Shayda Vance

Shayda Vance is an associate in Hughes Hubbard’s Washington, D.C. office and a member of both the firm’s International Arbitration group and its Global Investigations, Enforcement and Compliance group. As part of the arbitration practice group, Shayda represents both investors and sovereigns in investor-state disputes as well as parties in commercial arbitration disputes. She also represents clients in arbitral award enforcement actions before federal courts in the U.S. As part of the firm’s global investigations group, Shayda assists clients with internal investigations related to anti-bribery and corruption and other ethics violations and represents clients in connection with inquires by the Department of Justice, Securities Exchange Commission, and other relevant government agencies. Shayda also represents government contractors in connection with claims under the False Claims Act.

In her pro bono practice, Shayda has developed an expertise in international human rights law and regularly advises on cases before the Inter-American human rights system. She has also taught classes on international women’s rights at George Washington University Law School as an adjunct.

Shayda has extensive experience clerking for federal, state, and international courts. Prior to joining the firm, Shayda clerked for the Honorable Rosemary Collyer on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and for the Honorable Senior Judges of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Shayda has also clerked for the Honorable Justice Sisi Khampepe of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and spent several years advocating for survivors of gender-based violence in Johannesburg.

• Represented a group of Ukrainian gasoline companies who pushed back against Russia’s attempt to toss their claims in D.C. federal court, as part of a series of arbitrations over gas stations and other assets the Russian government seized after its 2014 invasion of Crimea
• Counsel to a Panamanian investor in an ICSID arbitration against the Republic of Panama 
• Counsel to a Chinese company to contest enforcement of an arbitral award in federal court
• Counsel to a holder of sovereign bonds in litigation against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
• Counsel to an individual survivor of sexual violence before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in a complaint against the Republic of Bolivia
• Counsel to individuals in a class action seeking to assert First Amendment rights to free speech
• Counsel to an individual asserting defamation claims in federal court