Covington’s International Arbitration Group, comprising more than 50 lawyers, handles cases under the rules of every major arbitration system in the world, under common law and civil law systems, and in English, Spanish, French, and other languages. We handle disputes in a wide variety of industries, including energy, mining, manufacturing, transportation, telecommunications, insurance, construction, finance, sports, and life sciences. We are lead counsel in commercial and investment-treaty disputes arising in Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, and the Middle East, involving claims valued in the billions of dollars. Several lawyers in the group are fully trained in more than one legal system, and our lawyers are regularly selected as chairs and party-appointed arbitrators in both commercial and investor-state arbitrations. We are consistently ranked as a leading arbitration practice in Chambers, The Legal 500, and Global Arbitration Review, and many of our lawyers are individually ranked as leaders in the field in these and similar publications.
Why Clients Choose Covington
- Strategy with Results. We are regularly called upon to serve as lead counsel in some of the world’s most complex and high-profile arbitration matters. In the past year, we have obtained awards valued at over $3.3 billion and defeated claims worth hundreds of millions of dollars. What sets us apart is the application of thorough analysis and creative strategic thinking to difficult cases; attention to detail; and a commitment to practical, business-minded lawyering.
- Depth of Quality. Covington is known for its deep, highly skilled and unusually experienced bench of multilingual, multi-qualified lawyers. From top to bottom, we offer uncompromising quality.
- Inter-disciplinary Expertise. Our case teams combine first-rate advocates, who are known for their "stand up" skills and credibility before tribunals, with leading lawyers in the substantive fields at issue — a reflection of our firm’s breadth of expertise and our team-oriented culture.
Representative Matters
International Commercial Arbitrations (Pending & Recent)
- Representation of an ExxonMobil subsidiary in an ICC arbitration against the Venezuelan state-owned oil company, PDVSA, resulting in a $908 million award for breach of contract.
- Representation of Merck in ad hoc London arbitrations against various insurers that produced a disclosed recovery of approximately $590 million, plus $45 million in fees and interest, for prescription drug liabilities — reportedly the third-largest commercial award in Europe of any kind during the prior 5 years.
- Representation of major European shipbuilder in successfully defeating claims brought in an ICC arbitration in New York by a US engine supplier for alleged breaches of contract and intellectual property rights.
Accolades
- Chambers Latin America Award for Excellence, shortlisted for International Arbitration (International Counsel in Latin America) Law Firm of the Year (2013)
- Gar 30, International Arbitration (2013)
- "The group operates well as an integrated team and demonstrates good commercial awareness." (Chambers Europe 2013)
- An "'unsurpassed' practice" (The Legal 500 US 2012).
- "The team is praised as 'smart, well organized, savvy and professional', with an 'exemplary' level of service" (The Legal 500 US 2012).
- Covington has "complete command of international arbitration and consistently gives comprehensive, in-depth and sound advice. … [I]t is not a just a firm led by excellent lawyers, it is a firm with unparalleled depth in excellent lawyers" (The Legal 500 Latin America 2012).
- "Excellent judgment and trial skills" (Chambers UK 2012).
- Covington "continues to win accolades for its expertise in commercial and investment treaty arbitration. … 'They have been an outstanding international firm for 90 years and are still going strong — an extremely able firm'" (Chambers USA 2012).
- "The team ranks at the highest level for client service and commercial awareness" (Chambers Latin America 2012).
- "The attorneys are truly outstanding in terms of their ability to prepare and present extremely complicated matters lucidly and persuasively" (Chambers USA 2011).
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