Strategy: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
We can best serve our clients when we advise on crafting the appropriate arbitration clause at the inception of the project or relationship with foreign contra-parties. Where we crafted a multi-tiered arbitration provision and the choice of law clause that were consistent across multiple contracts of a turn-key Brazilian power generation plant valued at over $750 million, we obtained favorable and readily enforceable awards in related ICC arbitrations involving delays and shoddy workmanship by certain contractors. Anticipating the disputes and the goals of the client on the front end resulted in greater likelihood of success in resolving disputes down the road. However, even when engaged by an exclusive world-wide distributor of component parts for a major airplane manufacturing conglomerate after being terminated, we were eventually able to obtain a successful recovery despite multiple agreements with inconsistent arbitration and choice of law provisions through creative efforts to join the claims. In the former engagement, the disputes were favorably resolved without material disruption of the project, unreasonable legal fees or time delays. In the latter, the claims resolution, while eventually successful, involved parallel arbitration proceedings in multiple venues and unnecessary costs and delays, which could have been avoided.
