Gary Born, Chair of the International Arbitration Practice at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, has been named London “Lawyer of the Year” 2015-2016 for international arbitration and mediation by Best Lawyers. Best Lawyers honors a single lawyer in all major practice areas and regions as “Lawyer of the Year,” based on peer-review assessments. The award reflects the high level of respect a lawyer has earned for excellence, professionalism and integrity. In addition, Partners Steven Finizio and Franz Schwarz were selected for inclusion in the latest edition of the Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom guide.
Mr. Born is the world's leading authority on international arbitration and litigation. He has served as counsel in over 650 international commercial and investment arbitrations, including several of the largest arbitrations in ICC and ad hoc history. Among other accolades, Mr. Born received the Global Arbitration Review inaugural “Advocate of the Year” award and the Client Choice award for “Best International Arbitration Practitioner” in 2012 and 2014. He is one of only two practitioners globally and the sole practitioner in London to achieve “starred” status for international arbitration in Chambers and Partners’ guides. Acquisition International named him "Most Feared Litigator: UK" in the 2014 Dispute Resolution Awards.
Mr. Born has published a number of leading works on international arbitration, international litigation and other forms of dispute resolution, including International Commercial Arbitration (Second Edition, Kluwer 2014), the leading treatise in the field. Mr. Born is an Honorary Professor of Law at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland and Tsinghua University, Beijing, and teaches regularly at law schools in Europe, Asia and North America. He will also serve as the New Zealand Centre for International Economic Law’s (NZCIEL) Inaugural Senior Visiting Research Fellow later this year.