Arbitration

We represent both claimants and respondents in arbitrations around the world, as well as in actions to compel arbitration and to enforce or set aside arbitration awards under national statutes and international conventions. We are also frequently retained to seek or resist third-party discovery.

Hughes Hubbard’s role in commercial arbitration begins with the business deal. We design dispute resolution provisions tailored to our client and the particular transaction, keeping in mind the flexibility and adaptability of arbitration and its ability to offer parties of different nationalities a neutral forum. Dispute resolution clauses may include multistep procedures (negotiation, mediation and arbitration, if necessary) and even appellate steps in the arbitration process itself. Other contractual provisions may address the language and location of the proceeding, the number of arbitrators, the nature and scope of exchanges of information, provision relief, confidentiality, class proceedings and other topics relevant to the particular transaction and any foreseeable dispute.

Hughes Hubbard’s Pharmaceutical Arbitration team offers deep industry knowledge stemming from decades representing major pharmaceutical companies in disputes in all parts of the world. Clients trust us with their matters because we understand the industry and get results. We approach arbitrations with a keen awareness of the potential commercial implications for the company. The team is sensitive to business relationships between parties to a pharmaceutical dispute that often extend beyond the dispute at hand.  

Our experience covers the range of business relationships arising in the pharmaceutical industry, including licensing, collaboration, development, distribution, manufacturing and promotion agreements, as well as joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions and other business alliances. Many of our lawyers also sit as arbitrators in pharmaceutical disputes, including a recent billion-dollar International Chamber of Commerce arbitration in New York between a US and a non-US pharmaceutical company.

Hughes Hubbard brings deep experience in disputes involving oil and gas and related infrastructure disputes. Our team has represented many of the largest upstream, midstream and downstream companies in their most complex matters in the US, Europe and in various arbitral forums around the world. We also have experience with disputes involving state-owned energy companies.

Our arbitration team has extensive experience with large-scale construction disputes in offshore oil and gas projects. We have represented owners, developers, contractors, design professionals and other project participants in such disputes arising from projects around the world.

Our Intellectual Property team helps protect our clients’ interests in disputes involving trademark, copyright, trade secret, patent licensing and other disputes in courts and administrative agencies throughout the U.S. and abroad. The team has experience in both trials and appeals and has an excellent track record.  We work closely with our clients to develop effective strategies and provide a compelling narrative. 

Our Construction practice offers clients extensive experience in high-stakes and complex disputes, including two of the largest disasters in construction and shipping history. We have represented owners, developers, contractors, design professionals and other project participants in disputes arising from projects around the world, involving power plants, oil and gas pipelines and platforms, refineries, petrochemical plants and process plants. Our team includes lawyers with engineering and other technical degrees and lawyers and staff fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian, among other languages.

We have represented contractors in arbitrations seated in New York, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Mexico City, Stockholm and other venues. Clients’ disputes have arisen from projects in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and the Virgin Islands, among other jurisdictions. 

The team has experience handling extensive multibillion-dollar, multiparty-coverage disputes. Some of the highest-profile claims we have been involved with include HIV-infected blood products and silicone gel breast implants. In recent years, we have represented clients in arbitrating a wide variety of insurance coverage issues, including disputes involving differing coverage forms and exclusions, as well as trigger-of-coverage and allocation issues. The firm also has an active practice advising policy holders on how to maximize their insurance recovery.

We have also drawn upon our deep roots in the accounting industry to represent the “Big Four” firms in dealing with captive insurers, as well as other insurers and reinsurers. This includes advising on structuring insurance programs and policy language and on coverage and claims issues. We also represent captive insurers in dealing with reinsurers, including in structuring reinsurance programs, negotiating policy language and coverage issues, presenting and resolving insurance claims and in litigation.

With knowledge, experience and in-depth understanding of the nuances of Latin American businesses, our Latin America Arbitration team offers clients practical and innovative solutions to help them achieve their goals in international arbitration.  Members of the team speak Spanish or Portuguese, and have lived in the region or have great familiarity with the Latin American culture.  

Our clients include private sector institutions and sovereign states.  We have advised them in a wide range of international disputes, including international commercial and treaty arbitration, litigation in national courts, trade disputes and the impact of treaties on international business transactions. We have conducted arbitrations under virtually all international commercial arbitration rules in a wide range of industries and under the laws of various Latin American jurisdictions.

Hughes Hubbard’s International Arbitration team represents accountants, lawyers and engineers in accounting and regulatory disputes in numerous jurisdictions, many of which have been the major financial cases of the last decade.  Our lawyers are particularly known for their defense of accounting firms, including the “Big Four,” for which we have an enduring and successful history of representations both domestically and abroad.  

For information on this practice, please visit The Investment Treaty Arbitration Page