Tonderai Nyandoro

Full Profile

Tonderai Nyandoro is a Legal Director at Clyde & Co's Dubai office, bringing over 8 years of experience in international dispute resolution. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) with extensive expertise in complex investor-state disputes, international commercial arbitration, and commercial litigation.

Tonderai has represented clients in ad-hoc and institutional arbitrations under various rules including ADCCAC, DIAC, ICC, ICSID, LCIA, and UNCITRAL. His practice spans multiple jurisdictions, both common law and civil law, across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He has handled disputes in diverse sectors including technology, telecoms, financial technology, banking & finance, energy, oil & gas, and mining.

Complementing his dispute resolution practice, Tonderai possesses substantial corporate and transactional acumen. His expertise expands to advising clients on pre-IPO preparations and resolving disputes, structuring project finance for sovereign investment offices, and drafting sophisticated shareholder agreements. This synergy of contentious and non-contentious proficiency enables Tonderai to deliver comprehensive legal strategies tailored to his clients' complex needs. Furthermore, he regularly conducts high-level legal training sessions for state-owned entities, government ministries, and international organisations.

Tonderai is known for his strategic approach to dispute resolution, combining forceful advocacy with commercial acumen to achieve favourable outcomes for his clients in high-stakes, multi-jurisdictional matters.

Tonderai is admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales. He is also registered as a practitioner in the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts and with the Dubai Legal Affairs Department. Tonderai holds an LLM with Merit in International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution from Queen Mary, University of London, and completed his Legal Practice Course at BPP Law School.

Tonderai is fluent in English and Shona.

Experience

Prior to joining Clyde & Co

• Representing a UAE-based investment company as the claimant in an investor-state arbitration (UNCITRAL) against a European state arising out of breaches of a bilateral investment treaty.
• Acting for the holding company in a USD 110 million post-acquisition claim involving contractual clawback rights against the seller. This complex case required arbitration under the SIAC Rules and involved intricate mathematical modelling and expert submissions to challenge financial assumptions.
• Representing a securities and commodities broker and financial consultancy entity in a multi-million USD dispute relating to Broker Agreements in the High Courts of England against a third-party customer and a company managing Contracts for Difference Trades on a trading platform.
• Supported Unwired Planet in substantial patent-related competition law proceedings concerning licensing of standard-essential patents.
• Acting on multiple arbitrations relating to the construction of road projects in Ethiopia, including disputes relating to delay, disruption and force majeure. One of the matters involves termination due to delayed payments by the Employer who funded the program through a complex multi-funder-backed consortium.
• Representing the defendants, an Abu Dhabi group of companies, in a high-stakes case involving claims brought by a syndicate of banks totalling approximately AED 2 billion. The claims relate to late payments and interest under Syndicated Facility Agreements and specific performance of obligations concerning secured assets listed in multiple finance agreements.
• Representing a technology company operating in the energy sector in ad-hoc arbitrations concerning contract breaches over delays, quality, and cost overruns in two projects. The claim under each dispute is USD 8 million.
• Advising a jewellery company in a confidential settlement of a USD 2.2 million arbitration concerning a Gold Supply Agreement breach.
• Successfully advising a Saudi-based investment bank in a dispute against a Trade Fund registered in the Cayman Islands concerning the Fund Manager's breach of its statutory duty to its investors. The value of the claim was USD 10 million.
• Representing a technology company operating in the energy sector in ad-hoc arbitrations concerning contract breaches over delays, quality, and cost overruns in two projects. The claim under each dispute is USD 8 million.
• Representing an international venture capitalist company in a DIFC-LCIA arbitration relating to breaches of an investment management agreement. The value of the claim was USD 15 million.
• Representing a private client in resisting a Norwich Pharmacal application in the High Court (Orb A.R.L & Ors v Anciano – Claim No. CL-2015-00876.
• Assisting Capita Insurance Services Ltd in a multi-million-pound Supreme Court appeal regarding indemnity clause interpretation (Wood v Capita Insurance Services Limited [2017] UKSC 24).
• Managing a multi-jurisdictional LIBOR investigation of an international bank, coordinating disclosure to UK, US, European, and Japanese regulators.
• Advising a global mining company in 14 multi-party contractual disputes against a bank syndicate in an LCIA arbitration involving billion-dollar facility agreements.
• Representing a national building merchant and home improvement retailer in a multi-million-pound tax dispute with HMRC.
• Advising a technology company in respect of its expansion of its semiconductor and smart chip business in the Middle East and Africa.
• Advising an artificial intelligence solutions provider in second round funding negotiations with the sovereign wealth fund of a Middle Eastern Government.
• Assisting the Libyan Investment Authority in the High Court of England & Wales on two separate multi-billion-dollar claims against a couple global investment banks.
• Advising a provider of district cooling systems on project documents relating to the construction of multiple district cooling projects.
• Representing a state involved in a multi-billion US Dollar investor-state LCIA arbitration concerning contract obligations of an oil and gas plant construction
• Acting for an American energy company in an ICC arbitration concerning its obligations under a gas balancing agreement.
• Advising a Japanese listed company on its expansion plans in the Middle East across various sectors including hospitality, technology, real estate and healthcare.