When I founded this law firm, I had this vision of taking cases and resolving issues where they practically seem impossible to solve. The truth as to why I wanted to practice international arbitration and international litigation is because of a past experience of mine. When I was 13 years old, my father owned a textile company producing and trading raw materials, including wool and cotton. My family and I were living in Switzerland in a beautiful house in a beautiful village called Lausanne. When my father became more and more successful with his business, he decided to invest in factories in Uzbekistan, where he would own 50 percent of the shares and the government would own the other half. The factories were subject to producing the raw material and shipping them to Turkey. As the months went by, after the initial investment, my father found that something was not right with the financial spreadsheets. He found out that the factories were not shipping the entirety of the orders. He also heard some rumors that the government of Uzbekistan was planning on jailing the Turkish employees that my father hired to work in these factories. My father then flew to Uzbekistan and bought flight tickets for all the employees that he hired and their families to go back to Turkey. In addition, he was able to free the shipments that were stuck in the factories as he suspected that the government of Uzbekistan was planning to take over these factories. Sure enough, the government expropriated my father’s assets and did not provide adequate protection as promised under the Bilateral Investment Treaty. Due to this expropriation, my father had to close the company and almost filed for bankruptcy. We were forced to leave Switzerland and live in Turkey and Israel for a couple of months. At the time, I was unsure of my future in Istanbul. However, it gave me the opportunity to learn about my great-grandfather Jack Mitrani who practiced international law and litigation. To this day, I always have his picture next to my office to remind me that his own legacy as an international attorney did not die down.
Today, I became an international litigator and always tell my father if I had known the things I have learned and had the skills I have today back then, I would have been able to do something and help him out. Today, as a lawyer, I represented various international companies in Federal and State court. I founded the NSU International Arbitration Society and had the privilege to study at the Hague, Netherlands under the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) and the International Criminal Court (“ICC”). Furthermore, I worked as a law clerk at Hogan Lovells on various cases within different International Tribunals. I am well verse into the rules and regulations within the International Center of Settlement and Investment Dispute (“ICSID”), the International Chamber Commerce (“ICC”), The American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) under the rule of the International Center for Dispute Resolution (“ICDR”), and the Permanent Court of International Arbitration. I successfully represented companies revolving around International trade, securities fraud, international transactions and investment law. Furthermore, I represent companies within the mining industry, pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry and energy industry. I am a member of the Miami International Arbitration Society and I am dedicated to fight against unjust expropriation and unfair treatment as I have experienced these issues firsthand.
