Miriam Harwood

Practice Areas

Miriam Harwood is a recognized leader in international arbitration, with decades of experience handling high-profile, high-stakes disputes in commercial and investment treaty arbitrations, as well as litigation in US courts. She has represented sovereign states, state-owned entities and private corporations in a broad array of cases, including matters involving construction and infrastructure projects, renewable energy, telecommunications, mining, oil and gas projects and other commercial disputes.

Miriam is recognized by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Who’s Who Legal, The Legal 500 USA, The Legal 500 Latin America, Benchmark Litigation, Global Arbitration Review and many other industry publications. Clients have deep respect and admiration for her skills and experience on the international stage, observing that she is “absolutely outstanding under fire from the other side” (Chambers USA, 2020), “continually delivers and has an ethic that strives for excellence” (Legal 500 USA, 2020), and is “a leading light in international arbitration” (Chambers Global, 2023).

Miriam has served as lead counsel in dozens of international arbitrations, with experience at the major arbitral organizations, including the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) and under the rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade and Law (UNCITRAL). She has also advised states on the drafting of investment treaties and domestic investment laws, and taught courses on international law and arbitration. In 2020, Miriam was appointed to the prestigious ICSID Panel of Arbitrators for a six-year term.

Before focusing her practice on international arbitration, Miriam honed her skills as a commercial litigator in US courts in cases involving securities fraud, intellectual property, bankruptcy and contract disputes. She continues to appear in US courts, particularly in cases involving enforcement of arbitral awards and matters of sovereign immunity.

Miriam is a regularly featured speaker at professional conferences and training programs around the world, lecturing on topics of international law and arbitration, investment treaties and quantification of damages, including conferences sponsored by the American Bar Association, the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, Global Arbitration Review, Juris Conferences, New York International Arbitration Center, the Czech Republic, Columbia Law School and American University. She has also served on the faculty at the International Law Institute in Washington, DC, and Columbia University Law School’s Executive Training Program for Government Officials on Investment Treaty Arbitration.

Professional Memberships

New York International Arbitration Center, Board of Directors

The American Review of International Arbitration, Columbia Law School, Advisory Board