a particular matter so require, including local counsel in relevant jurisdictions, leading authorities in relevant fields, and recognized quantum experts.

We are pleased to introduce our Partners.

DR. ZEWDINEH BEYENE HAILE

Managing Partner Dr. Zewdineh Beyene Haile is an international lawyer who holds double doctorate degree… Read More

PROF. WON KIDANE

Partner Professor Dr. Won Lemma Kidane is a Fulbright Scholar, a Professor of Law at the Villanova Unive… Read More

JACKSON SHAW KERN

Partner Jackson Shaw Kern is an international lawyer who advises and represents private interests as well …Read More

A Depth of Experience

ALG regularly advises governments and SOEs across the entire lifecycle of complex international contracts, from project inception and feasibility analysis to risk assessment (including SOWAT analysis), contract structuring, negotiation, implementation, monitoring, compliance, and post-completion closeout. Our lifecycle contract-management support includes drafting and negotiation; risk identification and allocation; establishing contract-administration systems; monitoring performance obligations; variation and change-order control; claims prevention and documentation; performance-security oversight; payment certification; regulatory and technical compliance; and end-of-term obligations such as defect-liability and restoration and handover procedures.

Our practice extends to Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs), concession-agreement management, sovereign investment frameworks, and both domestic and international investment law, including the negotiation of investment agreements, sovereign-risk allocation, stabilization agreements, regulatory frameworks for foreign investment, and interactions with bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and multilateral investment regimes. ALG supports States and SOEs in ensuring that major projects are bankable, legally sound, and aligned with national development priorities.

ALG also advises in the negotiation and drafting of complex commercial and governmental contracts; construction and engineering agreements (FIDIC, EPC, EPCM, O&M, design-build); sector-specific regulatory compliance; bankability assessments; long-term supply and offtake arrangements; sovereign guarantees; and banking and finance documentation, including credit facilities, security instruments, letters of credit, compliance with lender obligations, and multilateral financing requirements.

A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH

ALG advises governments, state-owned enterprises, developers, contractors, financiers, and investors in the negotiation, structuring, financing, implementation, and management of major infrastructure and strategic development projects, with known expertise in Africa’s rapidly evolving infrastructure, energy, mining, and oil and gas sectors. The firm’s work increasingly extends beyond traditional legal representation into integrated transactional and project-delivery advisory involving complex multi-party projects valued in the billions of dollars. ALG regularly assists clients in matters involving EPC and FIDIC-based contracting, project finance, sovereign support arrangements, concession structures, construction management, and cross-border investment coordination, with particular emphasis on the financing and long-term sustainability of major projects.

Modern infrastructure and resource-development projects demand more than conventional risk allocation and dispute management. They require coordination among multiple actors, integrated financing and governance structures, disciplined project management, and institutional mechanisms capable of preventing disputes before they mature into costly claims. ALG therefore deploys multidisciplinary teams bringing together legal, transactional, financing, project-management, and sector-specific expertise in support of clients across the full lifecycle of complex projects. The firm also assists clients in developing collaborative project-management and integrated delivery frameworks designed to improve transparency, interface coordination, timely performance, operational efficiency, and dispute avoidance across technically complex projects involving multiple stakeholders and contractual relationships.

Through the ALG Global Legal Academy (ALG-GLA), the firm further supports governments, state-owned enterprises, regulators, and project professionals through specialized capacity-building, executive education, and institutional training programs in areas including project finance, FIDIC contracting, infrastructure development, integrated project delivery systems, mining and energy agreements, dispute avoidance, and international arbitration.

By combining transactional, financing, project-management, capacity-building, and dispute-resolution capabilities, ALG supports clients throughout the full lifecycle of strategic projects — from project conception and negotiation to implementation, operational support, dispute avoidance, and, where necessary, international adjudication and enforcement.

International Disputes

ALG maintains its world-class disputes practice ably representing clients in all significant international forums including:

ALG has successfully acted in disputes across virtually all economic sectors including mining, oil and gas, energy, infrastructure, financial services, industrial plants, transport corridors, sovereign guarantees, and state-asset management. This depth of disputes experience also enhances our transactional and advisory mandates—allowing us to anticipate risks, prevent escalation, and design agreements and instruments that withstand exacting scrutiny in arbitral and other forums.

AREAS OF PRACTICE

ALG stands ready to assist, advise, and advocate across all stages and in all manners and sizes of international dealings and disputes. The following practice areas form the core of our extensive experience.

ENERGY

OIL & GAS

MINING

INFRASTRUCTURE & CONSTRUCTION

INTERSTATE MATTERS

INVESTOR-STATE

ALG Global Legal Academy

Beyond our advisory and advocacy roles, ALG provides advanced professional training via its Global Legal Academy, a virtual platform developed in collaboration with leading academic institutions. Through the Academy, ALG delivers specialized programs in (to name but a few) project finance, banking law, construction law (including FIDIC), PPAs, PPPs, contract lifecycle management, dispute adjudication (DAB/DAAB), international arbitration, state-contract negotiation, investment law (domestic and international), and public international law.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

Representing a State in a US$ 385 million environmental dispute under a bilateral investment treaty and the UNCITRAL Rules before an arbitral tribunal seated in The Hague

Representing a State energy utility in a major FIDIC construction dispute involving a power generation megaproject

Successfully represented a State in a US$ 225 million mining concession dispute with an Israeli industrial group under a bilateral investment treaty and the UNCITRAL Rules before an arbitral tribunal seated in The Hague

Successfully represented a State in a US$ 1.4 billion oil-and-gas concession dispute with a Hong Kong company under the ICC Rules before an arbitral tribunal seated in Switzerland

Successfully represented a joint instrumentality of two States in a EUR 50 million railway construction dispute with an Italian joint venture administered by the PCA in The Hague.

Successfully represented a State in a EUR 40 million water infrastructure dispute with a consortium of Italian constructors administered by the PCA in The Hague.