Matthew E. Draper

+1 347-442-7788 (NY)

+1 505-570-4592 (Santa Fe)

matthew.draper@draperllc.com

 

Matthew E. Draper FCIArb is an arbitrator, international arbitration counsel, and litigator.  He leads the firms' international arbitration practice, which is ranked as a tier 1 practice nationwide by Best Law Firms 2024.

 

• Who's Who Legal Arbitration 2024 recognizes Matthew as a "Global Thought Leader" in international arbitration, quoting clients as saying Matthew is "excellent," "a top arbitrator" who "is very active and influential in the New York market."

• Chambers Global 2023 calls Matthew "a prepared, conscientious and organized arbitrator," "well known with the arbitration community as a smart, affable and serious arbitrator."

• Chambers USA 2023 ranks Matthew Band 2 for international arbitrators in the United States, calling him "a sophisticated thinker" with "a really deep knowledge of the law and process."

• Chambers Global 2022 identifies Matthew as “a superb arbitrator,” “diligent, creative and very intelligent,” a “very strong lawyer, who is well respected in the community,” and “very skilled interpersonally.”

• Matthew is identified as a leading international arbitration counsel in The Best Lawyers in America 2024.  Super Lawyers 2021 ranks Matthew as a "Top Rated Alternative Dispute Resolution Attorney" in New York.  

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Matthew is a member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He sits as an arbitrator in international disputes administered by the ICC and ICDR, and U.S. commercial disputes administered by the AAA.  Matthew serves on the arbitrator rosters for the AAA's Large and Complex disputes, the ICDR's international panel, and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).  He also sits as arbitrator in ad hoc arbitrations under the UNCITRAL Rules.

 

Matthew was Co-Chair of New York Arbitration Week 2021 and is the Vice Chair of of the New York Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He serves as Chair of the USCIB Arbitration Committee's Sole Practitioner Subcommittee, and was a member of the ICC Task Force on Arbitration of Climate Change Related Disputes.  He is a member of the SIAC Users Council, the International Commercial Disputes and the Arbitration Committees of the New York City Bar Association, and the New York International Arbitration Center.  

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Matthew is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He is the former Co-Chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the American Bar Association's Section on the Environment, Energy and Resources.

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Matthew's commercial disputes practice focuses on energy and water-related disputes. Matthew regularly represents clients in transboundary water disputes. He has represented U.S. and foreign clients in courts and international arbitrations across various industries, including telecommunications, construction and transportation. Matthew also has significant experience representing financial services firms before industry arbitration panels and regulators.   

 

Matthew splits his time between the firm’s New York City and Santa Fe offices. Before co-founding Draper & Draper, Matthew was a litigator and international arbitration practitioner for more than a decade at WilmerHale, Sullivan & Cromwell, and Chaffetz Lindsey.

 

Matthew also has significant public international legal experience. From 2002 to 2003 Matthew served as a Junior Legal Officer in the Office of the High Commissioner on National Minorities, a division of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, where he advised the High Commissioner on public international legal issues. Matthew has authored numerous articles on a variety of international treaty law topics, and advises clients on various treaties, including the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and a variety of other bilateral and multilateral trade and investment treaties.

 

Matthew is a graduate of Princeton University (magna cum laude) and Columbia Law School (Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar). Matthew served as the Articles-Submissions editor for the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law and received a Certificate of Achievement from the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law.

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Prior to attending law school, Matthew served for nearly two years as an aide to a Member of the Japanese parliament sitting on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

 

SELECT REPRESENTATIONS

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International Arbitration:​

• Counsel for Professor George A. Bermann (Gellhorn Professor of Law and Monnet Professor in European Union Law, Columbia Law School), Amicus Curiae Brief in Support of Petition For Writ of Certiorari, Beijing Shougang Mining Investment Company, Ltd., et al., v. Mongolia, 21-1244 (U.S. Supreme Court)

• Acted as arbitrator in more than 30 disputes administered by the ICC, ICDR, and AAA, as well as ad hoc arbitration under the UNICTRAL Arbitration Rules

• Represented a central Asian stated owned company in an ICC arbitration seated in Dubai

• Represented a leading international luxury brand in an IP and franchise dispute with a Middle Eastern franchisee in an ICDR administered arbitration

• Provided expert legal testimony on U.S. arbitration law in a case before the Paris Court of Appeals

• Represented an Italian industrial machinery manufacturer in an ICC arbitration seated in New York

• IFG v. Unifoods,  Slip Op. 14-cv-5207 (Sept. 29, 2015 E.D.N.Y.) - Enforced a Mexican food company's international arbitral award against a successor company of the award debtor

• Represented a Korean subcontractor in a claim for breach of a $100M road construction contract in Afghanistan against the prime contractor in AAA ICDR arbitration

• Opposed enforcement of a $1B foreign arbitral award in Federal court;

• Petitioned Federal court to enjoin an arbitration for lack of the existence of an arbitration agreement

• Represented a U.S. intermodal logistics company in an ICC arbitration against a Mexican railroad for breach of contract

 

Natural Resources:

• Montana v. Wyoming & North Dakota (U.S. Supreme Court) - Enforcement of interstate water compact

• International Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association, Amicus Curiae Brief in Support of Neither Party, State of Mississippi v. State of Tennessee et al., No. 143 Orig., U.S. Supreme Court (2021)

• Represented an energy firm in a $90M gasoline blendstock dispute in AAA ICDR international arbitration

• Represented a buyer in a $20M oil-trading dispute in New York state court

• Provided strategic advice to a Malaysian drilling services company on the enforcement of a foreign arbitral award in the U.S.

• Defended a joint venturer in a series of billion-dollar arbitrations concerning a long-term joint production and marketing agreement relating to LNG

• Represented U.S. energy services company in an expropriation claim against defendant corporations owned by a foreign government

• Provided international technology licensing advice for a wave energy company

• Advised an energy company in settlement negotiations over a Latin American transnational gas supply contract dispute

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Investor-State Arbitration Advice:

• Advising European bank on bringing treaty-based expropriation claims against a State

• Representing U.S. energy services company in expropriation claim in Federal court against defendant corporations owned by a foreign sovereign

• Provide multi-day training to a Latin American government in investor-State dispute resolution under bilateral investment treaties and the ICSID Convention

 

Appellate Litigation:

• Successfully sought dismissal by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals of WWII reparations claims against German companies as being contrary to bilateral agreement

 

Finance Industry Disputes:

• Represents Mexican private equity advisor in ad hoc UNCITRAL arbitration against major US private equity firm

• Represented investor in dispute with broker-dealer in FINRA arbitration

• Advised a European bank on legal recourse for the expropriation of its operations in Venezuela under bilateral investment treaties

• Represented a prime broker of a major investment bank in $140M FINRA arbitration concerning complex options trading strategies

• Represented a prime broker in a $60M FINRA arbitration concerning rogue trading at a hedge fund

• Prepared the CEO of Morgan Stanley for testimony in litigation concerning claims of excessive compensation for N.Y. Stock Exchange executives

• Represented Barclays Bank in the Enron class action litigation

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