At Weil, international arbitration is not simply “litigation in another forum.” Rather, it is a highly specialized practice, requiring a special blend of advocacy skills, comparative law expertise, and understanding of international commerce and investment. The lawyers on our team combine top trial skills; deep knowledge of international arbitration law and procedure; expertise across a broad range of industries and substantive areas of law; and the ability to work fluently in multiple languages, such as Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, French, Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), and German. Many of our lawyers have held high-ranking government positions, teach international arbitration in the world’s leading universities, and sit as arbitrators.

Our team has long mastered the art of presenting an international arbitration case to diverse international arbitrators, coming from different legal, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. The exceptional diversity of our team is one of our primary strengths: our cross-cultural and regional expertise and insights are unparalleled. And because our lawyers regularly sit as arbitrators, we have special insight into the evidence and arguments that arbitrators are likely to find most compelling. We have also worked with the best legal, industry, and economic experts from around the world who are respected by the arbitral community, and we have trusted relationships with investigators in many jurisdictions who have helped us find and protect assets or uncover case-breaking evidence.

We have tried and won arbitrations under all the major arbitral regimes, including, for example, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC), the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), as well as numerous ad hoc arbitrations under UNCITRAL and other rules. We are also skilled and creative negotiators. By understanding and focusing relentlessly on our client’s goals, we often achieve successful, early resolution of disputes.

This combination of skills, expertise, and experience has enabled us to obtain outstanding results for our clients. Our practice and its lawyers are consistently ranked as among the best in the field by publications such as Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Chambers Latin America, U.S. News and World Report – Best Lawyers, Legal 500 Latin America, Global Arbitration Review, Who’s Who Legal, and Benchmark Litigation.

Our international arbitration practice generally falls into four areas:

Investor-State Arbitration

We are one of the most experienced and successful firms in the world in investor-state arbitration. We were one of the first firms in the world to handle such cases. We remain among the very top firms in the field today. We have successfully represented both investors and states in arbitration arising out of bilateral investment treaties (BITs), multilateral investment treaties (such as NAFTA, CAFTA-DR, and the Energy Charter Treaty), investment agreements, and domestic investment laws. We have handled many of the highest-value and most complex cases in the field, involving virtually every type of investment arising from almost every corner of the globe. We combine unparalleled substantive expertise of international investment law with our industry-leading skills in arbitral advocacy, a deep understanding of the political and commercial settings in which these cases arise, and extensive experience in successfully resolving these cases – both by arbitrating them to conclusion and by negotiated settlement. In addition to having distinguished careers in private practice, a number of our lawyers previously served in high-ranking positions in the United States Government (including in the White House, the State Department, and the Office of the US Trade Representative) – where they negotiated some of the most significant investment treaties in the world (including, for example, NAFTA and CAFTA-DR), and represented the United States in major international disputes. In addition to handling investor-state arbitration cases through award, we have also handled ICSID annulment proceedings and other post-award challenges, as well as recognition and enforcement proceedings.

International Commercial Arbitration

Weil has been handling international commercial arbitrations for over four decades. Few practices in the world can compete with the diversity of our international arbitration practice or our track record. We have successfully handled cases under every major arbitral regime, across multiple industries, and involving the substantive laws of countless jurisdictions. We have also handled cases in multiple languages, arising from virtually every corner of the globe, and every type of contract and commercial arrangement. Often working with lawyers in the Firm’s other specialized practices, we have successfully handled cases involving, for example:

 
• Energy, including:
  • Oil and Gas (Upstream, Midstream, and Downstream)
  • Clean Energy/Renewables
  • Electric Power Generation
  • Electric Transmission
• Mining and Metals
• Finance
• Construction and Engineering
• Infrastructure
• Hospitality and Tourism
• Intellectual Property
• Media and the Internet
• Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
• Telecommunications
• Transportation and Shipping
• Aviation and Aerospace

Here, too, our success is based on our ability to combine unparalleled knowledge of the law of international arbitration with deep knowledge of the substantive law, industry, and region at issue.

Only a handful of law firms in the world have significant experience and true expertise in state-to-state arbitration, and Weil is one of them. We have represented both states and interested private parties in a wide variety of state-to-state disputes. Our attorneys have represented states in more than 30 disputes under the World Trade Organization (WTO) and bilateral agreements, including, for example, the United States-Canada softwood lumber disputes (concerning trade in softwood lumber between the United States and Canada valued at USD 6 billion annually). Other notable representations include the representation of Canada in a series of disputes concerning whether Canada and Brazil were providing subsidies to their regional aircraft industries, the representation of Chile in a dispute concerning that nation’s taxation of alcoholic beverages, and the representation of Ecuador concerning the compliance of the EC’s bananas regime with services and market access rules. Weil has also frequently represented businesses and associations in achieving their objectives in state-to-state dispute settlement proceedings.

Litigation Related to Arbitration

Weil has extensive experience and expertise with the complete range of litigation that is related to arbitration – including, for example:

• actions to compel arbitration and anti-suit injunctions
• anti-arbitration injunctions
• interlocutory judicial consideration of arbitrability and similar issues
• judicial selection of and challenges to arbitrators
• judicial selection of the arbitral seat
• evidence-taking in aid of arbitration
• interim/provisional relief in aid of arbitration
• actions to set aside arbitral awards
• actions to recognize and enforce arbitral awards

We have handled such litigation in the local courts of nearly every region of the world.