GAR Analysis

• No. of pending cases: 13
• Value of all claims: US$2.4billion
• No. of appearances in Who's Who: 1
• No. of treaty cases: 3
• No. of arbitration appointments (No. as chair or sole): 4(1)

At the risk of over-simplifying a 500-litigator firm, the concept of 'government' plays a big part in Sidley Austin's arbitral life - or has done in the past. Lately, however, things appear to be evolving.

Sidley Austin's arbitration practice grew, by all accounts, from the firm's pre-eminence in international trade law. Its arbitration portfolio at times would have looked the opposite of a European firm's: 90 per cent of the cases were investment treaty-related, and far fewer were commercial cases.

It was Sidley Austin's arbitration lawyers who represented the first state seeking to use the article 24(5) mechanism in the ICSID convention (in a case on behalf of the Republic of Turkey). Sidley Austin's largest concentration of partners who work on arbitration is in Washington, DC. Several of the arbitration front line have had careers in government. Daniel Price, for example, was principal deputy general counsel to the US trade representative. Stanimir Alexandrov was vice minister for finance in Bulgaria, among other roles. There are other offices - 16 worldwide - and litigators in numbers across the firm.

So 2006 to 2007 may prove an interesting inflection point in the history of arbitration at the firm. The arbitration group has now been promoted to a 'cross-office team'; one of the big names in Washington, DC, Daniel Price, has gone back into government at least for the remainder of the present Bush administration; there have been promotions in offices other than Asia; and in London, the contentious insurance practice has been growing. Most conspicuously of all, the mix of work is different. This year there is more commercial work on Sidley's books than treaty-related work. Onlookers and armchair quarterbacks/heads of department have long speculated that a firm might be able to emerge in the field of treaty-related work, and parlay that legitimacy into the bigger market of contract arbitration. Will Sidley Austin one day stand for that proposition? Time will tell. But it is possible.

2007 also had some good news on the work front. The group's client Vivendi won an award for US$105 million plus costs and interest in a case against Argentina that predated the pesification cases. All concerned deserve full marks for stamina - the case has taken 10 years and been through numerous distinct phases and restarts after changes to the composition of the panel.

Contact Details

Website: www.sidley.com

Helping companies, governments and trade associations navigate the challenges of globalization

Our International Arbitration practice of more than 50 lawyers spans Sidley's entire global footprint of 16 offices, in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Washington, D.C.

Sidley's team manages all aspects of international dispute resolution:

• Investment Treaty Arbitration
• International Commercial Arbitration
• WTO Disputes

Contacts:

Washington D.C.

Stanimir A. Alexandrov
+1.202.736.8115
salexandrov@sidley.com

Marinn F. Carlson
+1.202.736.8769
mcarlson@sidley.com

New York

Steven M. Bierman
+1.212.839.5510
sbierman@sidley.com

Geneva

Scott D. Andersen
+41.22.308.00.35
sandersen@sidley.com

Brussels

Arnoud R. Willems
+32.2.504.6409
awillems@sidley.com

Los Angeles

David T. Miyamoto
+1.213.896.6693
dmiyamoto@sidley.com

Hong Kong

Allen C. Kim
+852.2509.7872
akim@sidley.com

London

Dorothy Cory-Wright
+44.20.7360.2565
dcory-wright@sidley.com

Sidley Austin LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership which operates at the firm's offices other than Chicago, London, Hong Kong, and Sydney, is affiliated with other partnerships, including Sidley Austin LLP, an Illinois limited liability partnership (Chicago); Sidley Austin LLP, a separate Delaware limited liability partnership (London); Sidley Austin, a New York general partnership (Hong Kong); Sidley Austin, a Delaware general partnership of registered foreign lawyers restricted to practicing foreign law (Sydney); and Sidley Austin Nishikawa Foreign Law Joint Enterprise (Tokyo). Attorney Advertising. For purposes of compliance with New York State Bar rules, Sidley Austin LLP's headquarters are 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019, 212.839.5300 and One South Dearborn, Chicago, IL 60603, 312.853.7000.

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