Experience

Career Path and Education

Before launching his practice as an independent arbitrator, Brian was a senior partner in the international arbitration group at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where he practiced for two decades. At Freshfields, Brian acted as counsel in major commercial and investor-State disputes, including two of the largest investment arbitrations to date – ConocoPhillips v. Venezuela (for the claimant investor) and Libananco v. Turkey (for the respondent State). Next to his counsel practice, Brian served as arbitrator in cases under the main sets of institutional rules and in ad hoc proceedings. He is included on the panels of numerous arbitral institutions, including the ICSID arbitration and conciliation panels.

Prior to joining Freshfields in 1999, Brian worked together with Albert Jan van den Berg at the Dutch law firm Stibbe (1996-1999), which followed his service as a legal advisor at the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague (1994-1996). Before moving to Europe, Brian had been a litigation associate at Skadden Arps (1992-1994), and a law clerk for Judge Harry T. Edwards in the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (1991-1992) and Judge Leonard B. Sand in the District Court for the Southern District of New York (1990-1991).

Brian has been an Adjunct Professor at the New York University School of Law since 2013, where he teaches investment law and arbitration practice. In 2018, he was named a Distinguished Practitioner-in-Residence at the law school.

Brian is a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University, where he majored in Politics. He graduated first in his class at the New York University School of Law, where he served as an editor on the Law Review. Admitted to practice in New York and Washington, D.C., Brian also has expertise in public international law. He has considerable experience with the Dutch and other civil law systems as well, based on his 13 years of practice in Europe.

Born in the American South in 1963, Brian has lived and worked around the globe. In his spare time, he is an avid reader and a motorcycle enthusiast.

Experience as Arbitrator

In 2002, Brian accepted his first appointment as an arbitrator. He has managed a consistent docket of international and domestic cases since then.

Brian has served as presiding arbitrator, co-arbitrator, sole arbitrator or emergency arbitrator in proceedings under the Rules of the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the American Arbitration Association and its International Centre for Dispute Resolution, the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, the Netherlands Arbitration Institute and the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce, as well as in ad hoc proceedings under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. He has also acted as presiding or sole panelist in more than 35 domain name disputes administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Brian is registered on the panels of arbitral institutions around the world. In particular, he is a panel member of the following institutions:

  • American Arbitration Association (AAA)
  • Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit (DIS)
  • Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry
  • ICSID Panel of Arbitrators
  • ICSID Panel of Conciliators
  • International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR)
  • International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) (U.S. national committee)
  • International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR)
  • Korean Commercial Arbitration Board
  • London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA)
  • Netherlands Arbitration Institute (NAI)
  • WIPO Panel of Neutrals.

Representative cases in which Brian has served as arbitrator include the following:

  • Presiding arbitrator, AAA arbitration arising out of a substantial development and funding agreement in the biotechnology sector
  • President, ad hoc Committee in ICSID Case No. ARB/15/29 (Cortec Mining v. Republic of Kenya)
  • Co-arbitrator, ICC arbitration involving a US$ 900 million dispute in the nuclear energy sector
  • Co-arbitrator, ICSID Case No. ARB/20/27 (Barrick (PD) Australia Pty Limited v. The Independent State of Papua New Guinea)
  • Presiding arbitrator, ICC construction arbitration seated in Washington, D.C., involving works performed at a U.S. military base in Asia
  • Co-arbitrator, ICC construction arbitration involving advanced electricity generation facilities
  • Co-arbitrator, ICC arbitration arising out of a long-term development agreement for pharmaceutical products
  • Presiding arbitrator, AAA arbitration involving a complex dispute in the insurance industry
  • Co-arbitrator, ICC construction arbitration arising out of a solar energy project in Africa
  • Co-arbitrator, UNCITRAL investment arbitration seated in Paris concerning the electricity transmission network of a European country
  • Co-arbitrator, SIAC arbitration involving change-of-control provisions in a long-term license agreement in the consumer electronics sector
  • Co-arbitrator, UNCITRAL arbitration (administered by the LCIA) concerning a shareholder dispute in the oil and gas sector in Latin America
  • Sole arbitrator, ICC arbitration arising out of a dispute in the financial services sector
  • Co-arbitrator, UNCITRAL arbitration seated in London concerning a major electricity supply project in sub-Saharan Africa
  • Co-arbitrator, ICC arbitration arising out of a long-running dispute involving patent licenses in the telecommunications sector
  • Sole arbitrator, multi-party ICC arbitration seated in London involving a dispute arising from a share purchase agreement in the life sciences sector
  • Co-arbitrator, ICDR arbitration arising from a manufacturing agreement for advanced biologics products
  • Presiding arbitrator, AAA arbitration arising out of an investment in the pharmaceuticals sector
  • Co-arbitrator, ICC construction arbitration involving a major oil and gas project in Latin America
  • Presiding arbitrator, CPR arbitration concerning a complex dispute in the financial services industry
  • Emergency arbitrator, ICC proceeding between two Peruvian parties arising out of a contract for oil and gas exploration and production
  • Sole arbitrator, UNCITRAL arbitration between U.S. and Nigerian parties, relating to a transaction in the aviation industry
  • Sole arbitrator, AAA arbitration arising out of a long-term joint venture contract
  • Co-arbitrator, ICDR arbitration between Cayman and BVI companies involving a joint venture for aircraft maintenance services
  • Sole arbitrator, NAI arbitration between European parties arising out of a disputed sales transaction
  • Sole arbitrator, ICDR arbitration between U.S. and German parties involving a construction project at a defense facility in Europe
  • Presiding arbitrator, ICC arbitration seated in London between European and Tanzanian parties in the oil and gas sector
  • Co-arbitrator, ICDR arbitration between U.S. and English companies in the life sciences sector
  • Co-arbitrator, AAA arbitration between U.S. and Canadian parties involving the supply of finished steel
  • Sole arbitrator, ICC arbitration seated in Amsterdam between European and Asian companies involving a construction project in India
  • Co-arbitrator, AAA arbitration arising out of a contract for the supply of industrial machinery
  • Co-arbitrator, Hungarian Chamber of Commerce arbitration between Dutch and Hungarian parties involving a sports franchise
  • Sole arbitrator, ICC arbitration seated in Amsterdam between German and Dutch parties in the maritime sector
  • Sole arbitrator, ICC construction arbitration seated in Amsterdam between English and Indian parties
  • Sole arbitrator, ICC arbitration seated in Amsterdam between Swiss and Polish parties involving a dispute over the ownership of a steel plant
  • Sole arbitrator, ICC arbitration seated in Amsterdam involving a dispute in the information technology sector
  • Co-arbitrator, AAA arbitration between U.S. companies engaged in the metals trade
  • Co-arbitrator, ICDR arbitration between German and Korean parties arising out of a distribution agreement for advanced farm machinery
  • Sole arbitrator, NAI arbitration arising from a dispute between parties operating a shipping business.

Experience as Counsel

During his more than 25 years of law firm practice, Brian acted as counsel in over one hundred commercial and investment disputes, under all major sets of arbitration rules. Representative examples follow.

Commercial Arbitration

  • Lead counsel to a major U.S. pharmaceutical company in a Singapore-seated ICC arbitration and a London-seated LCIA arbitration, both involving innovative drug therapies
  • Lead counsel to a government agency in a series of FIDIC-form construction arbitrations, under the ICC and UNCITRAL Rules, arising from roadway projects in sub-Saharan Africa
  • One of two lead counsel to a consortium of prominent Korean companies in a Toronto-seated ICC arbitration arising out of the construction of a power plant
  • Lead counsel to an international mining company in a dispute in Latin America involving long-term take-or-pay contracts
  • One of two lead counsel to the ConocoPhillips Company in two multi-billion dollar ICC arbitrations against the national oil company of a Latin American country
  • Lead counsel to a European energy company in a complex dispute arising from the construction of a gas pipeline in Central America

Investor-State Arbitration

  • Lead counsel to the ConocoPhillips Company in its successful, precedent-setting ICSID arbitration against Venezuela arising from the unlawful expropriation of three very substantial oil projects (Case No. ARB/07/30)
  • Lead counsel to the Government of Grenada in the successful defense of two ICSID arbitrations, and a related annulment proceeding, arising from an offshore oil and gas exploration contract (Case Nos. ARB/05/14 and ARB/10/6)
  • Lead counsel to the Government of Saint Lucia in the first ICSID proceeding in which security for costs was granted to a respondent State (Case No. ARB/12/10)
  • Counsel to the Republic of Turkey in three ICSID proceedings under the Energy Charter Treaty, in which claims totaling more than U.S. $20 billion were dismissed in full (Case Nos. ARB/06/8, ARB(AF)/06/2 and ARB(AF)/07/2)
  • Lead counsel to the United Republic of Tanzania in the successful defense of an ICSID arbitration arising out of a water treatment project in Dar es Salaam (Case No. ARB/05/22)