Surya Gopalan
Biography
Overview
Surya Gopalan is an international disputes lawyer and partner in White & Case's international arbitration practice, based in New York.
Surya advises and represents sovereign states and private clients in high-stakes disputes around the world across a wide range of industries and under all major arbitration rules. He has a particular focus on disputes originating in the technology, private equity, and insurance sectors. He also regularly advises clients on investment protection and risk mitigation, including in the context of complex multi-party and cross-border deals.
Surya is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Fellow of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration. He is also Co-Chair of the Investment Disputes Subcommittee of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution.
Prior to joining White & Case, Surya practiced at another leading international law firm in New York, where he focused on international arbitration, complex commercial litigation in U.S. state and federal courts, and white-collar crime and related government investigations.
Experience
Representative experience includes acting for or advising:
- An Asian lithium-ion battery cell manufacturer in ICC arbitration against a U.S. customer concerning product warranty claims (California law, California seat).
- A U.S. solid oxide fuel cell manufacturer in WIPO arbitration against a European partner (New York and California law, Geneva seat) concerning IP claims.
- A Bermuda insurer in reinsurance claims arising out of mass tort liability due to widespread chemical pollution (ad hoc, New York law, London seat).
- A U.S. private equity firm in connection with a post-closing purchase-price adjustment dispute in the consumer goods sector against a Chinese private equity firm (HKIAC, HK law, HK seat).
- A French multinational firm in connection with a post-closing purchase-price adjustment dispute in the engineering/transport sector against a Delaware firm (New York law).
- A Bermuda insurer in an ad hoc arbitration over first-party claims arising out of an explosion at a Syrian power plant (ad hoc, New York law, London seat).
- The Republic of Korea in an UNCITRAL arbitration under the U.S./Korea Free Trade Agreement relating to shareholdings in the Samsung Group (Mason v. Korea).
- The Republic of Korea in an UNCITRAL arbitration under the Swiss/Korea Bilateral Investment Treaty relating to an investment in the Hyundai Group (Schindler v. Korea).
- A Brazilian oil and gas explorer in ICC arbitration against a Singaporean construction firm arising from allegations of bribery and corruption (New York law, New York seat).
- A European aeronautical engineering firm in a dispute against its joint venture partner concerning breaches of development and production sharing arrangements (ICC, New York law, New York seat).
- A Latin American oil services company in ICC arbitration against a joint venture partner over the operation of two drilling rigs, and involving parallel restructuring proceedings in the U.S., Brazil and the BVI (New York law, Singapore seat).
- A Spanish solar company in a dispute with its Greek partner in connection with certain solar projects (ICC, Greek law, London seat).
- A Brazilian state-owned bank in ICC arbitration against a European telecommunications company arising out of a joint venture for the provision of banking technology services in Brazil (Brazilian law, New York seat).
- An investor in UNCITRAL arbitration against the state of Ecuador arising out of a public works contract (Geneva seat, Ecuadorian law).
- A Latin American telecommunications company in ICDR arbitration with its joint venture partner (New York law, New York seat).
- A property developer in AAA arbitration and related enforcement proceedings concerning a dispute with its joint venture partner (Delaware law, New York seat).
- A Korean E&C company in a dispute with its local partner concerning the development of a power plant in the Philippines (New York law).
- The U.S. partner of a multi-decade LNG export terminal development in the Gulf of Mexico in connection with a novel and complex multi-party and cross-border disputes framework.
- A global bank in connection with the complex multi-party and cross-border disputes framework arising from its financing of Indonesia's Multifunction Satellite Public Private Partnership Project.
