People

David Bowker

Partner

Bowker, David W.

David W. Bowker is a partner in the firm's Litigation/Controversy Department. He is the chair of the firm’s International Litigation/Controversy Working Group and is a member of the Business Trial, Government and Regulatory Litigation, and International Arbitration Practice Groups. He joined the firm in 2002 after serving as an attorney-adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the US Department of State.

Practice

Mr. Bowker has represented US and foreign companies, multi-nationals, foreign states, and non-profit organizations before international arbitration tribunals, state and federal trial courts, courts of appeal and the US Supreme Court.

He has particular experience handling complex commercial disputes, class action litigations, international and multi-jurisdictional matters, post-war reparations and restitution programs, art and antiquities claims, constitutional challenges to state and federal statutes, investor-state disputes and other sovereign-related matters.

Past Experience

Before joining the firm, Mr. Bowker worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the US Department of State, where he advised the Legal Adviser and other senior officials regarding the law of war in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, defended the Department in administrative tribunals and US courts, and advised the Director General of the Foreign Service on ethics, privacy, medical issues, and personnel-related matters.

Mr. Bowker also served as a graduate intern on the staff of the National Security Council, where he specialized in counter-terrorism, peacekeeping operations and counter-international organized crime.

Honors & Awards

  • US Department of State Superior Honor Award (counsel, war on terrorism)
  • US Department of State Superior Honor Award (counsel, multilateral negotiations)
  • US Department of State Meritorious Honor Award (department-wide ethics counsel)

Publications & News

View

February 17, 2010

American Aid Worker Freed in Haiti

April 3, 2008

Supreme Court Rejects Expanded Judicial Review of Arbitral Awards in Hall Street v. Mattel

April 1, 2006

Investment Treaty Arbitration: ICSID Amends Investor-State Arbitration Rules

Client Alert co-authored by Gary Born, Steven P. Finizio, David W. Ogden, Ethan G. Shenkman, Rachel D. Kent, John V.H. Pierce, David Bowker, Matthew Draper, Richard A. Johnston

January 1, 1998

The New Management of Peace Operations under PDD-56"

Fletcher F. of World Aff.

January 1, 1997

Enforcing International Environmental Treaties in Domestic Legal Systems

Recent Highlights

  • The representation of a prominent cultural institution in defense of art and antiquities claims brought by individuals and foreign states;
  • the representation of a US company in an investor-state dispute with a foreign sovereign under the expropriation and commercial activities exceptions to immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act;
  • the representation of financial institutions in class-action litigations involving retirement plans, investment products and investment advisory services;
  • the representation of non-governmental organizations in a constitutional challenge to a federal statute on First Amendment, free-speech grounds;
  • the representation of the Federal Republic of Germany as amicus curiae in a landmark US Supreme Court case involving a constitutional challenge to a California statute on foreign affairs grounds;
  • the representation of major US and European companies in international commercial arbitrations before the ICC and other arbitral institutions;
  • the representation of multiple European companies in US litigations regarding international, post-war restitution programs; and
  • the representation of US and foreign clients in defense and national security matters involving counter-terrorism, homeland security and the law of war.

Professional Activities

Mr. Bowker is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches “Advanced International Commercial Arbitration.” He previously taught “The Law of War and the War on Terrorism” at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and has guest lectured in matters of international law at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service.

Mr. Bowker is a member of the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Washington Foreign Law Society. He also belongs to American Bar Association (Section of International Law and Practice), the International Law Association, and the California State Bar Association. He was a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Practices

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Education

JD, University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, 1998

MALD, Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 1998

BA, cum laude, University of California, Los Angeles, 1993

Bar Admissions

District of Columbia

New York

California

Languages

German

Clerkships

The Hon. Joseph T. Sneed, US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1998 - 1999