How to get into arbitration (international or domestic)? Forum

(On Campus Interviews, Summer Associate positions, Firm Reviews, Tips, ...)
Forum rules
Anonymous Posting

Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are revealing sensitive employment related information about a firm, job, etc. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.

Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned.
Anonymous User
Posts: 432497
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

How to get into arbitration (international or domestic)?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Nov 01, 2021 4:49 pm

Is arbitration more like an independent field of its own, or is it more closely aligned with either transactional or litigation?

Is it a field in which you start out as an associate, or one that you enter into after a few years in another field?

For lateraling, does either transactional or litigation have an advantage over the other?

lockin54

New
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:23 pm

Re: How to get into arbitration (international or domestic)?

Post by lockin54 » Wed Nov 03, 2021 1:28 pm

I'm not sure there is any domestic arbitation specific groups, I could be wrong but I would think that would just be a normal litigation group. There may be non big law practices that specialize in that area.

International arbitration is definitely its own speciality. If you are interested in persuing that I would recommend as background: (i) taking specific international arbitration/international law courses in law school, (ii) becoming involved in trade groups like the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center, and (iii) becoming fluent in a foreign language (specifically, Spanish, French, or Chinese).

To get a job, I would research what biglaw firms have international arbitration groups, and then reach out to associates and get coffee to discuss their practice and what they would recommend for setting yourself up to get a job with their group.

For actually interviews I would say you are specifically looking for international arbitration work. The other route would be to just get a litigation position at a law firm with an international arbitration group and once you are in the firm just start reaching out to the international arbitration people for work. I have heard it can be difficult to get hired specifically for international arbitration, but I'm not sure if that is totally accutrate (would be a good question for the associate during your coffee).

Arbitration is definitely a litigation practice so doing transaction work wouldn't really carry over.

Mockingbird42

New
Posts: 46
Joined: Thu Dec 03, 2015 7:03 pm

Re: How to get into arbitration (international or domestic)?

Post by Mockingbird42 » Thu Nov 04, 2021 7:40 am

Domestic arbitration and international arbitration are nothing alike. The former is the midpoint between mediation and litigation. The latter is the Wild West of litigation. There is no stare decises and the rules of procedure are set for each tribunal and can change at any time. I had one hearing where 2 days before closing arguments we still briefing about how much time should be allotted to each side.

If you want to get into intl arb just make sure you have a demonstrated interest in international law: do a moot court (like Jessup), join the international law journal, take an international arb class, know what a BIT is, etc. Firms at OCI will recruit for it like any other specialty area.

Post Reply Post Anonymous Reply  

Return to “Legal Employment”