International Dispute Resolution & Non-US Litigation

Squire Sanders has an international presence with the strength of lawyers trained in multiple jurisdictions and fluent in multiple languages, laws, and practices of countries around the globe.

Our international dispute resolution and non-US litigation lawyers maintain relationships with state departments, foreign ministers and local political entities. We anticipate our clients' exposure to risk, provide expert consultation on structuring contract remedies, and know the ins and outs of international commercial arbitration.

Although you hope every business association will prove beneficial, your transactions must have a contingency in the event that relationships break down. During your contract negotiations, our lawyers will work with you to anticipate the potential for disputes. We will provide perceptive counsel on structuring advantageous measures and proactive defenses. The law of the land is only one consideration.  The need for a speedy resolution, the location of witnesses, geographic impediments and the ability to enforce any award must also be considered.

Common Provisions in International Arbitration Agreements – A Key Issues Checklist

Most, if not all, international conventions and national arbitration laws require an arbitration agreement be in writing to be valid. The following checklist, offered in several languages, reviews the key issues you should be aware of when preparing international arbitration agreements.

Chinese
Czech
Dutch
English
French
Hungarian
Russian
Slovak
Spanish
Ukrainian

Practice Expertise

• International Arbitration
• Non-US Litigation
• Non-US Mediation & Alternative Dispute Resolution

Representative Experience

• Representing a Canada-based investor group before ICSID in a dispute against Hungary alleging breaches of the Canada-Hungary BIT. The arbitrator awarded approximately US$84 million in damages to the claimants, for whom we acted as co-counsel.
• Winning a multibillion US dollar international arbitral award for a large supplier of natural gas to Spain's energy market. The arbitration was in connection with a price-reopener dispute centered on the value of natural gas to end users in Spain, taking into consideration all applicable transmission and regasification charges and operational issues. Atlantic LNG Company of Trinidad and Tobago had initiated the arbitration, demanding a US$1 billion price increase under a contract between the parties. We defeated the claim and successfully counterclaimed for a substantial price decrease.
• Representing a large supplier of natural gas to secure a declaration reducing the price by more than a half billion dollars of liquefied natural gas from Nigeria LNG Limited. The American Lawyer 2007 summer supplement, "Focus Europe," listed this win among its Ten Big Arbitration Awards.
• Representing Russian investors in the gold mining industry in an investment arbitration relating to the imposition of a windfall profit tax by the Government of Mongolia.
• Representing the Republic of Ecuador in an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitration brought by an oil company alleging expropriation, discrimination and other legal breaches under the US-Ecuador bilateral investment treaty (BIT).
• Representing the Czech Republic in an UNCITRAL arbitration filed by a Japan-based investment banking firm involving claims for breach of contract and Czech Republic law in connection with transactions involving shares in a major Czech Republic-based bank. The tribunal asserted jurisdiction although the banking firm had not signed the contract, and the Swiss Supreme Court rejected the banking firm's appeal. Following the final hearing, the case settled on a confidential basis.
• Representing the Czech Republic in an UNCITRAL action alleging breaches of the expropriation and discrimination and fair and equitable provisions in the Czech-Netherlands BIT in connection with the forced administration of a major Czech bank. Damages were alleged to be US$1.5 billion. In the liability phase, the expropriation claims and some of the other claims were dismissed, but a breach of the BIT was found on some of the discrimination and fair and equitable claims. The case was settled prior to the beginning of the quantum phase.

Case Studies

Central European Expertise Proves Powerful with Government Client

When the Czech Republic needed to contest a Japanese investment bank's multibillion dollar claim that was to be decided by an international arbitration panel in London, the country turned to Squire Sanders for counsel. In the complex case, the Japane...