Will O’Brien guides clients through high-stakes international arbitration, litigation, and global judgment and arbitral award enforcement.
For more than 25 years, Will has developed global disputes strategies for clients to achieve their business goals. As a distinguished first-chair counsel, he advocates for clients in courts and arbitral institutions across six continents in financial services, aerospace and defense, manufacturing, energy, transportation, and technology. In his role on the firm’s Global Board of Directors, Will provides strategic advice and insights on how best to serve clients across regions and sectors.
Will is ranked “Band 1” by Chambers USA for international arbitration, where clients say “We prize Will above all others” and describe him as “the most universal and versatile attorney I have ever worked with” possessing “everything you can ask for in outside counsel.” He “combines depth of knowledge and commercial awareness with international experience and cultural empathy and understanding, without ever discounting effectiveness and efficiency.”
Clients value Will’s practical, business-oriented approach, immersing himself in their immediate issues, while never losing sight of their long-term strategic goals. He works with general counsel, industry and political leaders, journalists, and academics to study ways to mitigate and manage corporate geopolitical risk, particularly in emerging markets. Through a six-year appointment to the ICC’s Commission on Arbitration and ADR, he helps shape rulemaking and policy in international disputes. Where appropriate, he leverages the strength of practitioners in government relations, public affairs, and communications to achieve results for clients – especially in high-profile, political, and hostile environments.
Will has extensive experience in global asset recovery, where he has been instrumental in developing the law of enforcement of arbitration awards and judgments, the New York Convention, sovereign immunity (FSIA), parallel actions, and 1782 discovery for foreign suits, in matters worth billions of dollars. He is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law, where he offers a course that delves into the cultural, political, and strategic considerations of disputes involving sovereigns.
Will strongly supports the Global Fairness Initiative, which is dedicated to raising the standard of living for the world’s working poor and is a founding member of the American Cancer Society’s Judicial Advocacy Initiative.
Learn more about our International Commercial Arbitration and Cross-Border Litigation team.
Learn more about our experience in Section 1782 discovery actions
- Successfully confirming an arbitration award worth more than US$96 million issued by the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Court of Arbitration against the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
- Obtained dismissal for a US multinational company of a $100 million claim alleging theft of trade secrets and poaching of employees.
- Successfully representing client in complex, multi-jurisdictional dispute involving patent infringement actions in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, and an action in the US for discovery pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782.
- Successfully representing a real estate development business and its executive in connection with an arbitration before the LCIA concerning a dispute related to a project and a related discovery action under 28 U.S.C. 1782.
- Secured dismissal in favor of arbitration of $1.6-plus billion in claims filed against our French and California-based clients in a complex, multi-jurisdictional dispute related to in-flight entertainment systems for several leading Middle East airlines.
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- firm news34 Eversheds Sutherland Practice Areas, 81 Attorneys Named Among Nation’s Best in 2023 Chambers USA
- Applying the pressure: Sharing insights on the enforcement of arbitral awards and foreign judgments, June 4, 2024, Virtual Roundtable
- “The Specter of Sovereign Enforcement: Challenges of Immunity, Jurisdiction and Due Process – A comparative perspective from the US and the UK,” July 29, 2024, Celesq
- International Public Procurement and Dispute Resolution 2021, February 22, 2022, Government Contracts Year In Review Conference
- S07 Discovery In Aid of Foreign Proceedings: Section 1782 - Using and Defending Against Claims, December 6, 2021, Construction Super Conference
- Enforcement of International Arbitral Awards and Foreign Court Judgments in the United States, December 2021, Practising Law Institute
- 2021 Foundations of Advanced Arbitration and Mediation, November 5, 2021, International Law Institute
- International Public Procurement and Dispute Resolution 2020, February 16, 2021, Government Contracts Year in Review Conference
- Does COVID-19 excuse contractual performance?, May 7, 2020
- Recognized by Chambers Global: World’s Leading Lawyers in the area of international arbitration (2021-2026)
- Recognized by Chambers USA: Guide to Leading Business Lawyers in the area of international arbitration: counsel (2019-2025) and ranked Band 1 in international arbitration: enforcement (2021-2025)
- Recognized by ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR as a delegate for the 2024-2027 Mandate
- Recognized by The Legal 500 United States in the area of international arbitration (2019-2025)
- Recognized by Law360 as an International Arbitration MVP (2017)
Clients report that:
“He is the most universal and versatile attorney I have ever worked with." – From Chambers USA
“He is terrific – everything you can ask for in outside counsel. We prize Will above all others for his experience, efficiency and especially practicality." – From Chambers USA
“He has a very good bedside manner and knows how to talk to clients at all levels of the business very effectively.” – From Chambers Global
“[He is] an excellent leader with perfect oratory skills” and “a very good writer and trial lawyer who is very good at cross-examination.” – From Chambers USA
"He is very good and has an admirable level of emotional intelligence, and his communication skills are very valuable.” – From Chambers Global
“He is like a utility builder – he can litigate and negotiate, and he can deal with any international law issues and argue a case. He is the most universal and versatile attorney I have ever worked with.” – From Chambers USA
- Adjunct Professor, International Arbitration, Georgetown University Law Center
- Member, International Bar Association
- Member, International and Litigation Sections, American Bar Association
- Member, International Litigation Section, Bar Association of the District of Columbia
- Member, International Arbitration Committee, US Council on International Business
- Member, Commission on Arbitration and ADR, International Chamber of Commerce
- Member, International Council for Commercial Arbitration
- Faculty, Street Law, Inc.
- Faculty, International Law Institute
- Faculty, Public Contracting Institute
- District of Columbia
- Maryland
- New York
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of International Trade
- B.S., cum laude, Boston University
- J.D., The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law
In-depth experience
The case concerned the delivery of more than $100 million of Iraqi fuel oil. Gunvor SA v. Arman Kayablian et. al., CA No. 1:18-cv-00934 (E.D.VA 2018).
Secured complete dismissal of a US$33 million fraud suit brought by a global energy trader against a Lebanese client and two officers of their affiliate....
See Mitas Endustri Sanayi Ticaret A.S. v. Valmont Indus., Inc., No. 20-1285, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139528 (D. Del July 27, 2021).
Obtained dismissal of US$100 million claim against client alleging theft of trade secrets and poaching of employees....
See Orbital ATK, Inc., et al v. Heckler & Koch GmbH, No. 17-3033 (8th Cir. July 16, 2018), International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR); Orbital ATK Inc. et al. v. Heckler & Koch GmbH, CA No. 0:17-cv-00250, (D. Minn. July 11, 2018).
Favorably resolved a US$30 million suit for a US arms manufacturer against a German gun dealer involving alleged violations of international laws of war in the delivery of a weapons system....
For breach of contract and related claims against the DRC in connection with our client’s efforts to improve and modernize the DRC’s customs department. Customs and Tax Consultancy LLC v. Democratic Republic of Congo, Civ. No. 18-1408 (D.D.C. 2019).
Successfully confirming an arbitration award worth more than US$96 million issued by the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Court of Arbitration against the DRC....
Defeated more than US$200 million in set-offs brought against the company and secured a reversal of the termination of the contract. ICC Case No. 16394/GZ/MHM. Enforced the award in the Supreme Court of Greece and in US federal court. See SAIC v. The Hellenic Republic, CA No. 13-cv-1070, 2017 WL 65821 (D.D.C. Jan. 5, 2017), amended (D.D.C. 2018).
Won more than US$62 million in claims on behalf of a Fortune 500 government contractor in an ICC arbitration against a European government for breach of a defense and security contract....
Faced with a novel issue involving both international arbitration law and Constitutional due process, the Third Circuit adopted a key aspect of the argument on appeal holding that "the desire to have portability of arbitral awards" influences a US court's analysis of personal jurisdiction. See Telcordia Tech, Inc. v. Telkom SA Ltd, 458 F.3d 172 (3d Cir. 2006), cert. denied, 549 US 1206 (2007).
Established jurisdiction in the United States over South African entity to enforce an international arbitration award worth more than US$100 million....
Shanghai Qichengyueming Investment Partnership Enterprise v. Jia Yueting, CA No. 2:18-cv-07723-SJO-JPR (D. Cal. 2018).
Representing client in an action to confirm and enforce a US$100 million arbitral award issued by the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC)....
Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, Case No. 455/2005, NANSC vs. NGOSCO, CA No. 1:11-cv-00744-RLW (D.D.C. 2012).
Defeated more than US$51 million in claims brought by Egyptian entity and won multiple counterclaims on behalf of Fortune 100 global security company....
In-depth experience
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Secured complete dismissal of a US$33 million fraud suit brought by a global energy trader against a Lebanese client and two officers of their affiliate.
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