Anne Marie Whitesell, the former secretary general of the Paris-based International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, has joined Dechert’s international arbitration practice as of counsel.
Whitesell told Legal Times that supervising more than 1,000 international arbitration cases per year from more than 120 countries has given her an in-depth knowledge to pass on to clients. “I have enormous experience working with arbitrators, and for me to be able to advise clients in their choice of arbitrators is extremely important,” she said.
Whitesell says she has also gained valuable insights from working so closely with the ICC members from 88 different countries. “I’m able to see things from very different cultural perspectives, as the ICC is a truly international organization,” she says. “For U.S. clients, it’s important to gain that international perspective, particularly for clients who are expecting arbitration to work in the same way as the U.S. courts.”
Whitesell received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and her doctorate in law from the Université de Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne. She says she is adjusting to life in Washington D.C. after an absence of more than 30 years. “It’s a big change coming back from Paris,” she said. “The people at Dechert have been wonderful in welcoming me back. I’m very happy to be here.”
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