David W. Rivkin
Mr. Rivkin has long been recognized as a global leader in international arbitration. He has been ranked in Band 1 of Chambers Global and Chambers USA since their inception. For more than 40 years, Mr. Rivkin practiced private and public international law at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, where he served as Co-Chair of its International Dispute Resolution Group for more than 20 years and was a founder of its Business Integrity/ESG Group. His practice focused on international arbitration of public law disputes (such as those under bilateral investment treaties), international commercial arbitrations, and transnational litigation in US and foreign courts. Mr. Rivkin worked with clients on every continent and on cases involving common law, civil law, Islamic law and other systems. He also regularly sat as an arbitrator in major international cases, before becoming a full-time arbitrator in January 2023.
In April 2024, Mr. Rivkin was appointed an International Justice on the Singapore Commercial Court (SICC), a division of the Singapore Supreme Court. He is one of only two Justices on the SICC not previously to have served as a judge on a national court.
Chambers Global 2022 identified him as one of the top 10 arbitration practitioners worldwide. Chambers publications have described him as “the best arbitration practitioner anywhere,” “a true giant in the field, whose depth of knowledge is incredible,” “an accomplished arbitrator” who has demonstrated “aptitude for complex, high-stakes disputes,” and “an extraordinarily bright, thoughtful and clear advocate.” Mr. Rivkin has also routinely received the top recognition in Legal 500, which has praised him as “a brilliant lawyer and tactician” whose “oral advocacy was the best I have ever seen,” and in other publications such as Who’s Who Legal and Euromoney.
In 2015-16, Mr. Rivkin served as President of the International Bar Association, the world’s largest global legal organization with membership of more than 100,000 lawyers in more than 170 countries, as well as approximately 200 bar associations and law societies. In that capacity, he led efforts relating to judicial integrity, climate change justice, business and human rights, human trafficking, human rights and the rule of law, and the independence of the legal profession, among others. He was the first American to serve in that role in a quarter century. Previously in the IBA, he had served as Chair of its Legal Practice Division, which comprises more than 50 business-focused substantive law committees, and Chair of its Arbitration Committee, among other positions. In that role, Mr. Rivkin changed the practice of international arbitration by leading the drafting of the original IBA Rules of Evidence and the development of the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest, among other projects.
In addition, he has held prominent positions in arbitration institutions, government committees and other NGOs across the world. Mr. Rivkin worked on initial government efforts to encourage alternative dispute resolution under NAFTA and advised on negotiations to create a worldwide judgments convention, US sanctions policy and nuclear deterrence. He has served in leadership positions in arbitration institutions on virtually every continent. Currently, he is the Co-Chair of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre and on the Council of the International Council for Arbitration in Sport and the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration. In the past, he served, among others, on the London Court of International Arbitration (including as Vice President and Chair of its North American Users' Council), the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (including as Vice Chair), American Arbitration Association (as a member of its Executive Committee), the Commission of the ICC Court of Arbitrat
