Overview
Lisa M. Richman focuses her practice on international dispute resolution matters, with a particular emphasis on international commercial arbitration and public international law.
She has experience representing clients in a broad range of matters, including in the areas of international commercial and investment arbitrations, securities enforcement, securities litigation, general commercial litigation disputes and insurance coverage.
Lisa’s clients have included investors, governments, corporations, corporate officers and directors, and individuals in disputes seated in common law and civil law jurisdictions worldwide. Her work has included disputes conducted under ICC, ICSID, ICSID AF, AAA/ICDR, SIAC, HKIAC, JAMS, DIS, LCIA, CPR, Swiss Rules and UNCITRAL Rules as well as pure ad-hoc arbitrations. She has handled disputes in a wide variety of industries with a particular focus on disputes relating to energy, oil and gas, intellectual property, pharmaceutical, infrastructure, licensing, securities, telecommunications, joint ventures and construction.
Lisa also has represented corporations, corporate officers and directors, and individuals in international and domestic arbitrations and litigations in the US and around the world. Complementing her dispute resolution expertise, Lisa has managed internal investigations worldwide and has helped a variety of companies to resolve government investigations, including World Bank Sanctions proceedings. Lisa is listed on the arbitrator list of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC), in the LCIA’s database of neutrals and is a member of the SIAC Users Counsel, the ITA Americas Committee and the DIS Rules Revision Committee. She is a native German speaker, and also speaks Spanish and French.
She has received recognition for her expertise as a dispute resolution specialist by, among others, Global Arbitration Review, Who’s Who Legal, Benchmark Litigation, the Commercial Arbitration Expert Guide, the National Law Journal, the American Lawyer, Juve, Super Lawyers and Law360.
While in law school, Lisa was a notes and comments editor for The Tax Lawyer. Following law school, Lisa was a law clerk for the Honorable A. Franklin Burgess, Jr. of the District of Columbia Superior Court.
Results
International Law
- Defending a state against a US$5 billion claim in an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitration brought by European investors
- Representing a state-owner Asian oil company in an ICSID case valued in excess of US$250 million, against a South American state
- Representing a German company in an ICSID arbitration valued at US$1 billion, against a southeast Asian state
- Representing a German company in ICSID annulment proceedings against a southeast Asian state
- Representing German investors in ICSID arbitration proceedings against Costa Rica
- Enforcing a multimillion-dollar (US) treaty award against an Asian state
- Defending Germany in a US$2 billion ICSID claim brought by a European investor under the Energy Charter Treaty, in the first-ever ICSID claim against Germany
- Representing a state in an ICSID Additional Facility (AF) case brought by US investors
- Representing an EU Member State as intervenor in a case relating to the validity of a bilateral investment treaty (BIT)
- Advising US individual investors in relation to a Dominican Republic – Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) claim against a Latin American state for expropriation of real estate investments
Commercial Cases
- Acting for an Asian state-owned oil company in an ICC case valued in excess of US$300 million, against authorities of a Latin American state
- Acting for an Asian subsidiary of a US company in an ICC arbitration seated in Switzerland, in a dispute concerning a licensing agreement under US law; parallel proceedings in US federal and in Pakistani courts pending
- Defending a US company in an ICC arbitration of a contract dispute with a Vietnamese telecommunications company
- Defending a US subsidiary of a German financial services company in US federal court litigations relating to claims for breach of contract and securities law violations
- Defending a Bermudian public company and its officer and director in US federal court litigation against claims for fraud and violation of securities laws
- Defending international and domestic financial services companies and their employees in US federal and state court litigations against allegations of breach of contract, fraud, tort claims and violations of securities laws
- Defending a German company in US federal court litigation relating to a shipping contract
- Representing public companies and their officers and directors in American Arbitration Association arbitrations relating to breach of contract and tort claims
Recognitions
- Legal 500, Recommended, 2024
- Chambers USA, International Arbitration, 2024
- Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration, Future Leaders, 2017 to 2021, noted as Most Highly Regarded in the Americas for 2021
- Commercial Arbitration Expert Guide, 2016 to 2020
- Global Business Awards, International Disputes Specialist of the Year, 2020
- Global Arbitration Review (GAR) 100, 2012-2020
- Law 360 “Rising Star,” 2016
- National Law Journal “Rising Star,” 2015
- Trending 40, “DC’s Top 40 Lawyers Under 40,” 2016
- Benchmark Litigation, “Future Stars,” 2016-2020
- Benchmark Litigation, “Under 40 Hot List,” 2016
- Washington, DC Super Lawyers “Rising Star,” 2013-2016
- 2018 Dispute Resolution Awards, International Commercial Dispute Resolution Specialist of the Year – USA & Award for Excellence in Investment Treaty Arbitrations
Community
- Dispute Resolution Journal, editorial board member
- American Bar Association, member
- California Bar Association, member
- DIS Rules Revision Committee, member
- German Institution of Arbitration (DIS40), member
- International Chamber of Commerce, Young Arbitrators Forum, member
- ITA Americas Committee, member
- London Court of International Arbitration, Young International Arbitration Group, member
- SIAC Users Council, member
- Swiss Arbitration Association, member
