James Carter has more than 40 years of experience as arbitrator or counsel in more than 150 international commercial and investment arbitration cases.

He has represented European, US, Asian and other companies in arbitrations under leading institutional rules and in ad hoc arbitrations in all leading international seats. He has particular experience in joint venture, investor-state disputes, mergers and acquisitions, investment banking and other financial services, project finance, licensing, insurance and energy, as well as international sports law disputes. In addition, Mr. Carter has extensive experience as counsel in US litigation involving commercial, corporate, antitrust, securities and intellectual property matters.

Mr. Carter is a frequent guest speaker and the author of more than 50 articles and book chapters dealing with international disputes. He is the co-founder of the International Arbitration Club of New York and is a co-editor of International Commercial Arbitration in New York (2nd ed. 2016) and the editor of The International Arbitration Review .

Mr. Carter is a former chair of the Board of Directors of the New York International Arbitration Center. He is also a former chair of the Board of Directors of the American Arbitration Association, a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland and a former member of the London Court of International Arbitration, for which he also served as vice president of its North American Council. He served as an advisor to the American Law Institute’s reporters drafting the Restatement of the US Law of International Commercial Arbitration and is a former president of the American Society of International Law.

In addition, Mr. Carter has chaired the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law, as well as its Committee on International Commercial Arbitration, and served as the ABA’s representative to the United Nations. He is a former chairman of the New York State Bar Association Committee on International Dispute Resolution and the International Affairs Council of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Mr. Carter also chaired the International Law Committee of the New York State Bar Association.

Employment

  • Independent Arbitrator, 2022-present
  • Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, New York, N.Y. 2012-2022 (Senior Counsel)
  • Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, New York, N.Y., 2011-2012 (Co-Chair, International Arbitration and Cross-Border Dispute Resolution Group)
  • Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, New York, N.Y., 1970-2010 (partner, 1977-2010; Co-Chair, International Arbitration Group)
  • Law Clerk to Hon. Robert P. Anderson, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1969-70

Recognitions

  • Ranked by Chambers Global Guide (2023) among the “most in demand arbitrators global-wide.”
  • Listed in Best Lawyers in America, 2006-2023, and named as New York City International Commercial Arbitration “Lawyer of the Year,” 2012, 2014, 2017, 2020.
  • Association for Conflict Resolution-Greater New York Chapter 2017 Achievement Award.
  • Named by Euromoney’s Expert Guide’s Best of the Best 2016 as one of 30 leading commercial arbitration attorneys worldwide.
  • Listed in Best Lawyer, 2006-2022, and named 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2020 New York City International Commercial Arbitration “Lawyer of the Year.”
  • Listed in Euromoney’s “Expert Guide to The Best of the Best 2016” as one of “The World’s Top Thirty Experts in Commercial Arbitration.”

Education

LL.B. Yale University, 1969
Fulbright Scholar, Cambridge University, 1965-66
B.A. Yale University, 1965