Claire Macdonald

Claire is a Managing Associate in the Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations team in London. She specialises in international arbitration, with a particular focus on the infrastructure, construction and energy sectors, as well as ESG litigation and risk.

Before joining Linklaters, Claire worked at Allens in Sydney, Australia, where she gained considerable experience advising corporate and government clients in complex, high-value construction, infrastructure and energy disputes.

In addition to her experience acting in arbitrations under the ICC and SIAC rules, Claire has previously worked as an intern at the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Hong Kong. She has also acted in litigation in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, the Federal Court of Australia, the UK Competition Appeals Tribunal as well as multiple security of payment adjudications.

Claire also has significant experience in regulatory investigations and litigation in the financial services, funds and superannuation space. 

She is also a member of Society of Construction Law and Adjudication Society.

Work highlights

Claire’s recent matters include:

• Acting for joint venture company in relation to the construction of a USD 9 billion oil refinery project in Vietnam, including a SIAC arbitration seated in Singapore.
• Acting for a chemicals manufacturer in a complex construction arbitration arising out of an EPC contract to build a facility in Western Australia. The matter was heard as an ICC arbitration and the claim value was over USD 100 million.
• Action for a global financial institution in relation to ESG and climate change risk and shareholder activist litigation.
• Acting for a publicly listed Japanese oil and gas company in several adjudication claims under the Australian Security of Payment regime in relation to a major LNG project.
• Acting for an international utility and service company in relation to the construction of a water treatment plant.
• Acting for NSW Treasury in relation to the NSW electricity privatisation process.

Claire has a dual degree in Laws (Honours) and Arts (Advanced French and Advanced Japanese) from the University of New South Wales. Claire also received her LLM in German Law from Humboldt University, Berlin.

Claire speaks English, French, Japanese, German, and Brazilian Portuguese, and has some knowledge of Korean and Italian.