
Peter J.W. Sherwin
Peter Sherwin is a partner in the Litigation Department, head of the International Arbitration Group, head of the Commercial Real Estate Litigation Group, and a member of the Latin America Practice. Peter is also a member of the Firm’s cross-disciplinary, cross-jurisdictional Coronavirus Response Team.
Peter's practice focuses on acting as counsel in complex cross-border commercial disputes, often involving a joint venture, a licensing or distribution relationship, or an acquisition, most of which are resolved in international arbitration and the rest in federal and state courts in the United States. He has significant pharmaceutical, lodging, real estate, and sports industry experience and, when necessary, regularly takes cases through trial or arbitral hearings.
Peter also regularly serves as an arbitrator in proceedings before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR).
Chambers USA and Chambers Global rank Peter as one of the top International Arbitration lawyers nationwide, reporting that he is "a great tactician with the pragmatism of a businessman" and "a thorough, well-prepared and intelligent lawyer," who is a "very effective advocate on his feet" and whose client service is "exemplary."
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Venezuela is taking its fight over a $1.4 billion arbitral award to the District of Columbia’s federal court of appeals. The award capped a bitter dispute between Venezuela and Crystallex International Corporation, a Canadian mining company. The fight began in 2002, when Crystallex acquired the rights to develop the Las Cristinas gold deposits in Venezuela. … Continue Reading
A long-running dispute between Chevron and Ecuador appears to have reached its end after the Supreme Court declined to take up Ecuador’s question of whether United States courts had jurisdiction to confirm a $96 million arbitration award in favor of Chevron. The case arose out of a decades-long contractual dispute between Ecuador and Texaco Petroleum. In … Continue Reading
The District Court of the Hague overturned a record $50 billion in damages awards issued by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (“PCA”), to the former controlling shareholders of the Yukos Oil Company on the grounds that Russia had not submitted itself to the PCA’s jurisdiction. In 2014, the PCA awarded the former Yukos Oil Company … Continue Reading
In a 3-2 split decision, a New York appellate court determined that a forum selection clause providing for litigation in New York courts had not been explicitly terminated and thus trumped agreements to submit to arbitration in London provided in later contracts that cancelled the previous one. Thus, the appellate panel for the First Department … Continue Reading
The Restoring Statutory Rights Act of 2016, sponsored by Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, was sent to congressional committee on February 4, 2016 for consideration. The bill would place restrictions on companies’ use of arbitration clauses in agreements with consumers. Mandatory arbitration clauses have become a common — and controversial — feature of many consumer contracts. … Continue Reading