Laura ABRAHAMSON, FCIARB

Laura C. Abrahamson, Esq., joined JAMS in 2020 with robust ADR experience following her illustrious legal career in private practice and in-house senior leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies. She brings a unique, well-rounded and pragmatic perspective to her ADR practice, as well as deep national and international experience in commercial disputes and the engineering, construction, oil and gas, and chemicals industries.

Ms. Abrahamson has been appointed as an arbitrator in more than 200 matters and has experience as an arbitrator, advocate and client in the U.S. and significant jurisdictions around the world, including matters involving antitrust, complex commercial contracts, energy, engineering and construction, environmental, labor and employment, insurance coverage, intellectual property, professional liability, securities and sports and entertainment under JAMS, AAA, CIAM, DIAC, ICC, ICDR, ICSID, LCIA, Thai and UNCITRAL rules.

Prior to joining JAMS, Ms. Abrahamson served as senior vice president, deputy general counsel and global head of litigation at AECOM, an American multinational firm that provides engineering, design, consulting and construction services, where she oversaw complex, cross-border disputes. Previously, Ms. Abrahamson spent nearly 20 years in-house at Occidental Petroleum (OXY), where she led major litigation and domestic and international arbitration efforts. Her experience at OXY and AECOM included numerous plaintiffs’ domestic and international arbitration claims arising out of energy, power and construction infrastructure projects; most notably, an ICSID arbitration against the Republic of Ecuador was recognized by Global Arbitration Review as the “Most Important Published Decision of 2012” and selected as the “2013 Global Dispute of the Year, Investment Arbitration” by The American Lawyer.

Prior to moving in-house, Ms. Abrahamson spent her first seven years of private practice at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, focusing on complex commercial litigation and arbitrations, including representing Big Four accounting firms in shareholder class actions following the 1980s savings and loan crisis and participating in four trials. She returned to private practice at O’Melveny & Myers from 2014 to 2016, focusing on energy and construction matters as well as domestic and international arbitration.

A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the College of Commercial Arbitrators, Ms. Abrahamson currently serves as President of California Arbitration (“CalArb”); on the board of the CIArb North American Branch, the board of governors of the Institute for Corporate Counsel; as an advisory board member for the Institute of Transnational Arbitration; as an arbitrator for the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport; on the List of Arbitrators for the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC); as a member of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) panel; and as an arbitrator for the Public Works Contract Arbitration Program (PWCA).

As a mediator and arbitrator, Ms. Abrahamson is sensitive to the financial, political and other pressures facing parties in disputes, and uses her decades of experience as both an advocate and a client, her strong financial and legal backgrounds and her ability to quickly synthesize information and assess strengths, weaknesses and nuances of cases to promote efficient and fair resolutions.

Ms. Abrahamson holds a degree in business administration from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, with a dual major in accounting and finance, and J.D. from the UCLA School of Law.