Chambers Global names the Debevoise International Arbitration practice as “the best of the best” and The Legal 500 as “in a class of its own.”
Catherine Amirfar
Mark W. Friedman
Lord Goldsmith KC
Jeffrey Sullivan KC
The Debevoise team has authored various guides and tools to further the practice of international arbitration, including the industry standard setting Efficiency Protocol, and the Protocol to Promote Cybersecurity in International Arbitration.
These resources can be found here.
The only firm in the world to be ranked in Band 1 for both International Arbitration and Public International Law by Chambers Global every year for the last decade.
International Arbitration Firm of the Year
—Benchmark Litigation U.S. Awards 2019-2025
Received the Chambers Latin America Award for Excellence in International Arbitration three times.
Debevoise's combination of international law expertise, strategic planning, collaborative approach … enables them to handle international aspects of cases in an exceptional manner.
A brilliant team … bound together by an ethos of hard work and quality.
Debevoise & Plimpton are excellent. They think strategically with a forward-looking perspective.
Debevoise are an exceptionally talented group … the written and oral advocacy is of top quality.
The best of the best.
Absolutely top-rate … the team demonstrates excellent analytical skills, smooth and effortless drafting, as well as impressive advocacy skills.
The Debevoise team is superb. Coordination is entirely seamless and the different jurisdictions are used to the team’s advantage.
It is really an all star team […] each individual is a star. It really is something to see them in action.
—Chambers Global, 2021-2024
For international arbitration, they are simply impressive.
They are leaders in the arbitration world and active across many jurisdictions and types of cases and that translates to commercial awareness.
They're one of the strongest outfits in the field.
—Chambers USA, 2022-2024
Debevoise has the best international arbitration team in the world. [T]hey all handle extremely complex disputes seamlessly.
Debevoise’s international arbitration team is top notch. Strategic thinking and delivery of superb work product are their top qualities. When you go for Debevoise, you do not hire an arbitration star, you hire a star team.
—The Legal 500 US, 2022-2024
The team is qualified in common law and civil law systems, speaks more than 35 languages, and works in nine offices across three continents. Recently Debevoise has worked on international matters involving over 125 countries and worth over $110 billion.
Our team’s quality, tenacity, skill and experience has allowed us to achieve for our clients some of the largest and most significant awards in international arbitration and public international law. Indeed, Global Arbitration Review has remarked, “If any team has consistently brought home “the big results,” it seems to be Debevoise.”
Lawyers in the practice handle a broad range of matters, including international commercial and treaty arbitration, public international law and complex commercial litigation. Just as diverse is its industry experience, which spans energy, mining, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, technology, and many others.
Our team invests in each other to encourage an extraordinary degree of teamwork and mentorship. This investment produces excellence today, and the diverse thought leaders and innovators of tomorrow. It means our team members across generations are recognized as leaders in the major legal directories.
Debevoise lawyers also hold leadership roles with virtually every major arbitration body in the world. They do not just know today’s law; they are shaping tomorrow’s.
Flexible in approach, cost-effective and readily able to adjust resources to changing circumstances, the practice can efficiently meet the full range of client needs in high-stakes matters. Debevoise’s Protocol to Promote Efficiency in International Arbitration, first issued in 2010, has now become an industry benchmark.
Debevoise’s collaborative culture gives clients the benefit of the full firm’s resources. Partners in the International Dispute Resolution Group work closely together on disputes, and seamlessly among offices and other practices inside the firm. In addition, the firm’s network of external contacts includes leading local counsel and other experts in North America, Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia.
The Debevoise International Arbitration Clause Handbook provides a standard framework for drafting arbitration clauses in international contracts to help reduce the possibility of disagreements regarding jurisdiction, provide greater clarity in enforcement, promote greater efficiency and preserve the business relationship between parties if a conflict arises. The Handbook suggests language, and underlying strategic considerations, for a range of special circumstances—including multi-party and multi-contract transactions, confidentiality, and state-owned counterparties—to allow the parties to tailor their arbitration clause to their specific commercial goals.
View Debevoise International Arbitration Clause Handbook
The Debevoise Efficiency Protocol (2018) offers more than 25 specific practices to help streamline and focus arbitration proceedings, from the formation of the tribunal to the hearing and potential settlement. First published in 2010 and recognized as a benchmark in the field, the updated Debevoise Efficiency Protocol (2018) reflects the firm’s experience and evolving insights into how parties can take advantage of arbitration’s inherent flexibility, and thus control costs and duration, to achieve their strategic goals without compromising the fairness of the process.
View Debevoise Efficiency Protocol (2018)
Protocolo de Eficiencia de Debevoise (2018)
The Debevoise Protocol to Promote Cybersecurity in International Arbitration was created to address the threat cyberattacks can pose to the integrity of the international arbitration process. Recognized by The Financial Times as a leading example of legal innovation, the Cybersecurity Protocol identifies specific procedures for establishing secure protocols for transfer of sensitive information at the outset of proceedings, limiting disclosure and use of sensitive information, and developing procedures for disclosing data breaches if they do happen.
View Debevoise Protocol to Promote Cybersecurity in International Arbitration