Skip to main content

Profile hero

Profile details

About Ewa Karolina Kondracka

Ewa is a senior associate in our International Arbitration Group, based in our Tokyo office.

Ewa's practice focuses on complex international disputes, including international arbitrations and cross-border litigation proceedings. She is a member of the APAC Sub-Committee of the Equal Representation in Arbitration and a Co-Chair of APAC Sub-Committee of the Convention on Animal Protection.

Ewa has particular experience with disputes in energy, real estate finance, technology, telecommunication, construction, and pharmaceutical sectors. She has represented governments, government-owned entities and leading multinational companies in institutional arbitration proceedings (ICC, DIAC, SIAC, LCIA, CIArb, ICSID, and UNCITRAL Rules), seated in common law and civil law jurisdictions in Europe, Asia, the US, and the Middle East.

Ewa also has experience with drafting arbitration legislation, conducting mediations, and working on complex global investigations.

Ewa regularly advises international clients on human rights matters in Asia and globally, including providing counsel to a UN-designated and Nobel Peace Prize nominee global organisation on several mandates relating to peace negotiations in conflict zones, establishment of governmental mediation infrastructure, and a wide variety of other humanitarian work.

Educated in England, Poland and France, Ewa has worked in six jurisdictions spanning England, continental Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia, gaining first-hand experience in the most relevant legal markets.

Prior to joining Freshfields' Tokyo office, Ewa worked for a Magic Circle firm and a leading US law firm. Ewa is admitted to practice in England & Wales.

Recent work

  • Representing a Japanese energy investor in its successful Energy Charter Treaty arbitration under the ICSID Rules against the Kingdom of Spain, relating to changes to a regulatory regime on tariffs in the renewable energy sector, and securing the largest-ever amount awarded to a Japanese investor.
  • Representing a multinational asset management company  – with US$750 billion-plus in assets under management – in a SIAC arbitration commenced by a leading South Korean asset management company.
  • Representing a Japanese energy investor in stay of enforcement and annulment proceedings brought by a European State.
  • Representing a professional services partner in a SIAC emergency arbitration and the ensuing arbitral proceedings involving the enforceability of restrictive covenants in a partnership agreement.
  • Representing a subsidiary of a major Asian trading house in an investment treaty arbitration against a South Asian State relating to a tax demand on its investment in the mining sector.
  • Advising a leading Japanese trading house on a potential dispute with Portugal under the Energy Charter Treaty, in the client’s capacity as an investor in Portugal’s power sector.
  • Advising a Japanese subsidiary of a multi-national fintech company on its termination and other contractual rights under an English law-governed Card Processing Agreement with a leading payment processing solutions provider.
  • Advising a leading Japanese energy company on sanctions issues relating to its imports of LNG from the Sakhalin 2 LNG project in Russia.
  • Advising an oil and gas super major in a series of Singapore litigation proceedings relating to historic trading arrangements.
  • Representing a leading global technology corporation in a successful defence of all payment claims brought against the client in a DIAC arbitration.*
  • Representing a government-owned entity in a DIFC-LCIA arbitration relating to the construction of a gas pipeline in the UAE.*
  • Representing one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical conglomerate on a billion-dollar ICC dispute governed by Japanese law.*
  • Representing a leading aviation holding company in a DIFC-LCIA arbitration relating to an English law governed contract for the design and implementation of a cloud-based ERP solution.*
  • Representing a Middle Eastern government on a London seated CIArb dispute relating to the provision of intelligence and asset tracing services.*
  • Representing a world-famous luxury hotel group in an ICC claim brought against one of the largest investment companies in Saudi Arabia.*
  • Advising various investors on ICSID and UNCITRAL claims against the Kingdom of Spain under the Energy Charter Treaty relating to renewable energy subsidies in the thermo-solar and wind sectors.*

*Prior to joining Freshfields.

Qualifications

Education

  • Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice and Bachelor of Laws, the University of Law, London, UK.
  • Graduate Diploma in Law, the University of Law, London, UK.
  • Masters in Political Science, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.  
  • Diploma in International Relations (scholarship), Institut d’Etudes Politique de Paris – Sciences Po, Paris, France.

 Qualifications

  • Admitted as a Solicitor of the Senior Courts, England & Wales

Publications