About our Panelists
The 25th Anniversary Panel Discussion will feature several leading practitioners and scholars in the field of Latin America arbitration.
The panel discussion will feature Penn State Law’s Orlando Distinguished Professor Thomas E. Carbonneau. Professor Carbonneau is generally regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on international commercial arbitration and as an acknowledged expert on domestic arbitration. He is the faculty director of Penn State's Institute for Arbitration Law and Practice and the director of the law school's McGill Faculty of Law Summer Program in Montréal, Quebec, Canada. Professor Carbonneau is the executive editor of the Latin American Arbitration Report and editor-in-chief of the World Arbitration and Mediation Report, two widely read and well-regarded professional publications published by the Institute. He has served as a member of the Editorial Board of La Revue de L'Arbitrage and is the author of more than a dozen highly acclaimed books and 75 scholarly articles.
Panelist Ronald Goodman is a partner in Winston & Strawn’s Washington, D.C. office who concentrates his practice in international arbitration and alternative dispute resolution, with a focus on commercial, investor-state, project, energy, and construction matters. Mr. Goodman has been involved in numerous international arbitration proceedings, including those before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), United Nations Compensation Commission, London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), European Development Fund, International Arbitral Centre of the Federal Economic Chamber Vienna, as well as various U.S. tribunals. Mr. Goodman represents clients in disputes involving states, state entities, and corporations before international tribunals, courts, and commissions. He also advises governments with respect to law reform, restructuring, treaties, privatization, and project finance.
Oliver Armas, who specializes in complex domestic and international litigation and arbitration cases, will also be joining our panel discussion. He has an extensive practice in U.S. federal and state courts, as well as before regulatory agencies, such as the SEC, and the NASD. He also regularly represents foreign and domestic clients in large international cases, both in the U.S. and in foreign courts, as well as in arbitrations before the ICC, AAA/ICDR, LCIA, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), ICSID and other tribunals. Because Mr. Armas is fluent in Spanish, a significant percentage of his practice involves counseling clients on various matters involving Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market. He also spends much of his time working with Thacher Proffitt's office in Mexico City and also works extensively throughout Central and South America, Spain and Portugal. Mr. Armas has acted as a legal expert on certain aspects of U.S. law in foreign proceedings (e.g., Mexico and Peru).
Larry Catá Backer, Professor of Law, Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson School of Law University Park Campus, will moderate the discussion on Latin American arbitration. Professor Backer is a member of the American Law Institute (ALI) and the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). He has lectured in Brazil and Argentina. His more recent publications include a casebook, Comparative Corporate Law, an edited collection of essays, Harmonizing Law in an Era of Globalization: Convergence, Divergence, Resistance, and an article, "Multinational Corporations and the Rise of Global Systems of Private Law: The Example of Wal-Mart as Global Legislator, Civil Society and the Media," — U. CONN. L. REV./CONN. J. INT’L L. — (forthcoming 2007). He is a founding member of the Consortium for Peace and Ethics.
Jonathan C. Hamilton practices in international dispute resolution, drawing on a broad background in cross-border transactions, foreign investment and public affairs. Based in Washington, DC, Mr. Hamilton works for White & Case. Mr. Hamilton advises on arbitration, litigation, enforcement, settlements and dispute mechanisms, as well as general corporate and transactional matters. He practices with the International Arbitration Group described as “pre-eminent” by Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business. He has experience before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and domestic and foreign courts. His experience spans sectors such as aviation, commodities, construction, energy, finance, media, oil and gas, real estate, telecommunications and sovereign matters.
Mary Helen Mourra is the Director of Publications, Institute for Arbitration Law and Practice, Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson School of Law. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Latin American Arbitration Review, a law review published by Juris Publishing Inc. through the Institute for Arbitration Law and Practice. She has extensive work experience in and ties to the Middle East and Latin America. She was counsel to the Hariri Foundation in matters before the United Nations from 2000 to 2005. Her professional experience has included consulting on international law and representing NGOs before the United Nations in New York and Geneva, Switzerland. She was co-counsel with Professor John Quigley of Ohio State University School of Law in a number of international cases. She received her Juris Doctorate from Tulane University. She speaks English, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Creole and she is member of the Maryland Bar.
