Steven Finizio

Steven Finizio's practice focuses on international dispute resolution. Mr. Finizio also serves as an arbitrator. He has particular experience with oil and gas, financial services, shareholder, joint venture and M&A, and manufacturing issues. He has advised clients regarding disputes under the rules of most of the well-recognized international arbitration institutions and governed by the laws of jurisdictions in Europe, Asia, Africa and the US, as well as under bilateral and regional investment treaties. His pro bono work has included assisting a Central European government to draft new arbitration legislation and he was part of a team that won a landmark decision in the first freedom of expression case in the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Issa Loha Konaté v Burkina Faso.

Mr. Finizio regularly teaches classes on arbitration at law schools, and taught International Commercial Arbitration as an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University Law School in London for a number of years. He is a founding member of the International Dispute Resolution Academy (IDRA) and is on the faculty at the Cologne Academy of Arbitration and for the Africa International Legal Awareness (AILA) annual International Treaty Law and Arbitration Programme. He also has been on the faculty for the Foundation for International Arbitration Advocacy (FIAA). 

He speaks regularly on international arbitration at conferences and seminars, including at events sponsored by the ICC, LCIA, ICSID, AAA, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), German Arbitration Institute (DIS), Swedish Arbitration Association, Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA), British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL), SOAS, the Georgia International Arbitration Centre (GIAC), CIETAC Hong Kong, Beijing Arbitration Commission, the Lagos Court of Arbitration (LCA), Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA), Harvard Business School, the London Shipping Law Centre/University College London, the University of Belgrade, the Nani Palkhivala Arbitration Centre (NPAC), the State Chancellery of Latvia, and Humboldt University. Mr. Finizio also recently designed and led three-day seminars in international arbitration for oil and gas executives in Malaysia and UAE.

Mr. Finizio is a member of the Global Arbitration ReviewEditorial Board, theLexis®PSL ArbitrationConsulting Editorial Board, and the arbitration.ru Editorial Board, as well as a member of the Advisory Committee of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA). Mr. Finizio is a member of the LCIA Court and has served as a UK representative on several ICC task forces. He is a member of a number of arbitration and international law institutions and related associations, including the International Bar Association (IBA), Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA), American Society of International Law (ASIL), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA). Mr. Finizio is also a Member of the Board of Trustees for the Media Defence Legal Initiative.