Dechert LLP’s global international arbitration practice leans on well-staffed platforms in many of the world’s principal arbitration hubs, including London, Paris and Hong Kong. Striking a balance between commercial and investor-state work, the team represents a range of investors, corporations, sovereign nations and state-owned entities, with an emphasis on the financial services, energy, mining, construction and TMT industries. From bases in Washington DC and London, Arif H. Ali co-chairs the international arbitration and public international law group and is lauded as a ‘heavyweight figure in the world of arbitration’. The Washington DC team also includes experienced arbitration partner Alexandre de Gramont and newly promoted counsel David Attanasio.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘The team not only consists of a group of excellent lawyers, but the group also works seamlessly as a team. The level of coordination and participation of its team members on all levels is just remarkable.’

  • ‘Arif Ali, the lead partner of the group, is a heavyweight figure in the world of arbitration internationally. Very quick in grasping the key points of the case, he always has an out-of-the box view and solution to an issue.’

  • ‘Alexandre de Gramont is a very fine legal mind. Michael Losco has grown up the ranks to mature into a very strategic and resourceful young lawyer.’

  • ‘ David Attanasio is a great legal thinker in the field of international law and it is very hard to find a point of international law that he does not have great knowledge about.’

Key clients

  • MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas PLC (MOL)
  • AsiaPhos
  • The Republic of Ecuador
  • Altanovo (formerly known as Afilias USA)
  • The Republic of Poland

Work highlights

  • Representing MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas in a dispute with the Republic of Croatia relating to Croatia’s breach of its contractual obligation to maintain certain royalty rates for hydrocarbon production.
  • Representing the Republic of Poland in recognition and enforcement proceedings before the US District Court for Massachusetts arising from the costs award in favor of Poland in an ICSID Additional Facility arbitration.
  • Representing Altanovo in its efforts to obtain the rights to the ‘.web’ new generic top-level domain name (gTLD), through a second arbitration proceeding.

Lawyers

Leading lawyers
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Arif H. Ali

Other key lawyers

Alexandre de Gramont, David Attanasio, Michael Losco