Ank Santens is a partner in the international arbitration group of White & Case LLP, based in the New York office.

She has served as counsel in arbitrations under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the Cairo Regional Center for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA), the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (JCAA), and the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. These arbitrations have involved countries in North America, Latin America, Central and East Asia, Western and Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.

Ms. Santens has extensive experience in infrastructure, construction and energy (power and oil and gas) and has also handled significant disputes in the telecommunications, metals and mining, financial services, and consumer goods industries. She has advised sovereign clients on a variety of dispute-related matters, including oil and gas concessions and the impact of land reform, and has represented an investor with a $1 billion claim arising out of a nationalization. Ms. Santens has handled post-M&A disputes and regularly acts in commercial disputes arising out of distribution and supply agreements as well as disputes arising out of joint ventures or other shareholder arrangements.

Ms. Santens also frequently serves as an arbitrator. She represents clients before New York courts in arbitration-related litigation, and has overseen complex multi-jurisdictional and parallel proceedings.

Ms. Santens regularly advises on the drafting of dispute resolution clauses in international contracts and has assisted several clients in alternative/amicable dispute resolution. Although she works principally in English, she has advised clients in French, Spanish and Flemish/Dutch.

Ms. Santens practiced in White & Case’s Paris office from 2004 to 2006. Before joining White & Case, she worked in the legal department, international division of a pharmaceutical company in New Jersey.

Publications, Speeches, Activities

Ms. Santens has written articles on a variety of international commercial and investment arbitration topics for publications including Arbitration International, Mealey’s International Arbitration Report, International Arbitration Law Review, and The Institute for Transnational Arbitration’s News and Notes (full list of publications available upon request). She is the Belgian country reporter for the upcoming revised edition of the World Arbitration Reporter (Juris).

Ms. Santens is a frequent speaker on international arbitration, including recently at ICC, LCIA, IBA, ICDR, JCAA and CPR conferences (full list of speaking engagements available upon request).

Leadership roles in professional associations:

• Foundation for International Arbitration Advocacy (FIAA), Executive Committee, Member
• International Bar Association (IBA), Sub-Committee on the Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards, Member
• New York City Bar, International Commercial Disputes Committee (ICDC), Member
• Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA), Advisory Board