A neutral forum for cross-border disputes. Commercial and investment-treaty arbitration under ICC, LCIA, ICDR, SIAC, DIAC, and UNCITRAL rules, with awards enforced across borders, from counsel in Chicago, London, and Dubai.
A foreign arbitral award can be refused recognition on seven grounds, under Article V of the New York Convention, and none of them is that the tribunal got the law or the facts wrong. That is the bargain: an award that travels to more than 170 countries, in exchange for almost no appeal. The clause, the seat and the tribunal therefore matter more than in court.
The seat supplies the law of the arbitration and the courts that can set the award aside, wherever the hearings sit. A Model Law seat allows three months from receipt of the award to apply; England allows 28 days. A Convention award can be confirmed in the United States for three years, a domestic one for one. Document production runs on Redfern schedules, and a request routine in Chicago is refused in Paris unless it is narrow and material.
We draft the clauses, run the proceedings and enforce the awards from Chicago, London and Dubai, with locally admitted counsel where the seat requires an admission we do not hold. We have worked across borders since 2014, and draft clauses we expect to enforce.
Representation in cross-border commercial disputes under the principal institutional frameworks, including the ICC, LCIA, ICDR and AAA, SIAC, DIAC, and the HKIAC, and under the UNCITRAL Rules for ad hoc proceedings.
Drafting and review of dispute-resolution clauses at the contracting stage, so that institution, seat, language, governing law, and tribunal composition are settled before a dispute exists.
Advising investors and funds on treaty protections and the structuring of investor-state claims under ICSID and UNCITRAL rules, coordinating with public-international-law counsel where a matter calls for it.
Selection and challenge of arbitrators, framing of the procedural timetable, and management of evidence, document production, and witness and expert testimony across differing legal traditions.
Recognition and enforcement of awards under the New York Convention, or resisting enforcement and seeking annulment on the limited grounds available, with cross-border asset-tracing coordinated with local counsel.
Securing interim measures, emergency-arbitrator relief, and supporting court orders to preserve assets and evidence while a proceeding runs, and resisting the same where a counterparty overreaches.
Name no seat and the ICC Court fixes one; name no number of arbitrators and the default is a sole arbitrator unless the dispute warrants three. Name an institution that no longer exists, or say the parties may arbitrate, and expect litigation about whether there is an arbitration.
A Convention award is enforceable in more than 170 states with few defenses; a judgment depends on each country's own rules. The Hague Judgments Convention is closing the gap: in force since 2023, it covers the European Union, the United Kingdom and a few others, not yet the United States.
Set-aside grounds at the seat mirror Article V and concern process: the arbitration agreement, notice and the tribunal's mandate. None reopens evidence. The ICC Court scrutinizes every draft award before it issues, and its rules expect a final award within six months of the terms of reference, routinely extended.
An ICC emergency arbitrator must rule within 15 days of receiving the file, and most seats let a party seek a court freezing or preservation order without waiving the arbitration. US discovery for foreign arbitrations is mostly gone: since 2022, Section 1782 subpoenas cannot support a private commercial arbitration.
Where a seat or governing law calls for admission we do not hold, or where a treaty claim turns on public international law, we coordinate with locally admitted counsel and public-international-law counsel while one partner keeps the strategy whole.
Recognition can be sought in several countries at once, wherever the debtor has assets, and each court applies the Convention's defenses. Against a state, US law removes immunity from suit on an award but not from execution, which reaches only property in commercial use. Tracing starts while the tribunal deliberates.
The notice of arbitration is served, the clause is tested for what it actually says, and the tribunal is built, with party-appointed arbitrators vetted for conflicts and disposition, the chair negotiated, and challenges anticipated before they are filed. Emergency-arbitrator or court relief moves in parallel where assets or evidence are at risk.
Terms of reference and the first procedural order fix the timetable, seat-law questions, and the scope of document production, which runs on Redfern schedules rather than US-style discovery. Jurisdictional and admissibility objections are pressed or repelled here, because a case that survives this stage is usually fought on its merits only once.
Memorials with witness statements and expert reports go in as complete cases in writing; the evidentiary hearing then compresses years of record into days of cross-examination before three arbitrators, often across legal traditions. Quantum experts are aligned with the legal theory long before they take the stand.
The award lands final, with only narrow set-aside grounds at the seat. The real contest moves to recognition under the New York Convention: tracing assets across jurisdictions, choosing enforcement forums, and coordinating locally admitted counsel until the award becomes money recovered.
The dispute is won twice, once before the tribunal and once against the assets.
International arbitration is a private, binding method of resolving cross-border disputes outside national courts. The parties agree to submit their dispute to a neutral tribunal under a set of institutional or ad hoc rules, such as those of the ICC, LCIA, ICDR, SIAC, DIAC, or UNCITRAL, and the resulting award is enforceable in most countries under the New York Convention. It is often chosen for international commercial contracts because it offers a neutral forum, confidentiality, and an award that travels across borders more readily than a court judgment.
Hart David Carson LLP advises on and represents clients in proceedings under the principal institutional and ad hoc frameworks, including the ICC, the LCIA, the ICDR and AAA, SIAC, DIAC, the HKIAC, and the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. Our Chicago, London, and Dubai presence lets us coordinate matters seated in the major arbitral centers, and we work with locally admitted counsel where the seat or governing law requires admission we do not hold.
Arbitration is consensual, private, and procedurally flexible. The parties shape the tribunal, the seat, the language, and the timetable, and proceedings are generally confidential. Awards are final with limited grounds for challenge, and they are enforceable across borders under the New York Convention, whereas a foreign court judgment may not be. Court litigation is public, bound to a single national procedure, and subject to broader rights of appeal. We weigh both routes when a dispute arises and when a contract is first drafted.
Yes, on either side. Enforcement in the United States is an application to confirm under Chapter 2 of the Federal Arbitration Act, available for three years after the award, and the court may refuse only on the seven Article V grounds, all of which concern the agreement, the procedure or public policy, and none of which lets the court reconsider the merits. Resisting an award means a set-aside application at the seat, within three months under the Model Law, or opposing recognition where enforcement is sought. Where the debtor is a state, immunity from execution has to be mapped before the award is final, and we coordinate locally admitted counsel in each country where assets sit.
A claim by a foreign investor against the state hosting its investment, brought under an investment treaty rather than a contract, usually under ICSID or UNCITRAL rules, for measures such as expropriation, discriminatory treatment or a denial of fair and equitable treatment. The protection depends on the investor's nationality and on how the investment is held, so the holding structure is settled when the investment is made, not when the dispute arrives; many treaties now deny benefits to shell companies with no real activity in the home state. An ICSID award is reviewed only by an annulment committee, on five narrow grounds and on an application made within 120 days, and is enforced in each contracting state as if it were a final judgment of that state's courts. We work with public-international-law counsel on the treaty questions.
Usually, when the counterparty's assets or courts are abroad, because an award is enforceable in more than 170 countries and a judgment is not. A few decisions have to be made deliberately. The institution and its rules. The seat, which decides which courts can set the award aside and is the choice most often left to chance. The governing law, the language and the number of arbitrators. Carve out the relief the clause should not capture, such as a court injunction to protect assets or confidential information, and where the counterparty is a state or state-owned entity, include an express waiver of immunity from execution. A clause copied from a precedent for a different deal is where most jurisdiction fights begin.
Domestic arbitration, mediation, and conciliation for disputes that can be resolved without the cost and uncertainty of trial, with the business relationship kept intact.
Explore →Trial advocacy for complex business disputes, contract breaches, and commercial conflicts in state and federal courts, where arbitration is not the chosen or available forum.
Explore →Representation in futures and commodities disputes such as unauthorized trading, account losses, and matters involving brokers and trading conduct, including before the CFTC.
Explore →Protecting and enforcing intellectual-property rights, trade secrets, and proprietary information in litigation and in arbitration.
Explore →Reviewed by Jonathan D. Herpy, Sr., Senior Partner · Last updated October 2026 · Educational overview · Not legal advice
One partner is accountable for the whole matter, and you have that partner's direct line. Chicago, London, and Dubai work to the same standard.