Jennifer Haworth McCandless

Practice Areas

Jennifer Haworth McCandless is an international disputes partner and serves as legal counsel in complex, high-stakes international arbitration cases, focusing, in particular, on investor-state arbitration. She has successfully advised and represented both private sector investors (the claimants) and sovereigns (the respondents) in international arbitral proceedings concerning more than US $59 billion in claims before ICSID and its Additional Facility, the ICC, and other arbitral institutions around the world. She has also handled international commercial arbitrations, often involving state or state-owned entities. Her cases span the full range of economic sectors, including electricity, mining, oil and gas, infrastructure, real estate development, and financial services, and cover the globe, with a particular emphasis on the Americas. She has also advised and represented private parties and governments in WTO disputes. In addition, she counsels clients on the implications of investment rules for their global operations.

Professional Memberships

District of Columbia Bar; State Bar of California; American Society of International Law; American Bar Association, International Law Section; ArbitralWomen; London Court of International Arbitration; International Council for Commercial Arbitration; International Bar Association

Personal

J.D., University of California, Hastings College of the Law 1997

M.A.L.D., Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University 1997

Master of Education, Harvard University 1992

B.A., Whitman College 1988

Career

Jennifer has worked for nearly 25 years in international arbitration, with a focus on investor-state arbitration. After interning at the US Trade Representative’s Office in Washington, D.C. and in Geneva, Switzerland and clerking at the US Court of International Trade in New York, Jennifer joined the international trade and dispute settlement practice group at a US-based law firm in Washington, D.C. She moved with that group to Sidley Austin in 2001 focusing on international arbitration and WTO dispute settlement. While at Sidley, Jennifer served as a member of the Investment Subcommittee of the U.S. State Department's Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy Regarding the U.S. Model Bilateral Investment Treaty in 2009. She moved with a Spanish-speaking team from Sidley to Baker Botts in 2023.