John J Buckley Jr

Career

John Buckley is an independent arbitrator based in New York, N.Y. and Washington, D.C. He has served as arbitrator in domestic and cross-border commercial disputes for more than two decades. He is a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He has acted as chair, sole arbitrator, and co-arbitrator in institutional administered (AAA, ICDR, ICC and CPR) and ad hoc arbitrations. He serves on the panels of arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution and as a Distinguished Neutral of the CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution.

As an attorney and partner of Williams & Connolly LLP for more than four decades, he established and chaired the firm’s International Disputes Practice, acting as lead counsel in commercial and investor-states cases. His experience includes numerous arbitrations and commercial litigations at the trial and appellate level, spanning a broad variety of subject matters and industries. In recognition of his advocacy skills, professionalism, ethical conduct, and collegiality, he was elected a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

He taught a seminar on advocacy in international arbitration at Yale Law School for many years as a faculty-appointed lecturer and is a frequent speaker at U.S. and international arbitration conferences and before other professional fora. He has made significant contributions to thought leadership, heading committees to revise and improve arbitral rules and procedures and develop model clauses and protocols for arbitral institutions.

He is a member of the U.S. Council for International Business (the USCIB, ICC’s U.S National Committee) and a Delegate to, and member of, the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR. He is also a member of the ICC’s Task Force on Arbitration and ADR and CPR’s Council and Arbitration Committee as well as Co-Chair of its Rules Revision Committee. He also serves on the London Court of International Arbitration’s North America Users’ Council; the Advisory Board of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA); and the International Bar Association’s Arbitration Committee. He was a delegate to UNCITRAL Working Group II (Expedited Procedures).

Mr. Buckley began his legal career as law clerk to Judge John Minor Wisdom of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and then to Associate Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States. Following these judicial clerkships, he became Special Assistant to Hon. Edward H. Levi, Attorney General of the United States, who is universally credited with restoring integrity to the U.S. Department of Justice following the Watergate Scandal.

He earned his B.A, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Georgetown University and his J.D., with honors, from The University of Chicago, where he was Editor-in-Chief of The University of Chicago Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.

Mr. Buckley is admitted to practice in the State of New York and the District of Columbia.

For further information on Employment History, Recognition, Honors and Awards, and Arbitrator Rosters, see https://www.buckleyarbitration.com/about/

Professional Memberships

For information on Professional Activities, thought leadership, and memberships, see

https://www.buckleyarbitration.com/professional-activities/

Publications

PUBLICATIONS

His publications include:

 Co-Author, U.S.A. Chapter in The International Comparative Legal Guide to: International Arbitration 2025 (ICGL) (annually since 2017)

 Co-Author, U.S.A. Chapter in International Arbitration 2023, Chambers Global Practice Guide (2023)

 Co-Author, U.S.A. Chapter in Enforcement of Foreign Judgments 2023 (ICGL) (annually since 2020)

 Author, Procedural and Jurisdictional Aspects of Enforcing Foreign Arbitral Awards in the United States, in Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Experts in Commercial Arbitration (2018)

 Author, Language and Due Process in International Arbitration, in Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Experts in Commercial Arbitration (2017)

His recent speaking engagements include:

 Speaker, “Settlement Facilitation in International Arbitration,” Webinar by the German Arbitration Institute (DIS), May 21, 2026.

 Presenter, CPR Institute: “CPR Council Highlights 2026 Non-Administered Rules,” May 20, 2026.

 Panelist, “Ad Hoc vs. Administered Arbitrations: The Administrators’ Perspective”, American Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section’s Arbitration Committee, with senior representatives from the AAA/ICDR, CPR, ICC, and JAMS, November 11, 2025.

 Moderator, Corporate Counsel Roundtable, in-house counsel on their perspectives on conflict management and dispute resolution, CPR Annual Meeting, Miami, Florida, February 7, 2025.

 Panelist, “Privilege in International Arbitration,” 12th Annual Dublin International Arbitration Day Conference, November 22, 2024.

 Training Lecturer, “Arbitrator Techniques for the Direct Facilitation of Settlement,” 19th ICC New York Conference on International Arbitration, September 24, 2024.

 Presenter, “Security for Costs in Investor-State Arbitration: The Investor’s Right to Pursue Claims Versus the State’s Right to Recover Legal Costs,” International Arbitration Club of New York, September 12, 2024.

 Panelist, “The Freedom of Neutrals and Parties to Innovate the ADR Process,” CPR Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 7, 2024.

.

Presenter, “What Is The Arbitrator’s Role In Facilitating Settlement In International Arbitration?” USCIB/ICC, Sole Practitioners Group, November 29, 2023.

Panelist, “Getting to the Right Decision, A Panel of Leading Arbitrators,” CPR Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 2, 2023.

Faculty, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Accelerated Route to Fellowship, Washington, D.C., October 6–8, 2022.

Panelist, “Using Expedited Arbitration and Alternative ADR Processes to Resolve Disputes,” N.Y. Arbitration Week, CPR Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution, November 17, 2020.

Lecturer, “Arbitration Procedure,” University of Chicago Law School Luncheon Lecture Series on International Arbitration, May 9, 2019.

For information on publications, presentations, speaking engagements, and faculty appointments and teaching, see https://www.buckleyarbitration.com/publications/

Industry Sector Expertise

Industry Sector Experience and Practice Areas

Energy (oil & gas, coal, hydropower, solar power), international disputes, commercial contracts, supply agreements, securities, financial transactions, intellectual property, patents/patent licensing, technology, life sciences, biotechnology, medical devices, automotive, manufacturing, sale of goods, research & development and marketing/commercialization agreements, telecommunications, foreign and U.S. investment (including M&A, share purchase, shareholding agreements, business acquisitions, and business valuation), shareholder, joint venture, partnership disputes, civil engineering and construction, antitrust/competition, breaches of fiduciary duty, fraud, tortious interference, and other business torts and statutory violations, professional liability, ethics, malpractice, and investor-state disputes, including expropriation, fair and equal treatment, full protection and security, investor-state disputes, sovereign immunity, international treaties, bilateral trade agreements, public international law.

For further information on Experience, see https://www.buckleyarbitration.com/experience/

Languages Spoken

English

Experience

For further information on Experience, see https://www.buckleyarbitration.com/experience/

Practice Areas

Mr. Buckley’s experience as lead counsel and arbitrator has spanned many substantive areas of law, industries and countries. His cases usually involve complex, high-value disputes.

SUBJECT MATTERS

His experience includes the following subject matters:

 Energy

 Energy Sources: Oil & gas, coal, electric power, solar power, hydropower

 Types of Agreements:

 sales and purchase agreements (SPAs)

 joint operating agreements (JOAs)

 joint venture agreements (JVs)

 farmout agreements

 participation agreements

 power purchase agreements

 gas gathering agreements

 liquified natural gas (LNG) and natural gas supply contracts, including take-or-pay

LNG price review/adjustment

 Subjects of Disputes:

 upstream/midstream/downstream

 exploration, production, transmission

 rig rates for offshore exploration

 gas processing and pipelines

power generation, transmission and marketing

 power plant construction

 hydropower

 solar power

 cogeneration, gas and steam turbines, electric generators

 hedging and marketing of supply and refined product

 petrochemical plant

 refinery operation and valuation

 refinery turnaround

 mining: coal

 Principal outside litigation counsel for U.S. energy company and its French parent for 20 years

 CPR’s National Energy, Oil & Gas Panel of Distinguished Neutrals

 AAA National Energy Panel

 ICDR Global Energy Panel

 International Disputes

 Commercial Contracts

 Securities, including derivatives, futures, options, mortgage-backed securities, CLOs, ISDA

 Financial Transactions

 Intellectual Property/Patents/Patent Licensing/ Technology

 Life Sciences, Biotechnology

 Medical Devices

 Research & Development, Marketing/Commercialization Agreements

 Automotive

 Manufacturing

 Sale of Goods

 Telecommunications

 Foreign and U.S. investment, including M&A, share purchase, shareholding agreements, business acquisitions, and business valuation

 Shareholder, Joint Venture, and Partnership Disputes

 Civil Engineering and Construction

 Antitrust/Competition

 Breaches of fiduciary duty, fraud, tortious interference, and other business torts and related statutory violations

 Professional Liability, Ethics, and Malpractice

 Investor-State, including expropriation, fair and equal treatment, full protection and security, investor-state disputes, sovereign immunity, international treaties, bilateral trade agreements, public international law.

He has experience in disputes under a variety of legal systems, both common-law (United States, England, Canada) and civil law (Germany, Brazil, Serbia, South Korea). In the U.S., his cases have frequently involved the laws of New York and Texas. In investor-state disputes, he has experience in international investment law and public international law.

Education