Biography
Surya Gopalan is an international disputes lawyer and partner in White & Case's international arbitration practice, based in New York. He advises and represents corporations and sovereign states through every stage of high-stakes disputes under all major arbitration rules and across a range of industries and regions.
In recent years, Surya's practice has included a particular focus on complex technical disputes originating in the technology, energy, and aerospace sectors. He regularly counsels and represents clients in disputes over product liability and specification compliance, long-term supply, service, and offtake arrangements, and joint development, IP licensing, and strategic collaboration agreements. He also advises clients on risk mitigation and investment protection, including in complex multi-party, cross-border deals.
Surya is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Fellow of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, and Co-Chair of the Investment Disputes Subcommittee of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution.
Experience
Representative experience includes acting for or advising:
- An Asian battery cell manufacturer defending product liability claims exceeding $250 million brought in ICC arbitration by a U.S. BESS customer (California law, California seat).
- An Asian battery cell manufacturer prosecuting a claim exceeding $1 billion against its U.S. joint venture partner arising out of major supply chain and regulatory shocks, resulting in severe derogation from contractual offtake commitments, and involving material trade secret disclosure risks (New York and Delaware law).
- A U.S. solid oxide fuel cell manufacturer in WIPO arbitration against a European party, prosecuting product liability claims relating to metal components and defending trade secret misappropriation and patent infringement and contractual royalty claims, and involving related proceedings before U.S. and Swiss courts (New York and California law, Geneva seat).
- A major multinational satellite organization defending claims brought in ICDR arbitration by a multinational satellite operator concerning alleged transponder lease violations and sanctions issues (New York law, New York seat).
- A European aeronautical component manufacturer in multiple disputes with its joint venture partners arising out of various joint engine development programs and profit-sharing arrangements (New York law).
- A Bermuda insurer defending a $300 million first-party property damage claim relating to a major upstream natural gas processing and treatment plant in the Middle East destroyed by the Islamic State (ad hoc, New York law, London seat).
- A Bermuda insurer defending a $125 million reinsurance claim brought by a major multinational chemical company arising out of mass tort liability due to widespread chemical pollution (ad hoc, New York law, London seat).
- A global private equity firm defending a material post-closing purchase-price adjustment claim brought by a Chinese private equity firm relating to the acquisition of a consumer goods business (HKIAC, HK law, HK seat).
- A French multinational transport and logistics firm defending a material post-closing purchase-price adjustment claim brought by a German industrial manufacturer relating to the acquisition of a signaling business (New York law).
- The Republic of Korea defending claims brought in UNCITRAL arbitration exceeding $200 million by hedge fund Mason Capital relating to its investment in the Samsung Group and involving allegations of political interference by the former President of Korea in the merger of Samsung SC&T and Cheil.
- The Republic of Korea defending claims brought in UNCITRAL arbitration exceeding $200 million by the Swiss elevator company Schindler relating to its investment in the Hyundai Group and involving allegations of misconduct by the Korean Financial Supervisory Service, the Financial Services Commission, and the Fair Trade Commission.
- A Brazilian oil and gas explorer defending claims brought in ICC arbitration by Singaporean drilling rig builders arising from allegations of bribery and corruption uncovered by the landmark Lavo Jato investigation (New York law, New York seat).
- A Brazilian oil services company prosecuting claims in ICC arbitration against its joint venture partner over the operation of two drilling rigs, involving parallel restructuring proceedings in the U.S., Brazil, and the BVI (New York law, Singapore seat).
- A Spanish solar company in a dispute with its Greek partner in connection with the development of utility-scale solar projects (ICC, Greek law, London seat).
- A Brazilian state-owned bank defending claims brought in ICC arbitration by a European telecommunications company arising out of a joint venture for the provision of banking technology services in Brazil (Brazilian law, New York seat).
- An investor prosecuting claims in UNCITRAL arbitration against the Republic of Ecuador arising out of a major public works contract (Ecuadorian law, Geneva seat).
- A Latin American telecommunications company in ICDR arbitration with its joint venture partner relating to the ownership of a cellular telephone company (New York law, New York seat).
- A property developer in AAA arbitration and related enforcement proceedings concerning a dispute with its joint venture partner (Delaware law, New York seat).
- A Korean E&C company in a dispute with its local partner concerning delays in the development of a power plant in the Philippines (New York law).
- The U.S. partner of a multi-decade LNG export terminal development in the Gulf of Mexico in connection with a novel and complex multi-party and cross-border disputes framework.
- A global bank in connection with the complex multi-party and cross-border disputes framework arising from its financing of Indonesia's Multifunction Satellite Public Private Partnership Project.