Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP offers one of the world’s most experienced and accomplished international litigation practices.

The firm’s lawyers have been involved in many of the landmark international disputes in the United States, European Union and elsewhere during the past four decades, and are widely recognized as leading authorities in the field. These matters have raised issues of personal and subject matter jurisdiction, forum selection (including forum non conveniens and anti-suit injunctions), foreign sovereign immunity, choice of law, customary international law and treaty interpretation, act of state, the Alien Tort Statute, confirmation and annulment of international arbitral awards, recognition of foreign judgments, service of process and taking evidence abroad. We have preeminent expertise and experience in disputes involving both commercial and private international law, as well as public international law, in national and international forums around the world.

Our lawyers are recognized as leaders in the international litigation field. The firm’s practice is headed by Gary Born, who was recently voted the "World’s Best International Litigator” by Legal Media Group and the "Advocate of the Year" by the Global Arbitration Review. Mr. Born is also the author of International Civil Litigation in United States Courts (Aspen Publishers 4th ed. 2007), widely acknowledged as the seminal work in the area. In the words of one review, Mr. Born’s book "is defining the law school course of ‘International Civil Litigation’ in much the same way as Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Herbert Wechsler defined the course of ‘Federal Courts.’” Click here for further reviews of Mr. Born’s book.

The firm’s International Litigation team also includes:

• Roger Witten, resident in our New York office, served as lead counsel in the Dormant Accounts and Forced Labor litigations in US courts, and in several major international internal investigations (including Royal Ahold). He is one of the leading authorities in the US on international corruption matters and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act;
• Claus Dieter Ehlermann, who is resident in our Brussels office and was formerly director-general of competition and legal service of the European Commission, and chairman of the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization;
• Howard Shapiro, resident in our Washington DC office and chair of the firm’s Litigation Department, who served as lead counsel in the IGEN International litigation, securing a $500 million jury verdict against a major European competitor;
• Wendy Miles, resident in our London office, who led our successful defense against the largest civil claim asserted in the English Commercial Court in 2008;
• John Trenor, resident in our London office, who has handled a wide range of international litigation matters and serves as Rapporteur of the ICC Task Force on the Extraterritorial Application of National Law;
• John Pierce, who is resident in our New York office, has represented US and non-US parties in a range of international litigation matters, including the dismissal in 2008 of a $7.5 billion RICO claim brought against several affiliated European companies by a competitor;
• Dr. Hans-Georg Kamann, resident in our Frankfurt office, who has represented parties in a wide range of competition, state aid and other international matters in German and EU courts;
• Reinhart Lange, resident in our Frankfurt office, who has represented parties in a wide range of intellectual property and related matters in German and EU proceedings;
• Christopher Davies, resident in our Washington DC office, who has represented PricewaterhouseCoopers and other parties in a wide range of international and other litigations and investigations;
• Richard Johnston, resident in our Boston office, who represents parties in international disputes and is a member of Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Program;
• David Bowker, resident in our Washington DC office, who has represented US and non-US parties in a range of international disputes, including the dismissal of World War II-era claims against German companies, and who previously served in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the US Department of State; and
• Mark Flanagan, resident in our Palo Alto office, who has represented parties in a wide range of international disputes, including both white collar crime and intellectual property.

The firm’s International Litigation Practice works closely with other practices throughout the firm, including Corporate and Internal Investigations, International Arbitration, Intellectual Property, Trade and Antitrust. We have particular experience in cases involving parallel or multiple proceedings in two or more jurisdictions.

We also have particular experience in international internal investigations, including matters involving the FCPA and other anti-corruption instruments, securities and financial regulatory provisions, competition laws and other matters. We have represented US, European and other parties in some of the most substantial internal investigations in the past decade, including the Japanese affiliates of Credit Suisse, Royal Ahold and a major European pharmaceutical company. For further information, please see our Investigations and Criminal Litigation Practice.

We maintain close working relationships with leading law firms and practitioners around the world. We also maintain an active foreign lawyers and intern program, in which talented young attorneys work in our US and European offices, as well as a Scholar-in-Residence Program that brings distinguished academics from around the world to our offices.

We have particular experience in matters concerning regulatory, public policy and similar issues. A number of our partners have also held senior government positions, including in the US Departments of State, Justice, Treasury and Defense, and as the US trade representative. Our lawyers have also held senior positions in the EU Commission and World Trade Organization.

For more information, visit our Government and Regulatory Litigation, International Trade, Investment and Market Access and European Litigation Practices.