Julie BEDARD

Julie Bédard is head of Skadden’s International Litigation and Arbitration Group for the Americas. Fluent in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, Ms. Bédard practices in four languages in complex disputes and investigations. She is a prior member of Skadden’s Policy Committee, the firm’s governing body.

Trained in both civil and common law, Ms. Bédard has a doctorate in conflicts of antitrust and securities regulation and represents clients in litigation, arbitration and regulatory proceedings throughout the world, advising on disputes, regulatory enforcement, governing law, jurisdiction, arbitration agreements, force majeure and changed circumstances, as well as extraterritoriality and international judgment enforcement.

She represents clients in federal and state courts in the United States and has served as counsel in international arbitration proceedings held under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). She regularly advises clients on dispute resolution and the protection of global investments under international treaties.

Ms. Bédard frequently counsels management and supervisory boards in corporate governance, antitrust and other regulatory matters, internal investigations, as well as corruption and compliance matters. Together with members of the securities litigation practice, she regularly assists Latin American companies in U.S. securities class actions.

In 2020, Ms. Bédard was named as an arbitrator for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s dispute settlement mechanism. She also is a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, the Shanghai Arbitration Commission and the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board International’s Panel of International Arbitrators. Additionally, Ms. Bédard is a past co-chair of the Arbitration Committee of the International Bar Association and is a member of its task force on “Addressing Issues of Corruption in International Arbitration.”

Ms. Bédard has been recognized by several publications, such as Chambers USA, Chambers Latin America, Latinvex, Chambers Global, Benchmark Litigation, Best Lawyers, Global Arbitration Review’s International Who’s Who of Commercial Arbitration and Who’s Who Legal, The Legal 500 U.S., Financier Worldwide, Euromoney’s Expert Guides: Women in Business Law, Lawdragon.

Ms. Bédard also received the Best in Commercial Arbitration Euromoney Women in Business Law Award in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2020. In addition, Ms. Bédard was selected by Harvard Law School as an honoree for its second annual International Women’s Day Exhibi­tion in 2015. She was named by the World Economic Forum to the 2013 Young Global Leaders and was selected among the Inspiring Women in Law by Latin Lawyer (November 2013).

Past and current representative clients include Air France/KLM; AEI; Argos USA; Banco Bradesco BBI S.A.; Banco BTG; Banco do Brasil Securities LLC; Banco Itau; Banco Votorantim S.A.; BB Securities Ltd.; BRF S.A.; Capgemini S.A.; Cinepolis; Citigroup; CEMEX, SAB de CV; CF Industries, Inc.; The Clorox Company; Deutsche Bank AG; Embraer S.A.; Empresas Polar S.A.; Encana Corporation; Enka Insaat ve Sanayi A.S.; Exxon Mobil Corporation; First Solar, Inc.; Gerdau S.A.; Google LLC; Grupo Proeza; HSBC Securities (USA), Inc.; Inversiones Cordillera S.A.; Itaú BBA USA Securities, Inc.; Liberty Mutual Insurance Corporation; Mubadala Investment Company PJSC; Netshoes (Cayman) Limited; Materis SAS; MetLife, Inc.; NextEra Energy, Inc.; NSP Maritime Link Inc.; Ovintiv Inc.; Pattern Energy Group LP; Philip Morris International Inc.; The Travelers Companies, Inc.; Ultrapar Participaçoes S.A.; Vale S.A.; Votorantim Participações S.A.; Walmart Inc.; and The WhiteWave Foods Company.

Ms. Bédard also regularly acts as arbitrator in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese language cases. Among other cases, she was named a party-appointed arbitrator in an ICSID investment treaty arbitration involving a Kuwaiti telecommunications company and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in addition to serving as sole arbitrator in an ICC arbitration concerning a distribution agreement involving a U.S. company and a Peruvian company, as well as in another ICC arbitration involving a manufacturing contract dispute between a U.S. company and a Chinese company. She also was appointed in LCIA arbitrations and as a sole arbitrator in an UNCITRAL arbitration involving development agreements between a U.S. company and a Spanish company. She chaired an ICC arbitration governed by Romanian law and venued in Bucharest.