Catherine M Amirfar

Catherine Amirfar is a litigation partner based in the New York office of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP’s international dispute resolution group. Her practice focuses on international commercial and treaty arbitration, and international and complex commercial litigation. She routinely acts as counsel in arbitration cases arising under the rules of the major arbitral institutions, and her recent representations include disputes involving Latin America and disputes dealing with the gas and energy and financial industry sectors. Ms Amirfar has also acted as counsel in a wide variety of commercial litigation in US courts, with a focus on international disputes. She is one of the youngest advocates to argue before the International Court of Justice. Based on surveys of other practitioners, Ms Amirfar is ranked among the leading international arbitration practitioners by Chambers Global (2012, 2013), which describes her as a ‘highly regarded young international lawyer’, and by Chambers USA (2010-2013), which said that she is viewed as ‘an emerging star in international arbitration’, and ‘plays a key role’ in the firm’s public international law practice. She is described in the Legal 500 US (2011-2013) as ‘highly regarded by clients and peers alike’, in Chambers Latin America (2011-2013) as ‘detail-oriented and [having] a strategic approach’, and in Legal 500 Latin America as being ‘very hands on’ and ‘always pay[ing] great attention to the client’. She was also selected as a Future Star in Benchmark Litigation (2012, 2013). In 2011, Ms Amirfar was recognised by Global Arbitration Review in its 45 under 45, a selection of the 45 leading figures of the international arbitration bar under the age of 45. Ms Amirfar was chosen for the honour from over a hundred nominees based on surveys of other practitioners. Most recently, she was selected as a 2013 Rising Star by The New York Law Journal.  Ms Amirfar has served on the Executive Committee of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) (2009-2012) and was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She currently serves on the Executive Council of the American Branch of the International Law Association (ILA), was recently elected as the vice president of the ILA American Branch, and serves on the Steering Committee of the Young Arbitrators Forum. She has written numerous articles relating to international arbitration and is a frequent lecturer on international law, including at Yale Law School and New York University School of Law.