International Arbitration

International Arbitration. International arbitration is used to resolve disputes arising out of international contracts and bilateral and multilateral investment treaties. It allows parties from different legal and cultural backgrounds to choose arbitrators to resolve their disputes in a neutral, private, and efficient forum instead of resorting to national courts. The enforcement of international arbitral awards is supported by international treaties acceded to by most countries in the world.

While international arbitrations take place in all parts of the world, international arbitration counsel are not limited by geography. English is the most frequently used language, and international arbitration advocacy much resembles advocacy in Canada.

Our International Arbitration Group. Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall’s International Arbitration Group was established in January 2009 with the arrival of Partner Andrew McDougall from leading international arbitration firm White & Case in Paris. There he practised international arbitration full-time working on a wide range of international arbitrations around the world involving up to billions of dollars.

With Andrew’s arrival, the Firm committed to invest in the development of a globally competitive international arbitration practice. As part of this commitment, in July 2009, one of Canada’s leading international arbitration practitioners, Barry Leon, joined the Firm’s International Arbitration Group from leading Canadian law firm Torys in Toronto. He brings more than 30 years of experience as counsel in complex and significant disputes involving many different industries.

With senior disputes Partner R. Aaron Rubinoff, a member of the Firm’s Management Committee with particular experience in commercial and intellectual property disputes, and Chairman and Founding Partner Thomas McDougall, Q.C., the Firm now has a four-partner strong international arbitration team.

This level of international arbitration experience and knowledge is rare in Canada.

Our Strengths. The Firm’s International Arbitration Group provides value to Canadian and international clients around the world by delivering high quality legal services at a sensible cost and in line with their business objectives. The size and structure of our team allow us to provide quality partner-level involvement.

We have a lower cost structure as we are in Ottawa, which is Canada’s national capital and a multicultural, bilingual city at the crossroads of English/American common law and French civil law. Given the size of our Firm, we have fee structure flexibility and are able to enter into value billing and other alternative fee arrangements, and we are free of the conflicts that often exist in larger firms.

Our goal is to assist clients in heading-off expensive, distracting and time-consuming disputes, and to resolve disputes efficiently and effectively when they are unavoidable. We believe that a key to success is a solid, efficient, and effective working partnership with in-house counsel who play a vitally important role in almost all of a corporation’s or government’s disputes. As experienced international arbitration counsel, we aim to be competitive in meeting client demands today by being responsive, and by providing cost-effective solutions for international disputes. We have the flexibility to do so – a flexibility that most others cannot offer.

We believe that clients in Canada and around the world will appreciate the quality and cost of our international arbitration capability.