About Miriam K. Harwood

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.

An international arbitration powerhouse

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.

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“Miriam Harwood is my favorite lawyer of all time. She has the WOW factor and with her brilliant legal mind, when she talks, people stop and listen immediately.”

The Legal 500 - U.S. (2022)

Practice Focus

  • International investor-state treaty arbitration
  • International commercial arbitration
  • Arbitration enforcement proceedings
  • Commercial litigation International law

Representative Experience

  • Represented a Central Asian country in over a dozen ICSID arbitrations and other cases under ICC, SCC and UNCITRAL/PCA rules, involving claims under bilateral investment treaties with Turkey, Russia, Germany and the United Kingdom, and in contract disputes, including billion-dollar claims regarding telecommunications, mining, construction, infrastructure and agriculture projects. *
  • Represented a South American country and its state-owned oil company, in over a dozen arbitrations and court proceedings involving disputes in the oil and gas, maritime and telecommunications industries. *
  • Represented a Central Asian country in connection with cost recovery disputes with international oil companies operating major oil production projects under long-term production sharing agreements. *
  • Represented a European country in an ICSID annulment proceeding, winning a historic annulment of a €128 million award in a dispute regarding renewable energy regulations, and in US court proceedings relating to enforcement of arbitral awards. *
  • Represented an Eastern European country in three ICSID arbitrations brought under the Energy Charter Treaty and intra-EU BITs in disputes regarding renewable energy regulations. *
  • Represented an Eastern European country in an ICSID arbitration brought by a German national in a dispute concerning ownership of real property allegedly purchased during the war of independence in the 1990s. *
  • Represented an Eastern European country and the state-owned oil company in an ICC arbitration brought by a Canadian company in a dispute concerning the operations of the country’s largest oilfield. *
  • Represented a Middle Eastern country in its first-ever ICSID arbitration regarding a US$1 billion highway and infrastructure construction project. *
  • Represented a North African country in an ICSID arbitration brought by an Austrian construction company involving highway and infrastructure projects. *
* Experience prior to Katten

News

Publications

  • 2023
    Author, "Advisory Board Manual on Universal Citation in International Arbitration," Global Arbitration Review, 2d ed., 2023, 1st ed., 2018
  • 2021
    Co-author, "Papers and Proceedings of the 14th Annual Juris Conference on Investment Treaty Arbitration," Investment Treaty Arbitration and International Law, Volume 14, 2021
  • 2019
    Co-author, "Papers and Proceedings of the 13th Annual Juris Conference on Investment Treaty Arbitration," Investment Treaty Arbitration and International Law , Volume 13, 2019.
  • November 2018
    Author, "Handbook on Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration," Conflicts of Interest, November 2018
  • October 2018
    Author, "Third-Party Funding in Investment Disputes," Business Guide to Trade and Investment, Volume 2, October 2018
  • 2017
    Co-author, "Third-Party Funding: Security for Costs and Other Key Issues," The Investment Treaty Arbitration Review, 2nd Edition, 2017
  • 2016
    Co-author, "Third-Party Funding: Security for Costs and Other Key Issues," The Investment Treaty Arbitration Review, 1st Edition, 2016
  • 2015
    Co-author, "Investment Arbitration: Jurisdiction and Procedure," The International Arbitration Review 1, 6th Edition, 2015
  • 2014
    Author, "Calculating Damages in Energy Disputes," Investment Treaty Arbitration and International Law, Volume 7, 2014
  • View All Publications

Presentations and Events

  • November 21, 2024
    Emerging Standards and Expectations in International Arbitration: Codes of Conduct, Conflicts and Disqualification | Presented by New York International Arbitration Center
    Moderator
  • November 18, 2024
    18th Annual Investment Treaty Arbitration: A Debate & Discussion
    Panelist | True or false: The recent decision of the Paris Court of Appeal, in DIT v. Port Autonome de Douala, calls into question the continuing relevance of the IBA Rules on Conflict of Interest?
  • November 8, 2023
    2023 Sarajevo Arbitration Day
  • October 12, 2023
    Seventeenth Annual Investment Treaty Arbitration Symposium
    Panelist | Will investor-state mediation emerge as the preferred mechanism to resolve investor-state disputes? What are the pros and cons as opposed to investor-state arbitration?
  • September 19, 2023
    GAR Live: New York 2023
    Panelist | A new era of enforcement
  • March 2023
    Paris Arbitration Week
    Presenter | News from Across the Pond: Recent Vital Developments in US Arbitration
  • March 2023
    Columbia International Arbitration Association, New York
    Presenter | Navigating Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration: Benefits, Implications and the Future
  • January 2023
    New York International Arbitration Center, New York
    Presenter | Damages and Quantum Experts in International Arbitration
  • October 2022
    Juris Conferences, 16th Annual Conference on Investment Treaty Arbitration, Washington DC
    Presenter | UNCITRAL Working Group Proposals on Arbitrator Conflict Rules
  • View All Presentations and Events
Practices
Education
  • Fordham University School of Law, JD
  • Barnard College, Columbia University, BA, cum laude
Bar Admissions
  • New York
Court Admissions
  • US District Court, Southern District of New York
Community Involvements
  • Law360, International Arbitration Editorial Board, 2024
  • New York International Arbitration Center, Board of Directors
  • The American Review of International Arbitration, Columbia Law School, Advisory Board
Recognitions
Recognized or listed in the following:
  • Benchmark Litigation
    Litigation Star, 2023
    Top 250 Women in Litigation, 2022–2023
  • Best Lawyers in America
    International Arbitration – Commercial, 2025
  • Chambers Global
    International Arbitration: Counsel/USA, 2021–2024
  • Chambers USA
    International Arbitration: Counsel, 2019–2024
  • Crain's New York Business
    Notable Women in Law, 2022
  • Expert Guides: Women in Business Law
    Commercial Arbitration: Leading Lawyers, 2020–2022
  • Global Guide to Women Arbitrators
    Compendium of Unicorns, 2022
  • Latinvex
    Latin America's Top 100 Female Lawyers, 2016–2020
  • New York Law Journal
    Distinguished Leaders, 2020
  • The Legal 500 United States
    Dispute Resolution/International Arbitration: Recommended Attorney, 2018–2023
  • Who's Who Legal
    Arbitration, 2024
    Arbitration – USA: Arbitrator and Counsel, Global Leader, 2021–2023
Award Methodologies