INSIGHTS FROM EUROPE AND THE USA ON MODERN ARBITRATION AND ADR
In-house counsels, as well as lawyers (legal counsels), arbitrators, and representatives of national and international chambers (banking, insurance, etc.).
The A&O Shearman international arbitration group places our client´s commercial objectives at the heart of what we do, whether that be disputes avoidance, structured settlement, or achieving the best possible outcome in arbitration. The success of this approach lies in our proven track record of outstanding results in high stake disputes across a range of industries. Our lawyers have decades of experience in advising and representing clients in complex cross-border commercial arbitrations and investor-state disputes under the rules of all the leading institutions. We are also known for our skill in arbitration-related court proceedings - including multi-jurisdictional enforcement strategies - ensuring we can take cases from inception to their ultimate conclusion. In addition, we regularly advise on complex issues of public international law. Our team has represented both investors and states in more than 60 investment treaty claims and has acted in several ground-breaking cases. We are recognised for our “stellar track record” of success. Our breadth and depth allow us to field one of the strongest benches in the world. We have more than 180 arbitration lawyers globally, including lawyers located in the world’s leading arbitral hubs in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the US. This enables us to ensure that our clients are matched with true experts for their specific dispute: whatever the industry sector, language, applicable law or legal issues involved. Members of our team hold senior positions with leading arbitral institutions, including the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Indeed, the ICC has turned to us when it has required representation in disputes which have significant implications for arbitration practice. Our team also draws on A&O Shearman’s deep industry knowledge to deliver tailored solutions whatever the underlying nature of the dispute.
BBH, advokátní kancelář, s.r.o. (BBH) is a prominent law firm with an international presence. Established in 2000, BBH acquired the reputation of a leading international law firm that had been operating in the Czech Republic since 1990. BBH is currently operating in Prague, Czech Republic and Bratislava, Slovakia (BBH advokátska kancelária, s.r.o.). The success of BBH has been acknowledged by numerous prestigious international insitutions and awards, including Legal500, Chambers&Partners, IFRL1000, and the Forbes magazine. BBH has a long-standing exceptional position on the Czech and Slovak legal markets in the areas of Litigation and Arbitration, providing advice in unprecedented, unique or otherwise complex cases. Known as the “firm that gets going when the going gets tough” and for its regular involvement in disputes in which critical judicial decisions are issued that change Czech and Slovak jurisprudence, BBH enjoys well-deserved respect among both clients and counterparties for its extraordinary ratio of success in Litigation and Arbitration matters. BBH represents clients not only in domestic arbitrations in the Czech Republic (usually before the Arbitration Court attached to the Economic and Agricultural Chambers of the Czech Republic), but also in various international cases before most of the major arbitral institutions (ICC, VIAC, LCIA, SCC, UNCITRAL Rules) as well as in ad hoc arbitrations of various nature.
Clifford Chance stands as one of the world's largest law firms, with a significant depth and range of resources across five continents. With nearly three decades of presence in the Czech Republic, the firm boasts a deep understanding of local and Central and Eastern European markets. The Prague team includes lawyers qualified in English, Czech, and Slovak law and is a long-standing trusted partner for sophisticated clients and key market players in litigation, arbitration, and investigations.
Deloitte is a leading global provider of audit, consulting, tax, and advisory services, helping organizations
navigate complex challenges in today’s fast-paced environment. With a vast network spanning over 150 countries and
territories, Deloitte brings unparalleled industry insights, deep expertise, and innovative solutions to clients
worldwide. Deloitte’s commitment to excellence is evident in its collaborative approach and tailored solutions,
empowering clients across diverse industries to achieve sustainable growth and operational efficiency. Recognized
for its expertise in areas like technology consulting, digital transformation, and regulatory compliance, Deloitte
is trusted by some of the world's most prominent businesses and public institutions. Whether in finance, healthcare,
technology, or government, Deloitte’s global network of professionals supports clients in building resilient and
future-ready organizations.
DLA Piper is a global law firm with presence in the Czech Republic and other CEE countries, as well as the rest of Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Thanks to our worldwide position on the market, we help our clients with their legal needs wherever they do business. Our global International Arbitration practice has over 250 arbitration professionals based in both established arbitration centres around the world and in key growing markets, including the CEE region. Our market position allows us to deliver a single team working across multiple jurisdictions – providing both around-the-clock responsiveness and the local knowledge critical to resolving international disputes. Besides the arbitration practice, we work on mergers and acquisitions, litigation, employment, energy, hospitality and leisure, insurance, intellectual property and have developed key teams in real estate, private equity, pensions, tax, and technology. In 2022, DLA Piper was once again recognized among the global elite for International Arbitration in Global Arbitration Review’s annual rankings of the world’s most active arbitration practices.
HAVEL & PARTNERS, with offices Prague, Brno, Bratislava, Pilsen, Olomouc, has a team of 220 lawyers, approx. 150 associates and 500 em- ployees in total, including employees of the affiliated debt collection agen- cy Cash Collectors. It is the largest independent law firm in Central Europe. HAVEL & PARTNERS has the largest team of dispute settlement attorneys in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and the most successful and comprehensive legal practice on the local market. The firm provides extensive expertise in all types of proceedings and most business areas. HAVEL & PARTNERS is the most successful law firm, providing the most comprehensive legal services in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, based on the total number of all nominations and awards in all years of the Law Firm of the Year awards. Since 2009, HAVEL & PARTNERS has been ranked among the leading law firms in this practice area in the whole CEE region according to the respected international league charts EMIS DealWatch and Mergermarket.
PRK Partners is a leading law firm providing top-quality and comprehensive legal services in practically all fields of law, with dispute resolution being an integral and traditional part of our legal practice. We have a strong and stable team of highly skilled professionals that regularly ranks among the best law firms in this area. Our expertise and the high quality of our services have been confirmed by our repeated success in the Law Firm of the Year competition and recommendations by numerous international legal directories. PRK has a long-standing established arbitration practice, where several ot its members serve a arbitrators in international and national arbitration courts and institutions, and where we have represented for more than 25 years clients in arbitration proceedings. Arbitration is a core practice of our dispute resolution team. Robert Nemec, who serves as arbitrator frequently, is currently the Head of the Czech Bar Association. Marek Prochazka is currently the president of the Czech ICC Arbitration Commission. Miriam Galandova is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and recently was selected by GAR’s independent research for recognition in the Future Leaders section of Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration 2023. Michal Matejka has extensive experience in representing global and multinational clients in judicial, contractual and regulatory matters. He has extensive experience as panelist for domaining disputes The effectiveness of our approach has been recognised by Chambers Europe, who write that we are "particularly impressive in arbitration and regulatory matters" and "always look for solutions that avoid lengthy court cases." In 2019 PRK was named Czech Law Firm of the Year in the areas of dispute resolution and arbitration by EPRAVO.CZ in a competition organised under the auspices of the Czech Bar Association and the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic.
ROWAN LEGAL is one of the leading Czech law firms. Founded in 1990, it draws on its more than 30 years of experience when advising clients. ROWAN LEGAL’s clients include some of the largest national and international corporations and public institutions, to which the firm provides comprehensive legal support on everything from corporate housekeeping to key projects. ROWAN LEGAL is known for its strong knowledge and vast experience in international investment arbitration, commercial international and domestic arbitration, litigation and mediation. Having several arbitrators onboard, we are proud to provide our clients not only with first-class counsel, but also with an arbitrator’s perspective thanks to the unique expertise of our attorneys, who also act as arbitrators in arbitration proceedings under the rules of various institutions (i.e. ICSID, ICC, LCIA, SCC, VIAC, the Arbitration Court attached to the Czech Chamber of Commerce and the Agricultural Chamber of the Czech Republic, and SCIA) and ad hoc rules (i.e. UNCITRAL). Apart from dispute resolution, our attorneys are approached with confidence by parties seeking high level legal services in IT and media, telecommunications, privacy and data protection, corporate law and commercial law, intellectual property and competition (including public procurement). ROWAN LEGAL is proud to receive exceptional rankings every year in prestigious international rankings like The Legal 500, Chambers and Partners – Global and Europe and Czech Legal Firm of the Year, for its expertise in Dispute Resolution and Arbitration, Compliance, TMT, Intellectual Property, Public Procurement and Projects & Energy. ROWAN LEGAL is the exclusive member of MULTILAW for the Czech Republic and Slovakia and NGL Symbio, which enables us to assist our clients with cross-border issues.
Squire Patton Boggs, with 45 offices in 20 countries, we are ranked among the top 15 firms with the largest geographic footprint in the world. Prague office was founded among the first international law firms in the Czech market 30 years ago. Our prominent arbitration team, which is based in several key locations, including Prague, has been rapidly growing. Our International Dispute Resolution Practice is one of the largest, most diverse and best integrated practices in the world. Our teams almost always comprise lawyers from several different offices, allowing us to provide a unique mix of arbitration expertise, legal background, language capability and cultural understanding to effectively promote our clients’ objectives. We are proud of our steady growth and geographic expansion. We moved up five spots last year to be ranked 18th in Global Arbitration Review’s annual rankings of the top 30 international arbitration firms. We have now moved up 13 places over the last two years.
Urban & Hejduk is a preferred Czech boutique law firm, particularly in the area of litigation and arbitration, energy, mergers and acquisitions, insol- vency, and real estate and construction law. We have many years of experience with an international reach. Since 2015, we are a member of Collegium, a central European alliance of independent law firms, and since 2020, we have been the exclusive partner of the international Grimaldi Alliance for the Czech market. In the area of international arbitration, we provide our clients with comprehensive legal advice in resolving complicated commercial disputes relating to their business activities. Our lawyers have been involved in representing claimants and defendants in many legally and technically complicated cases under various arbitration rules before different arbitration institutions. In this regard, they have experience in proceedings before the Czech Arbitration Court, as well as at foreign institutions such as the ICC Court, LCIA, SCC or VIAC. We also provide representation in ad hoc/UNCITRAL arbitrations or in international sports arbitration (CAS).
Wolf Theiss is one of the leading law firms in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. We have built our reputation on a combination of unrivalled local knowledge and strong international capability. With over 360 lawyers in 13 countries, over 80% of the firm’s work involves cross-border representation of international clients. Wolf Theiss' experience in both commercial and investment arbitration is unique in the CEE/SEE region. Our firm wide arbitration team is the largest in the region and regularly provides advice in domestic and international arbitration proceedings. We have experience acting under the major arbitration rules, such as ICSID, UNCITRAL, ICC, LCIA, Vienna Rules (VIAC), DIS and Swiss Rules as well as in ad-hoc arbitration proceedings. Furthermore, our experts have substantial experience with the local arbitration institutions. Wolf Theiss’ arbitration team is an integral part of our dispute resolution practice group specialized in all fields of business law, in particular finance, commercial and private litigation, insolvency, white collar crime and alternative dispute resolution methods.
Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, DLA Piper, EY, Havel & Partners, ROWAN LEGAL, Squire Patton Boggs, Urban & Hejduk