Rafic Bittar

Senior Associate, Vinson & Elkins LLP

Rafic’s principal area of practice is complex commercial litigation. While he initially focused on international arbitration (both commercial arbitration and investor-state), he now has expanded his practice to also include a wide variety of litigation matters in federal and state courts, domestic arbitration matters (in addition to international arbitration), pre-litigation disputes, and internal investigations. Rafic’s experience in the field of arbitration includes representing clients in front of AAA, ICSID, ICC, and LCIA panels.

Contributed to

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Defences to enforcement of an arbitral award in the USA under the New York Convention

Practice Notes

This Practice Note covers defences under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention) to the enforcement of an arbitral (arbitration) award in the United States of America (US; USA). It covers the defences specifically enumerated in the New York Convention and the unavailability of a defence under Chapter 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act unless the award is non-domestic. It also covers forum non conveniens and enforcement in the USA and issues of sovereign (state) immunity as a defence to enforcement. This topic may also be referred to as: resisting enforcement of an award in the US; defending enforcement of an award in the US; refusing or deferring (refusal or deferral) enforcement of an award in the US; grounds for non-enforcement of an award in the US; vacating or setting aside an arbitration award in the US; grounds for resisting enforcement of an award in the US; challenges to enforcement of awards under US law; and, defending enforcement of arbitration awards in or before the US courts.

Arbitration