Nathan O'MALLEY

Nathan O’Malley is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Musick Peeler where he leads the International Arbitration and Litigation Practice Group. As a recognized expert in the field of arbitration, Mr. O'Malley represents his clients at all stages of dispute resolution. He is also regularly appointed to serve as an arbitrator in high value disputes and he utilizes this experience, along with his years of work as an advocate, to provide his clients with targeted guidance and skillful representation.

Mr. O'Malley's practice encompasses disputes in the renewable and clean energy sector where he represents clients involved in the engineering, construction, operation and sale of various energy producing assets, such as solar thermal power facilities, wind farms and natural gas-fired electricity plants. Based on his experience in this field, Mr. O’Malley has been listed by the AAA/ICDR on their Energy Arbitrator Panel and has been appointed by other institutions to sit as an arbitrator in disputes involving various forms of renewable energy.

Next to his work in the renewables sector, Mr. O'Malley has extensive experience with disputes involving medical devices and life sciences, as well as infrastructure and industrial construction projects, surety insurance industry and general commercial matters. He has also represented clients involved in the payments industry, having acted for foreign acquiring banks and other financial institutions.

Over the course of his career, Mr. O'Malley has appeared on behalf of clients in international and domestic arbitrations seated in the US and in various foreign jurisdictions, including appearing before tribunals in Geneva, Zurich, Amsterdam, Brussels, The Hague, Frankfurt, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. He has handled cases brought under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), UNCITRAL Rules, Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC), Netherlands Arbitration Institute (NAI), Swiss Rules, ICDR/AAA, JAMS and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Mr. O'Malley also appears before state and federal courts, including the California Courts of Appeal and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, often in cases pertaining to international arbitration. In 2017 he successfully argued the matter (for the amicus curiae) of Portland General Electric v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, et al., 862 F.3d 981 (9th Cir. 2017), which was the first opinion of the Ninth Circuit to consider whether courts must defer to arbitrators on issues of arbitrability when the ICC Rules of Arbitration are applicable. In its opinion, the Court largely adopted Mr. O'Malley’s arguments as set forth in the submitted brief and at oral argument.

Mr. O'Malley is a lecturer in international arbitration law at the USC Gould School of Law and has authored several academic works on various ADR topics, including a leading text on international arbitration procedure which is now in its second edition, The Rules of Evidence in International Arbitration: An Annotated Guide (Routledge / Informa, London). Nathan also serves as the Co-Chair of the AAA-ICDR California Committee and leads the organizing committee of the USC International Arbitration Symposium.

Prior to joining Musick Peeler, Mr. O'Malley was based in the Netherlands for over ten years, where he worked for several non-US law firms as an associate and partner, and was registered with the Rotterdam Bar as a foreign lawyer. Mr. O'Malley reads and speaks Dutch.