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 energy, technology, and finance 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.
