Savvy general counsel knows that a tailored dispute resolution clause can make or break a contract. Gone are the days when copy-paste, one-size-fits-all arbitration agreements worked just fine. Picking the right seat, governing law, procedural mechanisms, protection against recourse from third-parties, permissibly tweaking the levels of interference from local and secondary jurisdiction courts, avoiding judgment-proof debtors or immunity from suit and enforcement, are just some of the elements that need to be taken into consideration in making a stock dispute resolution agreement, the money-saving, substance-enhancing tool that it should be. In our experience more than 90% of the cases that ended up in protracted arbitration and subsequent or parallel litigation would not exist if an experienced international arbitration lawyer drafted the clause and/or the underlying agreement. In other words, making sure you don’t spend millions of dollars litigating preliminary matters before you even get to the merits of your dispute, or even worse, spending millions to get an award that won’t in the end get you your money, is hands down one of the best investments you can make at the beginning of your relationship with your counterparty. Some of the cross-border contracts with a significant international element that we have been involved with include: Production Sharing Agreements, Concession Agreements, Non-Disclosure Agreements, Share-Purchase Agreements, Escrow (various types), Letters of Credit (and various other credit facility related agreements), Advisory Services Agreements, Merger Agreements, Licensing Agreements (Software), Licensing Agreements (Trade Marks, Geographical Designations etc.), Supply Agreements (Commodities), Construction Agreements (FIDIC), Construction Agreements (Non-standardized forms), GC and Subcontractor Agreements, Distribution Agreements (Steel, Automotive, Foodstuff, Alcohol etc.), Insurance and Reinsurance Agreements, Gas Supply Agreements (Complex Long-Term Supply) and others. The underlying transactional documentation in our cases has been governed by, among others, US, EU, Swiss, New York, Illinois, Florida, California, English, French, Russian, Bulgarian, Dutch, Austrian, German, Ghanaian, Turkish and UAE law.