Gary Shaw focuses his practice on international and domestic arbitration matters as well as related civil litigation.

Gary has experience representing sovereign states, state-owned entities and private companies in arbitrations before ICSID, the ICC, PCA, AAA and LCIA, as well as enforcement proceedings in the United States. The amounts in controversy range from several million dollars to over five billion dollars.

Representative Experience

  • Represented a sovereign state in revision proceedings before ICSID. The proceedings ended in a no-money settlement of a $850 million USD award.
  • Represented a state-owned oil company in a maritime arbitration under UK law. Proceedings were dismissed.
  • Represented numerous sovereign states in U.S. court proceedings. One case was successfully stayed pending annulment proceedings at ICSID. The court also granted the first ever § 1782 application against a law firm.

View More

  • Represented sovereign clients in all phases of arbitration proceedings, including arbitrator selection, preliminary objections, quantum and post-award relief.
  • Lead associate representing a Brazilian subfranchisee in a AAA arbitration filed by the subfranchisor.
  • Lead associate representing a foreign ministry in an enforcement action before the Southern District of Mississippi.
  • Represented multiple sovereign states in enforcement and attachment proceedings in the United States.
  • Represented private and state-owned entities in commercial arbitrations and U.S. court proceedings.

Professional Highlights

  • Member, Global Legal Practice Committee, D.C. Bar (2019 – Present)
  • Coach, Georgetown VIS Moot Court Team (2020 – 2021)
  • Looking in on Transparency: A 2020 Review of States’ Reactions to the UNCITRAL Rules on Transparency and the Mauritius Convention, 2020 Yearbook on International Investment Law and Policy (Oxford 2021)

View More

  • External Publications
    • The Sultan of Sulu Award: Is it Enforceable in the U.S. Under the New York Convention? The Institute for Transnational Arbitration (2022)
    • Looking in on Transparency: A 2020 Review of States’ Reactions to the UNCITRAL Rules on Transparency and the Mauritius Convention, 2020 Yearbook on International Investment Law and Policy (Oxford 2021)
    • Overcoming the Tight Window to Vacate Arbitration Awards, Washington Lawyer Magazine (September 2021)
    • Opening the Umbrella: How the Argentine Economic Crisis Shaped the Modern Umbrella Clause, Arbitration in Argentina (Kluwer 2020)
    • Third-Party Funding in Investment Arbitration: How Non-Disclosure Can Cause Harm for the Sake of Profit, Arbitration International, 33 Arb. Int’l 109 (2017)
    • Convicting Inhumanity in Absentia: Holding Trials in Absentia at the International Criminal Court, The George Washington International Law Review (2012) (cited by the International Criminal Court)
  • Speaking Engagements
    • Taught a seminar on state expropriation during a workshop on investment arbitration

Education

  • J.D., The George Washington University Law School, 2012
    with honors; Executive Managing Editor, The George Washington International Law Review; Lambda Law

    B.A., Political Science and International Studies, West Virginia University, 2009
    summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa

Admissions

  • District of Columbia

    Virginia

Courts

  • U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

Clerkships

  • Judicial Law Clerk to Judge Patricia A. Seitz, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, March 2016 – Sept. 2017