Lee M. Caplan

INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION & DISPUTE RESOLUTION PRACTICE LEADER

Lee is a partner in our Washington, DC office and leader of the firm’s International Arbitration & Dispute Resolution practice.

Lee M. Caplan, Partner, Washington DC at Arent Fox

Lee counsels private and sovereign clients in a wide range of matters involving international dispute resolution, public international law, and international investment law and policy. He regularly appears before international tribunals in connection with complex and high-value disputes arising out of concession agreements, investment treaties, and other international agreements. Lee’s experience spans a range of industries, including oil and gas, real estate hospitality, and telecommunications. He is the co-author of a leading treatise on international arbitration entitled The UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules: A Commentary.

Representative experience includes:

  • Advising and representing private and sovereign clients in connection with disputes arising under investment treaties and national investment laws. Counseling clients making investments abroad on maximizing investment treaty protections and respecting principles of corporate social responsibility.
  • Advising and representing clients in connection with oil and gas disputes arising under petroleum concession agreements, including in commercial arbitration proceedings.
  • Engaging US government agencies on behalf of US companies to resolve business disputes with foreign governments through diplomatic channels.
  • Advising clients on complex public international law matters, including treaty law and practice, international investment law, the law of the sea, the law of diplomatic protection, and the laws of war.
  • Advising and representing clients in connection with maritime boundary disputes, including in proceedings before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).

Lee also heads the firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility practice group. Additionally, he serves as a US delegate to the UN Commission on International Trade Law and has served as an advisor to the US Commerce Department’s Commercial Law Development Program.

Previous Work

Prior to joining ArentFox Schiff, Lee worked on numerous international arbitrations. As a senior attorney-adviser at the US State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser, he successfully defended the United States in arbitrations before the Iran-US Claims Tribunal and before an ad hoc arbitral tribunal in Ecuador v. United States, a high profile state-to-state arbitration arising under the US-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty. Lee also worked closely with the State Department’s Investment Arbitration Team to develop positions taken in US pleadings and non-disputing submissions in NAFTA and CAFTA-DR arbitration, and he regularly advised other State Department offices on matters relating to international arbitration. Lee also served as a US delegate to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) during the development of rules of transparency for use in investor-State arbitration. Prior to joining the State Department, Lee was an associate in the international arbitration group of a large international law firm, where his practice focused on investor-State arbitration and litigation in support of arbitration.

Lee also has extensive experience in the area of international investment law and policy. While at the State Department, Lee was integrally involved in efforts to encourage and protect foreign investment by US businesses, serving as the Department’s principal lawyer in negotiations to conclude investment treaties with China and the Czech Republic and the investment chapter of a free trade agreement with the Trans-Pacific Partnership countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. In addition, he made critical contributions to the Obama Administration’s review of the US Model Bilateral Investment treaty, providing counsel on proposals to revise the template on which US investment treaty negotiations are based. Lee regularly advised the State Department and US embassies on strategies for supporting domestic companies seeking government advocacy when obtaining foreign contracts, pursuing foreign investments, or settling disputes with foreign governments. Lee is the co-author of a leading commentary on the US Model Bilateral Investment treaty in Commentaries on Selected Model International Investment Agreements.

Lee has also done substantial work in the field of corporate social responsibility. While at the State Department, he advised the US government on corporate social responsibility matters, including the 2011 revision of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the development and operation of a more robust US National Contact Point process to resolve CSR complaints, and the drafting of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems.

Following law school, Lee clerked on the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for Judge Diana Gribbon Motz and at the Iran-US Claims Tribunal for Judge Charles N. Brower.

Professional Activities

Lee is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Law Center where he teaches International Courts and Tribunals. Previously, he taught International Business Transactions at American University’s Washington College of Law.

Lee serves as a peer reviewer for The Yearbook on International Investment Law and Policy and as a member of the Editorial Advisory Committee for International Legal Materials. He has held leadership positions on the American Bar Association’s Committee on International Courts, including serving as co-chair from 2007-2010. Lee also served as a co-mediator for the Sharing Neutrals Federal Mediation Program while in government.

Lee is a member of the American Society of International Law.

Publications, Presentations & Recognitions

Publications

  • “The Concreteness Requirement in International Adjudication,” in By Peaceful Means: International Adjudication and Arbitration (eds. Joan E. Donoghue, Charles N. Brower, et al., forthcoming 2020)
  • The Iran-United States Claims Tribunal (Brill Nijhoff Press, 2d ed., forthcoming 2020) (with Charles N. Brower, Jeremy K. Sharpe & Jarrod Wong)
  • “The UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules,” Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law, Max Planck Institute (forthcoming 2020)
  • Accordion Toggle

Presentations

  • Panelist, “The Proposal for a Multilateral Investment Court,” The Elegance of International Law: A Conference in Commemoration of David D. Caron, September 15, 2018, Berkeley, CA
  • Faculty, Executive Training on Investment Arbitration for Government Officials (presentations on managing investment treaty programs and state attribution), Columbia Center for Sustainable Investment, Columbia Law School, New York, July 30, 2018
  • Moderator, “Investment Arbitration: Is FET Getting Clearer?”, Center for International Legal Studies (CILS) Conference on International Arbitration, June 7, 2018, Salzburg, Austria
  • Accordion Toggle

Recognitions

  • The Best Lawyers in America, Best Lawyers (2023-2024)
  • Chambers Global, International Arbitration: Counsel, USA (2023-2024)

Awards

Awards

Firm Logo

Firm Logo