“The team provide comprehensive advice and are excellent at breaking down complicated matters for ease of understanding for all stakeholders in our business.”

Chambers UK 2024

Baker Botts' International Disputes Team combines strategic judgment with excellence in advocacy, providing round-the-world experience with round-the-clock service.

Who We Are.

International Experience & Academic Excellence. We are a multinational, multilingual team of lawyers with stellar academic qualifications, trained in the civil law, the common law and international law. Several members of our team teach at leading universities and are considered thought leaders in their fields.

Client Advocates. We are not just lawyers, we are also advocates. Our extensive experience in the hearing room gives us the insight to understand what is important to our clients’ objectives and separate what actually matters — the “big picture” — from the noise. We are praised for the insightfulness and effectiveness of our oral advocacy.  Several members of our team regularly sit as arbitrators, which allows us to provide unique insights about the arbitration process to our clients.

Strategic Advisors. International disputes are often complex, with multiple applicable laws, different languages and factual and procedural challenges. We leverage those complexities to find strategic opportunities. As a testament to our ability, we are often engaged to solve our clients’ most challenging and serious disputes.

Industry Experience. We have market leading experience in energy and construction disputes.  That experience means that we understand the commercial realities facing our clients and the latest developments in those industries.

Efficient Counsel. Our ability to quickly identify and focus on the most important facts and principles allows us to avoid wasted costs on unnecessary distractions. We operate in small teams where everyone contributes, and everyone knows the case inside and out. And because we are confident in our abilities, we are always pleased to explore alternative fee options of mutual benefit.

What We Do.

International Commercial Arbitration. We are counsel to parties in arbitrations across the globe under all major institutional rules.  We have particular expertise in oil and gas, power and construction disputes.  We advise clients on all stages of their disputes, including pre-dispute advice, representation in legal proceedings, enforcement and annulment proceedings.

Investor State Disputes. We are counsel to investors and States involved in a wide range of disputes under international investment treaties. Unlike many of our rivals, we represent both investors and states, which allows us to provide clients with unique advice. We can also draw on the experience of the members of our team who sit as arbitrators in these disputes. In addition to representing parties in arbitral proceedings, we also have significant experience representing investors and states in annulment proceedings before national courts and ICSID ad hoc committees.

Public International Law. We provide strategic counsel to clients on a wide range of public international law issues, including claims that involve the European Convention on Human Rights, the application of the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the interpretation of various treaties and international conventions, the rules and principles concerning dealings with the effective government of a State, the customary rules of the Law of the Sea and the effects of termination of, and withdrawal from, international treaties.

Multijurisdictional Litigation. We frequently represent clients facing multiple, related legal proceedings in several jurisdictions. In these situations, coordination and consistency of strategy are essential – and so is the ability to understand and manage the complex procedural issues that arise from the multiple, potentially different laws and rules that may apply. We pursue and defend various parallel legal proceedings, including arbitrations, national court lawsuits and international court proceedings.