Practices

Arbitration

The lawyers in Ballard Spahr’s Arbitration Group regularly handle the full range of arbitration matters before international and domestic tribunals, with a distinctive record of success advocating for multinational, foreign, and domestic corporations in high-stakes disputes.

Clients rely on our experience and strategic judgment to guide them through all aspects of the arbitration process, including arbitrator selections, interim or emergency relief applications and hearings, strategic and cost considerations for the appropriate scope of discovery, in-person or virtual arbitration trials on the merits, and enforcement of arbitral awards.

Arbitration Group lawyers also work with our firm’s transactional partners to advise clients on the pros and cons of arbitration for prospective transactions, and to then draft arbitration clauses that benefit from our years of experience, so they best reflect our client’s interests.

Experience Across Industries

Our Arbitration Group has extensive experience handling arbitrations in a range of industries, including financial services, life sciences, project finance, manufacturing, technology, telecommunications, private equity, and construction. Our Group has substantial experience in arbitrating our clients’ most material and complex domestic and international disputes, as both claimant and respondent, in disputes arising from life science and technology licensing and commercialization agreements, manufacturing and supply contracts, IP and inventorship disputes, financial investments and financings, contractual indemnity, acquisitions and post-closing adjustments, and joint ventures and partnerships.

Our Group includes arbitration advocates who also are members of Ballard Spahr’s nationally recognized Consumer Financial Services Group. These attorneys have substantial experience in a different type of arbitration: defending financial institutions in consumer arbitration actions, including class and mass arbitration actions, involving the enforcement of consumer credit contract arbitrations (including defense of the arbitration provision); challenges to interest rates, fees, and other contract terms; the full range of federal and state consumer financial services laws, including TILA, HOEPA, ECOA, FCRA, FDCPA, RESPA, EFTA, and TCPA; privacy, data, and cybersecurity issues; and claims of unlawful arbitration. We also advise clients on designing and implementing pre-dispute arbitration programs to avoid class actions and jury trials, with a national practice known for successfully enforcing those programs.

In addition to appearing before arbitration tribunals, our attorneys also serve as neutral arbitrators, mediators, masters, and settlement judges—experience that further informs the successful strategies we implement for our clients.

Experience Across Jurisdictions and Arbitral Organizations

With decades of experience encompassing every conceivable type of commercial dispute, our Arbitration lawyers have appeared on behalf of clients in all the major U.S. and overseas forums, including:

American Arbitration Association (AAA) and International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR)
International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
JAMS
United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)
London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA)

Client-Focused Strategies and Pricing

Because arbitrated disputes are often against our clients’ counter-parties in important ongoing contracts, we work with our clients at the onset to develop a strategy that takes into consideration not just how best to present a winning case to the tribunal at the arbitration trial, but also how to regulate any impact of the proceeding on the ongoing relationship, and our client’s ultimate objective in the matter.

Our client-focused approach emphasizes clear communication throughout the process. As seasoned arbitration trial lawyers, we develop with our clients a trial strategy at the onset of the case, to focus on what we need to accomplish, and what is less important, to win the case, or put the client in the best situation to negotiate a resolution.

We are experienced in managing arbitration proceedings efficiently and cost-effectively, including through alternative fee arrangements.

Representative Experience

Complex Commercial Arbitration

As arbitration trial counsel, won a 10-day ICC arbitration trial on behalf of one of the world’s leading vaccine companies, defeating a licensor’s nine-figure claim that our client did not use “diligent efforts” to globally commercialize an anti-viral therapy.
As arbitration trial counsel, won a multimillion-dollar award arising from breach of an international contract claim in the London Court of International Arbitration on behalf of a large U.S. fishing company against a German diesel engine manufacturer.
As arbitration trial counsel, represent a global vaccine manufacturer as the respondent in a confidential ICC arbitration in a dispute over whether a particular eight-figure milestone is due under a collaboration and licensing agreement. The arbitration trial is expected to occur by the end of summer 2026, with a decision by the end of the year.

As arbitration trial counsel, won a five-day AAA trial over an international contract claim on behalf of the largest U.S. recreational marine vessel manufacturer against a Brazilian corporation, leading to a successful action to execute on the arbitral award in a Brazilian court.
As arbitration trial counsel, won a resounding defense ruling—with the three-member arbitration panel unanimously finding in favor of our client on all claims—for a world-famous medical research foundation, following a nearly three-week trial with witnesses testifying from around the world in an international arbitration where we defeated an eight-figure royalty claim related to a breakthrough pharmaceutical therapy.
As arbitration trial counsel, represented one of the world’s largest developers and manufacturers of fire suppression systems in an AAA arbitration related to claims of inventorship and alleged breach of royalties due under a patent license and obtained a motion to dismiss most of the claimant’s case before discovery—a rarity for an arbitration panel. We favorably settled the remainder of the case prior to the arbitration trial.
As arbitration trial counsel, represent the claimant in an international commercial dispute pending before a three-arbitrator ICC panel, in which our client seeks eight-figure relief for breach of contract based on respondent’s failure to pay amounts due under a long-term industrial manufacturing contract.
As arbitration trial counsel, represented a major pharmaceutical company as claimant and counterclaim-respondent before a three-arbitrator panel in the ICDR in a nine-figure breach-of-contract dispute over respondent’s failure to pay amounts due under a landmark drug co-marketing agreement.
As arbitration trial counsel, represented client in an ICDR arbitration of a seven-figure international contract dispute between a large U.S. telecommunications company and a Mexican corporation in a seven-day hearing involving testimony by witnesses from the U.S. and Mexico.
As respondents’ counsel, represented a large health insurer in multiple AAA arbitrations brought by health care providers alleging breach of contract and related claims, including a five-day arbitration in which our client prevailed on all matters at issue.
As respondents’ counsel, represent a large, international manufacturer in an ICC arbitration alleging that our client breached certain warranties related to the sale of one of our client’s business units to the claimant.
As respondents’ counsel, represented a large vaccine manufacturer in dozens of arbitrations involving personal injury claims related to the use of our client’s vaccine.
As respondent’s counsel, represented a large, international life sciences company in a dispute with one of the world’s largest life sciences companies alleging violation of an agreement to provide marketing assistance after patent experience of the product at issue.

Consumer Finance Arbitration

As national arbitration counsel for multiple financial institutions, managing all consumer arbitrations with AAA, JAMS, and NAM.
As arbitration trial counsel, represented a large institutional holder of residential solar loans in connection with individual consumer finance claims brought by hundreds of borrowers.
As respondents’ counsel in connection with mass arbitration demands, represented numerous financial institutions and retailers by developing strategies to favorably resolve the demands on an efficient basis (in some cases resulting in complete abandonment of claims) and worked with clients to revise their arbitration clauses to mitigate mass arbitration risk in the future.
As respondents’ counsel, successfully navigated multiple large mass arbitrations through AAA and JAMS mass arbitration processes, including arbitrator selection and appointment, arbitration batching, coordination of mass discovery and case needs, and final awards on the merits.
As arbitration trial counsel, defeated a consumer finance class action filed with the AAA against a financial institution despite its not having a class action waiver in its arbitration agreement.
As respondents’ counsel, successfully obtained voluntary dismissal of a mass arbitration action by strategically selecting, and then winning, key early bellwether arbitrations that established that continued pursuit of the mass claims would have a limited return.
As respondents’ counsel, successfully opposed the application of mass arbitration rules in inherently individualized matters.
As national arbitration counsel, defeated or resolved dozens of threatened mass arbitration demands, and have helped many dozens of clients navigate mass arbitration threats.
Negotiated with AAA, JAMS, and NAM on application of fees, rules, and processes to improve mass arbitration processes.

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Robert R. Baron, Jr.

Practice Co-Leader

baron@ballardspahr.com
- Tel 215.864.8335
John S. Devlin

Practice Co-Leader

devlinj@ballardspahr.com
- Tel 206.223.6280

Arbitration

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