HHR Practice Named a Law360 ‘International Arbitration Group of the Year’

December 18, 2020 — The firm’s International Arbitration team has been named a 2020 “Practice Group of the Year” by Law360.

Law360’s Practice Group of the Year awards honor the law firms behind the wins and major deals that resonated throughout the legal industry in the past year.

This marks the third time that a Hughes Hubbard practice has been recognized by this prestigious award. Law360 selected HHR's Corporate Reorganization and Bankruptcy practice in 2014 and the firm's Intellectual Property practice in 2017.

In its Dec. 14 profile, Law360 highlighted the Arbitration team’s wins before the Swiss Supreme Court confirming in two cases that the Ukraine-Russia bilateral investment treaty applies to Ukrainian investments in Crimea, as well as the firm’s representation of the co-executor of Jeffrey Epstein’s estate in establishing a widely acclaimed compensation fund for accusers of the late financier.

The profile noted that, while HHR is certainly not the largest firm with an international arbitration focus, it has decades of experience stretching back to the early days of the practice area in the 1970s.

John Townsend, co-chair of the group, was quoted by Law360 as saying, “We’ve been at it a long time and sort of built the expertise and the bench strength over almost 50 years, which is about as long as international arbitration has been a major force for big law firms.”

Dan Weiner, who was also named a Law360 MVP in October, said the group has particularly strong expertise in pharmaceuticals and fine art, and typically brings to bear smaller, more experienced teams. “We’re not 2,500 lawyers strong, so we’re generally known to be more lean and efficient.”

In 2021, Weiner said that he expects Hughes Hubbard will continue to expand the geographic reach of its commercial arbitration practice, particularly in Latin America and Asia, where Singapore is becoming an arbitral hub.