International Advisory & Cross-Border Law Practice

Commerce no longer stops at borders — and neither do its disputes. Mr. Altahawi leads a multi-jurisdictional advisory practice trained in civil law, common law, and public international law, representing issuers, boards, investors, and sovereign-facing parties across languages, forums, and legal systems.

Strategic Advisory Across Legal Systems

Complex international matters rarely respect the boundaries of a single legal tradition. A joint venture may be negotiated under English law, financed through New York, performed in the Gulf, and disputed in Geneva. The practice is built for exactly this reality: coordinated strategy across parallel proceedings, harmonized documentation across jurisdictions, and counsel that understands how each forum’s rules interact with the others.

International Commercial Arbitration

Arbitration remains the world’s preferred forum for resolving cross-border commercial disputes — a neutral seat, flexible procedure, confidentiality, and awards enforceable in more than 170 states under the New York Convention. Mr. Altahawi has negotiated and arbitrated dozens of international commercial disputes through to final award, including:

• International sale, distribution, manufacturing, and licensing disputes
• Bermuda-form insurance and reinsurance arbitration
• Shareholder, joint-venture, and post-M&A disputes
• Construction and infrastructure claims
• Enforcement and challenge of arbitral awards

Investor-State Dispute Settlement

Foreign investors hold substantive protections under bilateral and multilateral investment treaties — fair and equitable treatment, protection against expropriation without compensation, full protection and security, and free transfer of capital. The practice advises investors on structuring investments to secure treaty protection before disputes arise, and on asserting treaty rights before international tribunals when they do.

Public International Law

Advisory and advocacy coverage extends to questions of public international law that increasingly shape commercial outcomes:

• Territorial sovereignty and boundary questions
• Natural resource rights and concession frameworks
• International environmental obligations
• Economic sanctions — compliance, exposure, and structuring
• State responsibility and international humanitarian law

Cross-Border M&A and Corporate Structuring

The transactional side of the practice covers the full arc of cross-border deal-making:

• Cross-border mergers and acquisitions — asset purchases, stock purchases, mergers, and leveraged buyouts
• International joint ventures, partnerships, and strategic alliances
• Drafting and negotiation of complex commercial, distribution, manufacturing, and licensing agreements
• Structuring of foreign issuers for compliant entry into U.S. capital markets — including F-1 registration and foreign private issuer frameworks
• Corporate governance frameworks aligned with U.S. exchange and international standards

Multijurisdictional Litigation Strategy

When disputes fragment across courts and tribunals in multiple countries, outcomes are decided as much by sequencing and forum strategy as by the merits. The practice coordinates parallel proceedings — aligning discovery, preserving privilege across borders, managing anti-suit considerations, and ensuring that a victory in one forum is not undone in another.