Introduction

Dr. Katherine Simpson, Esq. is a full-time Arbitrator with a global practice and experience in business, commercial, consumer, employment, US labor, and investment disputes valued at up to US$ 2.6 billion. She is a panel member with many leading dispute resolution institutions and an Academic Affiliate at the University of Michigan.  She publishes and speaks frequently on topics related to alternative dispute resolution.

She is experienced in in-person, virtual, and "on the documents"-proceedings.

Dr. Simpson is an arbitrator and does not provide barrister services. 

Arbitration & Mediation

Arbitration is a private, out-of-court dispute resolution process where the parties empower a neutral third person to render a final decision that resolves their dispute.  The arbitrator's role is to foster a fair and efficient process that enables each party to present his or her case, and to receive a timely, enforceable resolution.

Dr. Simpson has the following arbitration & mediation expertise:

• Commercial contracts: payment, pricing, defective deliverables, fraud, UCC, warranties
• Construction: oil and gas exploration, mining, delay damages
• Corporate mergers, acquisitions, dissolutions, shareholder disputes: reps and warranties, post-closing adjustments, earn-outs entitlement, asset valuation, fraud
• Employment: maternity, COVID-19, wage & hour, reasonable accommodations, bullying, retaliation, collective actions, disability, Title VII / discrimination (age, ethnicity, gender, national origin), FLSA, whistleblower
• Energy: oil & gas exploration, electricity production, pricing and distribution, service contracts, photovoltaic/solar, hydraulic fracturing (fracking), subsidies, environmental, state-owned entities, public-private partnership, investor-state
• Environmental: social license to operate, water pollution, infrastructure disputes, state-owned and state-affiliated entities, environmental assessments, public-private partnership
• Financial matters: financial inclusion and consumer protection, duty of care, investor-state
• Hospitality: travel interruption due to COVID-19, construction and permits, cruise, consumer, peer-to-peer exchange, insurance
• Intellectual property: IP licensing, R&D, ownership disputes, patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, trademark infringement, FRAND licensing
• Investor-State:  allegations of expropriation, subsidies for renewable energy, mining concessions, social license to operate, financial services, tourism, construction
• Labor (US):  mass actions (up to 1,700 potential grievants), COVID-19 policies and payments, telework, CBA mediation involving a municipality, interest arbitration, military, maritime
• Partnerships and Joint Ventures: payments and ownership, accounting, mismanagement and misappropriation, non-compete, fiduciary duties, dissolution, cross-border
• Pharmaceuticals, Life Sciences: product testing, product development, royalties, distribution, marketing, pricing, rebates, licensing, recall
• Securities: fraud, customer/broker/adviser disputes, private placements, churning
• Sport:  allegations related to doping
• Telecommunication: carrier services, FRAND licensing disputes, post M&A disputes

Investor-State

Dr. Simpson has experience in investor-state disputes and also has experence in commercial cases involving state-owned or state-related enterprises, including cases related to the hospitality industry, renewable energy, mining, oil & gas, construction, financial services, entitlement to subsidies, concessions, social license to operate, most-favored nation treatment, allegations of expropriation, and financial disputes. 

Publically available cases that she has participated in include:

• SCC 116/2010, between investors Stati et al (Claimants) and Kazakhstan, related to the alleged expropriation of Claimants’ oil and gas investment in Kazakhstan, valued at US$ 2.6 billion. (Chair: Karl-Heinz Böckstiegel)
• ICSID Case No. ARB 15/36, an intra-EU Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) matter between OperaFund Eco-Invest SICAV PLC and Schwab Holding (Claimants) and the Kingdom of Spain (Respondent), related to changes to the subsidies for renewable energy in Spain, following the 2008 financial crisis. (Chair: Karl- Heinz Böckstiegel)
• ICSID Case No. ARB 14/21, between Bear Creek Mining (Claimant) and the Republic of Peru (Respondent), where a lawfully granted mining concession became unusable, owing to the failure of a “social license” to opearte (Chair: Karl-Heinz Böckstiegel)
• ICSID Case No. ARB 13/35, between UP (Claimant) and Republic of Hungary (Respondent), finding that the ECJ’s Achmea decision did not apply to ICSID cases. (Chair: Karl-Heinz Böckstiegel) (GAR’s 2019 “Most Important Award”)
• ICSID Case No. ARB 13/12, related to tourism. (Chair: Karl-Heinz Böckstiegel)
• ICSID Case No. ARB 13/10, related to construction. (Chair: William W. Park)

Qualifications

Dr. Simpson is an attorney who is admitted to practice law in Maryland and New Jersey, USA.

She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and of the College of Commercial Arbitrators (CollArb).

Memberships

• Registered with London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA)
• Registered with the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC)
• Registered with United States Council for International Business (USCIB) for International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) appointments
• American Arbitration Association, International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA/ICDR), Large and Complex Cases, Puerto Rico, Consumer, Labor, Employement, Commercial Panel
• Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Business Appointment Service & Pandemic Business Disruption Panel
• Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
• International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), Panels of Distinguished Neutrals:  Banking Accounting and Financial Services, Pro-Bono, Health Care and Life Sciences, Detroit ADR, Employment Disputes Panel-Midwest, Energy, Oil & Gas Panel, Cross-Border
• Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS)
• Court of Arbitration for Art (CAfA)

Education and Training

• University of Cologne, Dr. iur. magna cum laude in international law, international banking law, and comparative law
• University of Cologne, LL.M. oec. summa cum laude in international labor, social, and economic law
• University of Baltimore School of Law, J.D. with concentration in International and Comparative Law
• University of Bonn, Masters, European (Integration) Studies
• Ohio University, B.A./M.A. in Political Science and International Relations

Languages

• English: Native Speaker
• German: Bilingual
• French: Reading

Teaching Experience

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan USA (2016 - Present; on leave 2023-2024)

• Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor, Legal Research, Writing, and Analysis (2016 - 2020) and International Commercial Arbitration (2019)
• Academic Affiliate, conducting research in investor-state dispute settlement (2018 - Present)

Cornell University, Ithaca, New York USA (2023-2024)

• Postdoctoral Associate, Conflict Resolution and Management

University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania (2015, 2016)

• Visiting Professor, International Commercial Arbitration

University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany (2009 - 2013)

Publications

Kluwer Arbitration Templates and Examples, Editor in Chief (2023 - Present)

The Olympics Chiles Arbitration Debacle - Part 5 - Neutrality and Independence in Light of the CAS Gymnastics Arbitration (27 September 2024) - https://www.cpradr.org/news/the-olympics-chiles-arbitration-debacle-part-5-neutrality-and-independence-in-light-of-the-cas-gym

The Olympics Chiles Arbitration Debacle Part 3:  A Sham Award Following a Sham Arbitration?  (22 August 2024) - https://www.cpradr.org/news/the-olympics-chiles-arbitration-debacle-part-iii-a-sham-award-following-a-sham-arbitration

BREAKING - Did Romania's Lawyer Strip Jordan Chiles of a Bronze Medal?  (12 August 2024) - https://www.cpradr.org/news/breakingdid-romanias-lawyer-strip-jordan-chiles-of-her-bronze-medal

CETA – Where Are the Women?  Diffusing the Thought-Terminating Clichés That Impeded Diversity in Sustainable Diversity in International Arbitration (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022) (with Dr. Anthony Scott Marcum)

Are Rosters a Solution to the Lack of Diversity of Arbitrators and Women in Arbitration in Edward Elgar International Economic Law Encyclopedia (2022, forthcoming)

Conclusion in Social License & Dispute Resolution in the Extractive Industries (Boston: Brill, 2021)

The Commission’s Priority: ‘A Balanced and Progressive Trade Policy to Harness Globalization in Politicizing EU Policies – The Juncker Commission 2014 – 2019 (Nomos, 2020)

International Arbitration in the U.S. in Handbook on U.S. Law (Hart Nomos Beck, 2020)

Arbitrator ‘Intelligence’ and the Mysterious Brown M&M, 52 U. Tol. L. Rev. 27 (2021)

The Diversity Dividend, 52 U. Tol. L. Rev. 447 (2021)

Cleaning Up After A Self-Coup: A Case for Reconciliation (JURIST – Academic Commentary, 18 Jan. 2021) (with Anthony Marcum) (available at: https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2021/01/marcum-simpson-self-coup-reconciliation/)

International Commercial Arbitration Diversity: The Numbers Are Askew (JURIST – Professional Commentary, 17 June 2020).  (available at: https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2020/06/katherine-simpson-international-arbitration- diversity-part2/).

"Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit in den USA – Recht und Praxis." In US-Rechtspraxis, edited by Kirk W. Junker, 145-73. De Gruyter Praxishandbuch. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017.  (translated:  International Commercial Arbitration – Intersections with U.S. Law in Handbook for U.S. Law (de Gruyter, 2017))

Financial Inclusion & Consumer Empowerment – US and EU Legislation & International Soft Law (Frankfurt School Verlag, 2015)

UNCITRAL arbitral tribunal, in unpublicized ruling, finds that Chinese BIT extends to Macao under “moving treaty frontiers” rule (Investment Arbitration Reporter (IA Reporter), 21 July 2014)

Arbitrators say China BIT allows them to determine if expropriation occurred, but MFN can't be used to broaden jurisdiction further (IA Reporter, 21 July 2014) (with Luke Eric Peterson)

Annulment is not an appeal: ICSID ad hoc committee dismisses Paraguay's application to annul SGS v. Paraguay award (IA Reporter, 13 June 2014)

its local business partner (Minnotte & Lewis v. Poland) (IA Reporter, 6 June 2014) (with Luke Eric Peterson)

Recourse to negotiating papers leads arbitrators to conclude that Indonesia intended to offer advance consent to arbitrate in its BIT with the UK (IA Reporter, 27 Feb. 2014)

Tribunal rules that Australia BIT does not express advance consent to arbitration; a dozen other Australian treaties are worded similarly (IA Reporter, 27 Feb. 27, 2014) (with Luke Eric Peterson)

UNCITRAL tribunal makes "abuse of process" finding in face of belated move to take on foreign ownership in order to press claims against state (IA Reporter, 25 Feb. 2014) (with Luke Eric Peterson)

In now-available UNCITRAL award, tribunal chaired by Brigitte Stern says that MFN clause cannot be used to broaden jurisdiction of Germany-Bulgaria treaty (IA Reporter, 25 Feb. 2014) (with Luke Eric Peterson)

Bulgaria obtains enforcement of costs award; court dismisses investor's belated allegation of arbitrator bias due to issue-conflict (IA Reporter, 14 Feb. 2014) (with Luke Eric Peterson)

Massachusetts v. EPA: Supreme Court Ruling Spurs Green Investment, 14 U. Balt. J. Env. L. 189 (Spring 2007)