Gary Born > WilmerHale > London, England > Lawyer Profile

WilmerHale
49 Park Lane
LONDON
W1K 1PS
England
Gary Born photo

Work Department

International Arbitration; International Litigation; United Kingdom; Litigation; Trials; Latin America

Position

Chair of WilmerHale’s International Arbitration Practice Group

Career

Gary Born is the chair of the International Arbitration Practice Group. Mr. Born is widely regarded as the world’s preeminent authority on international commercial arbitration and international litigation. He has been ranked for more than 20 years as one of the world’s leading international arbitration advocates and the leading arbitration practitioner in London.

Practice

Mr. Born has participated as counsel in more than 675 international arbitrations, including four of the largest ICC arbitrations and several of the most significant ad hoc arbitrations in recent history.

Among many accolades for his work as counsel, Mr. Born received the Global Arbitration Review inaugural “Advocate of the Year” award, the Client Choice award for “Best International Arbitration Practitioner” and the Best Lawyers “London Arbitration Lawyer of the Year” award. He is one of only two practitioners to achieve “starred” status for international arbitration in the Chambers Global and Chambers UK guides. Chambers recognized him for his “Outstanding Contribution to the Legal Profession,” describing him as the world’s foremost authority on international arbitration and litigation. Clients and competitors have also described Mr. Born as “awesome,” “inimitable,” and “in a league of his own,” praising him as “a phenomenal mind and a brilliant lawyer,” “easily the most capable disputes lawyer alive today,” and “at the absolute top of the international arbitration universe.”

Mr. Born has represented European, US, Asian and other companies in arbitrations under all leading institutional rules (ICC, LCIA, AAA, Vienna, Stockholm, ICSID) and in ad hoc arbitrations in all leading international seats (London, Paris, Geneva/Zurich, Vienna, Stockholm, New York, Washington, Singapore). He has particular experience in joint venture, investor-state, M&A, investment banking and other financial services, project finance, energy, oil and gas, intellectual property and insurance disputes.

Mr. Born heads the firm’s international arbitration group, which is based in London with lawyers in in our New York, Washington, Boston, Silicon Valley, Beijing and Berlin offices. Mr. Born also advises on the litigation of international disputes in US courts. He has particular experience in the fields of jurisdiction, enforcement of judgments, conflict of laws and international judicial cooperation, and also serves as an expert witness on aspects of US private international law in foreign proceedings.

Mr. Born also sits as arbitrator (presiding arbitrator, sole arbitrator and co-arbitrator) and serves as expert witness. He has served as arbitrator in more than 250 institutional and ad hoc arbitrations.

Publications

Mr. Born has published a number of leading works on international arbitration, international litigation and other forms of dispute resolution, including International Commercial Arbitration (Kluwer 3d ed. 2021), the leading treatise in the field. This authoritative 5,000-page work, in three volumes, provides the most comprehensive available commentary on all aspects of the international commercial arbitration process. The First and Second Editions of International Commercial Arbitration have been widely cited by national courts and arbitral tribunals, including by Supreme Courts in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Netherlands and elsewhere.

He has also authored International Arbitration: Law and Practice (Kluwer 3d ed. 2021), International Arbitration and Forum Selection Agreements: Drafting and Enforcing (Kluwer 6th ed. 2021), International Arbitration: Cases and Materials (Aspen 3d ed. 2021) and International Commercial Arbitration: Commentary and Materials (Kluwer 2d ed. 2001). Mr. Born is also the author (together with Peter Rutledge) of International Civil Litigation in United States Courts (Aspen 7th ed. 2022), the leading commentary on the subject.

Professional Activities

Mr. Born is an Honorary Professor of Law at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland and Tsinghua University, Beijing. He has also taught at Harvard Law School, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Stanford Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, National University of Singapore, Peking University School of Transnational Law, University of Virginia School of Law, University College London and the University of Arizona College of Law.

Mr. Born is a member of the American Law Institute and of the Board of Trustees of the British Institute for International and Comparative Law. He has served on the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law, the Advisory Committee of the ALI’s Restatement of US International Arbitration Law, the Advisory Committee of the ALI Restatement of US Foreign Relation Law (Fourth) and as co-chair of the ABA International Section, Committee on International Aspects of Litigation. He is also a Vice President of the American Society of International Law.

Mr. Born recently served as President of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Court of Arbitration for six years. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), a member of the Global Advisory Board of the New York International Arbitration Center (NYIAC), a member of the International Arbitration Committee of the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB) and a member of the Jerusalem Arbitration Center’s Court of Arbitration.

He is a member of the Academic Council of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, the Advisory Board of African International Legal Awareness, the Advisory Board of the Indian Journal of Arbitration Law and the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of World Investment and Trade.

Languages

English, German

Memberships

District of Columbia

England and Wales, Registered Foreign Lawyer

Education

JD, University of Pennsylvania Law School, 1981

BA, Haverford College, 1978

Lawyer Rankings

London > Dispute resolution > Public international law

(Hall of Fame)

Gary BornWilmerHale

With ‘unwavering dedication to providing the utmost in client service’, WilmerHale‘s public international law team routinely acts in matters involving territorial boundaries and territory-related sovereignty issues, including state-to-state, intra-state and investor-state disputes. The practice also covers sovereign immunity, foreign judgment enforcement, and freedom of speech and belief rights, along with treaty accessions, territorial boundaries, maritime delimitation, international criminal law, and human rights. Gary Born is ‘the preeminent expert in international arbitration‘; Steven Finizio is experienced in public international law and investment treaty issues; and Jonathan Lim advises international organisations and governments in Africa and Asia on public international law.

London > Dispute resolution > International arbitration

(Hall of Fame)

Gary BornWilmerHale

Fielding ‘one of the most experienced teams around for international arbitration’, WilmerHale has an enviable track record in high-stakes disputes, including both commercial and investor-state arbitrations. An ‘outstanding, brilliant litigator’, international arbitration practice chair Gary Born is a renowned commercial arbitration and international litigation specialist. Charlie Caher‘s experience includes numerous institutional and ad hoc arbitrations involving all major arbitral institutions and international arbitration practice vice-chair Franz Schwarz has ‘excellent judgement and strategic sense’. Steven Finizio, who also sits as an arbitrator, has particular experience in energy, financial services, shareholder, joint venture M&A, and manufacturing-related disputes. The practice further showcases triple-qualified English solicitor, Singapore advocate and New York lawyer, Jonathan Lim, who acts in a broad range of commercial and investment treaty arbitration matters. In January 2024, the ‘exceptional’ Marleen Krueger, who divides her time between London and Berlin, was promoted to partner. Krueger focuses on international commercial and investment arbitration matters across a range of sectors and jurisdictions.