Kent_Rachael

Rachael D. Kent

Kent_Rachael

Rachael D. Kent

Partner

  • Vice Chair, International Arbitration Practice Group
Washington DC + 1 202 663 6976

Rachael Kent has more than 25 years of experience representing companies, states, state entities, and individuals in commercial and investment arbitration proceedings worldwide. She is widely recognized for her expertise in the field and for her exceptional written and oral advocacy skills. She has been the lead advocate in numerous complex arbitrations in the energy, mining, aerospace, defense, pharmaceutical, construction, insurance, telecommunications, technology and retail sectors, among others. Ms. Kent also sits as arbitrator in commercial arbitrations.

Ms. Kent frequently represents parties in arbitrations involving states and state entities. In recent years, she has led a team representing a UK investor in an UNCITRAL arbitration against the People’s Republic of China arising out of the expropriation of land use rights and unfair treatment of the claimant’s investment. The case included a bifurcated jurisdictional phase, applications for interim measures of protection and other complex procedural applications, and ancillary proceedings in the courts of the arbitral seat. Ms. Kent also recently successfully represented the Ministry of Public Works of a Middle Eastern state in a SIAC arbitration arising out of a $400 million construction project in the transportation sector; an aerospace and defense company in a dispute under a long-term development and supply agreement for military aircraft; and a state party in an LCIA arbitration related to the development of a substantial oil and gas field and the construction of gas processing facilities.

Ms. Kent has also led numerous representations of parties in commercial arbitrations under the rules of all major arbitral institutions, including the ICC, AAA/ICDR, LCIA, SIAC, HKIAC, VIAC, and WIPO. She has particular expertise in representing life sciences and technology companies in arbitrations arising under joint venture, co-development, and IP license agreements. In one recent case, she represented a global pharmaceutical company in an ICC arbitration arising under a license agreement, where the claims and counterclaims exceeded $500 million in dispute and involved both contractual claims and alleged violations of antitrust laws.

Ms. Kent is a Vice Chair of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration and is on the WIPO Mediation and Arbitration Advisory Committee. She has taught courses on international arbitration at the Georgetown University Law Center, the Duke University School of Law, the University of Michigan Law School, and Pepperdine Law School. She also frequently speaks and writes on topics related to international arbitration.

Experience

    • Represented a UK investor in an UNCITRAL arbitration against the People’s Republic of China arising out of the expropriation of land use rights and unfair treatment of the claimant’s investment
    • Represented a global pharmaceutical company in an ICC arbitration seated in Singapore arising under a license agreement, with claims and counterclaims exceeding $500 million in dispute 
    • Represented a global technology company in an ICC arbitration seated in New York arising under an IP license agreement
    • Represented a global pharmaceutical company in an investment arbitration against a Latin American state involving claims for denial of justice arising from a national court judgment and in related set aside proceedings, which confirmed the favorable award
    • Represented a global energy services company in an ICC arbitration seated in Paris related to disputes under contracts for oil drilling services
    • Represented a global consumer technology company in an ICC arbitration seated in New York arising under an IP license agreement for standard essential patents
    • Represented a global pharmaceutical company in an ICC arbitration seated in London, using expedited procedures, arising out of a joint venture agreement and IP license agreement
    • Represented the Ministry of Public Works of a Middle Eastern state in a SIAC arbitration seated in Singapore arising out of a $400 million construction project in the transportation sector
    • Represented an aerospace and defense technology company in a dispute under a long-term development and supply agreement related to the supply of military aircraft
    • Represented a global medical device company in a AAA arbitration seated in New York arising under an IP license agreement
    • Represented a major consumer health products company in a JAMS arbitration seated in Chicago arising under an IP license agreement
    • Represented a global pharmaceutical company in an ICDR arbitration seated in New York arising out of an IP license agreement and involving claims related to licensed patents and know how
    • Represented a state party in an LCIA arbitration seated in London involving disputes related to the development of a substantial oil and gas field and the construction of gas processing facilities, with more than $30 billion in dispute
    • Represented a global technology company in an ICDR arbitration seated in New York involving disputes under a patent license agreement related to the semiconductor industry
    • Represented a global pharmaceutical company in a WIPO arbitration seated in Switzerland arising under an IP license agreement and involving claims with a value exceeding $2 billion
    • Represented a leading global retail company in an HKIAC arbitration seated in Hong Kong arising out of the acquisition of a subsidiary in China
    • Represented a leading defense technology company in an ICC arbitration seated in Brussels involving disputes under a software development agreement related to a military aircraft program
    • Represented a leading mining company in an ICSID arbitration against an Asian state involving claims related to violation of a stabilization clause
    • Represented a major global manufacturing company in an HKIAC arbitration seated in Hong Kong involving disputes arising out of the acquisition of a computer business in Taiwan
    • Represented a leading financial services company in multiple ad hoc arbitrations seated in Bermuda under excess coverage professional liability insurance policies 
    • Represented a major US financial services company in an ICC arbitration seated in Paris arising out of an M&A agreement, with claims for breach of representations and warranties and fraud 
    • Represented a major global manufacturing company in an ICC arbitration seated in Zurich involving disputes related to a services contract for the design of consumer electronics products
    • Represented a major European telecommunications company in multiple VIAC arbitrations seated in Vienna involving the ownership of an Eastern European joint venture company

Recognition

  • Award Text

    Recognized as a Leading Lawyer for International Arbitration

    Chambers Global

    2013-2024

  • Award Text

    Among the Best Lawyers in America for International Arbitration

    Best Lawyers in America®

    2012-2025

  • Award Text

    Recognized as a Thought Leader

    Who's Who Legal: Arbitration

    2017-2024

  • Recognized in Benchmark Litigation as a “Litigation Star” (2023 and 2024).
  • Named a Washington DC Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in America for her international arbitration practice (2023).
  • Ranked in the 2013–2024 editions of Chambers Global for her international arbitration practice. She is described as “super-smart” and “knows the arbitration process backwards and forwards and makes really good strategic calls.” She is also praised for “her ability to translate complex legal principles for her clients.”
  • Consistently recognized as a national leader in the international arbitration field in Chambers USA Guide, with sources calling her “superb,” “elegant but not overstated,” and “sharp, prepared and polished.” 
  • Selected for recognition as a leading arbitration practitioner in the 2017–2025 editions of Lexology Index: Arbitration, including in the inaugural edition of Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration - Future Leaders 2017—a guide profiling the foremost practitioners in the arbitration community. Sources report that she is a “highly reputable” and “amazingly able” lawyer and “established leader” in international arbitration, “strongly recommended” for her excellence in complex commercial and investment disputes.
  • Selected by peers for inclusion in the 2012–2025 editions of the Best Lawyers in America in the area of international arbitration, with sources calling her “a sophisticated oral advocate.”
  • Named to the Americas Women in Business Law Awards 2012–2017 “Best in Commercial Arbitration” shortlist by Euromoney Legal Media Group.
  • Named a leading practitioner in commercial arbitration in Expert Guides’ Guide to the World's Leading Women in Business Law.
  • Recommended in the Euromoney Guide to the World's Leading Experts in International Arbitration.
  • Recommended by The Legal 500 United States for her international arbitration practice.
  • Recognized by her peers as one of the world’s leading experts in commercial arbitration in Legal Media Group’s The Best of the Best USA.
  • Named to the Lawdragon 500 Global Leading Litigators list, which recognizes lawyers who specialize in international arbitration, public international litigation and global controversies.
  • Team was awarded Transatlantic Dispute Resolution Team of the Year in 2017 by Legal Week and The American Lawyer for work co-led by Ms. Kent 

Insights & News

View all of Rachael's insights & news

Credentials

  • Education

    • JD, Duke University, 1998

      magna cum laude Order of the Coif

    • BA, Georgetown University, 1995

  • Admissions

    • District of Columbia

    • England and Wales, Registered Foreign Lawyer

    • Maryland

Credentials

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