From L to R: Global energy law expert Darya Shirokova with Karen Jones, executive director of Global and Graduate Programs at the University of Houston Law Center.
Dec. 19, 2025 — International legal scholar Darya Shirokova, with expertise in energy law and arbitration, delivered a talk, titled “The Fiction of State Contract in Energy Industry” recently at the University of Houston Law Center. The seminar, hosted by the Global and Graduate Programs in collaboration with the International Law Students Alliance (ILSA), examined how international law balances power between governments and private companies in the global energy sector.
Shirokova, author of a book with the same title, explained that state contracts, or contracts signed by a state acting in its sovereign capacity, must include an arbitration clause, and rely on international law to settle disputes in order to ensure agreements remain enforceable across jurisdictions even when domestic laws change.
“The challenge is how to maintain equality between a sovereign entity and a private investor,” she said. Her research explores how the structure of state contracts protects investments while upholding national sovereignty, a balance that defines modern energy law.
Drawing from more than 500 analyzed contracts, Shirokova compared how civil and common law systems approach these agreements, calling civil law “the law of professors” and common law “the law of judges.” She illustrated the contrast through cases in Venezuela, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan, where international oil companies faced disputes over expropriated assets.
“You can win an award against a national company,” she said, “but enforcing it depends entirely on whether the state itself is bound.”
Karen Jones, executive director of Global and Graduate Programs, encouraged students to continue exploring international legal issues through ILSA programming at the end of the event. “Our goal,” Jones said, “is to connect students with the global dimensions of law and to show how theory and practice intersect in every area from contracts to energy to human rights.”
