Biography

Services

  • Investment Treaty Arbitration

  • International Commercial Arbitration

  • Treaty Negotiation Support


Curriculum vitæ

David Pawlak, an attorney admitted to the bar of the State of New York, serves as arbitrator and provides representation and advisory services in international arbitration matters with a focus on investor-State disputes. 

Mr. Pawlak has represented clients in arbitration matters under the rules of

  • United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL);

  • International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID);

  • ICSID Additional Facility;

  • International Arbitral Center of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, Vienna (VIAC);

  • International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

Mr. Pawlak’s engagements have included, among other matters, serving as lead counsel to the State of Montenegro and the Slovak Republic in the successful defense of numerous investment treaty claims against those States. He also represented Latvia in defense of an ICSID claim and has led the defense of treaty claims brought against Poland under both the UNCITRAL Rules and the ICC Rules. Mr. Pawlak has advised Ukraine in connection with two ICSID investment treaty matters, and has acted for Croatia in matters under the UNCITRAL and ICSID Rules and a Slovenian State-owned entity as claimant in an ICSID case. He also has advised and assisted a diverse array of in-house and external legal teams in connection with numerous other treaty claims. 

In his advisory work, Mr. Pawlak has assisted the Colombian government in the implementation of its investment treaty obligations, provided technical assistance to Morocco on the investment provisions of the Morocco-US Free Trade Agreement, and advised Chile and a CEE State on Model BIT revisions. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has called upon him to provide training on investment treaty matters for officials from dozens of governments at courses in Malaysia, Ukraine, Belarus and Peru. 

Mr. Pawlak’s commercial arbitration matters have included UNCITRAL Rules energy and infrastructure sector disputes, a high-value European telecommunications industry arbitration, commercial real estate transaction arbitrations under the ICC Rules, and VIAC Rules arbitrations in the construction and energy sector.

Until August 2005, Mr. Pawlak served as an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the US Department of State. He was a key member of the US legal team dedicated exclusively to investment treaty matters. The US team prevailed in every investor-State arbitration decided during his tenure. 

In his role at the State Department, Mr. Pawlak also evaluated investors’ requests for espousal under international law and participated in interventions with host State governments on behalf of US investors. He also advised on the drafting of investment and dispute resolution provisions in BITs and investment chapters of free trade agreements.

Prior to beginning work with the US Department of State in 2001, Mr. Pawlak was an associate at Milbank in New York. While there, he focused on complex commercial litigation and international arbitration. Prior to Milbank, he held the position of Assistant District Counsel in the US Department of Justice Honors Program.

Honors and Awards

Mr. Pawlak is a member of the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators, and the Panel of Arbitrators for International Investment Disputes of the Beijing Arbitration Commission / Beijing International Arbitration Center. He also has been appointed to the List of Non-national Panelists under the Dispute Resolution Chapter of the Colombia-Costa Rica FTA and arbitrator rosters of various national arbitration centers. He has been recognized in Who’s Who in America (2022). He earned the US Department of State’s Meritorious Honor Award for his work on investment treaty arbitration, and early in his career received the Pro Bono Publico Award from the law firm Milbank.

Activities

David Pawlak has lectured on arbitration, including at international conferences and training programs in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the United States. He has served as a member of UNCTAD’s international investment agreements experts group.

Education

Mr. Pawlak is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh’s joint-degree program offered by the School of Law and Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (JD/MPIA), and holds a graduate certificate from the University’s Center for Latin American Studies. He also undertook graduate studies at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies. Mr. Pawlak earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Publications

Mr. Pawlak has written on international arbitration and trade and investment treaty issues, including a book chapter entitled Managing Investment Treaty Obligations And Investor-State Disputes: A Guide for Government Officials (Kluwer International Law 2008) §.