Charles T. Kotuby, Jr. FCIArb

Executive Director, Center for International Legal Education

Charles Kotuby is a Professor of Practice and the Executive Director of the Center for International Legal Education at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. 

Professor Kotuby is currently an Of Counsel with Three Crowns in Washington DC and was previously a Partner in the Global Disputes practice of Jones Day in Washington DC.  He has over 20 years of experience as an international law counsel representing multinational corporations and sovereign states in complex international disputes.  He has represented clients with treaty-based claims in Central Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, and has appeared as counsel in international matters before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Court of Justice of the European Union, ICSID, UNCITRAL and ad hoc arbitral tribunals.  According to Judge Stephen Schwebel, former president of the International Court of Justice, Professor Kotuby is one of the world's "leading international counsel and advocates" (foreword to Kotuby & Sobota, General Principles of Law and International Due Process [Oxford 2017]).  Chambers USA has individually recognized him as a Band 1 international arbitration counsel, calling him a "wonderful lawyer" and a "standout person . . .known for his . . . extensive multijurisdictional expertise." (ChambersUSA 2021)

Professor Kotuby has published extensively on issues of international arbitration and international law, authoring or co-authoring more than two dozen articles and book chapters over the last 20 years.  His co-authored book on General Principles of Law and International Due Process has been called "astute" (Judge James Crawford), "brilliant" (Pierre-Marie Dupuy), and a "signal contribution" to the field of international law (Judge Schwebel).  He is currently the U.S. editor for the website www.conflictoflaws.net. 

An active arbitrator, Professor Kotuby is a Fellow in the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Co-Chair of its Pennsylvania and Ohio Chapter.  He is admitted to panels of arbitrators with leading institutions around the world, including the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the United States Council for International Business (ICC/USCIB).  He is also active in international legal reform as a member of the United States Government Delegation to UNCITRAL Working Group III on Reforms to Investor-State Dispute Settlement and the U.S. State Department Advisory Committee on Private International Law.  Prior to his time in private practice and academia, Professor Kotuby was a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and Private International Law in Hamburg, Germany, and a Law Clerk to the Honorable Joseph F. Weis on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Professor Kotuby is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law (JD '01, BA '97), and the University of Durham (LLM '00).  As an undergraduate, he was a three-year letterman on the University of Pittsburgh Men’s Varsity Soccer Team.  

    Education & Training

  • JD, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
  • LLM, University of Durham
  • BA, University of Pittsburgh
Recent Publications

THE NEW YORK CONVENTION AS A UNIFORM LAW INSTRUMENT: A CONCISE GUIDE TO INTERNATIONAL PRACTICE AND CASE LAW, with Franco Ferrari and Friedrich Rosenfeld (Elger, January 2023)

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF LAW AND INTERNATIONAL DUE PROCESS: PRINCIPLES AND NORMS APPLICABLE IN TRANSNATIONAL DISPUTES, with Luke A. Sobota (Oxford Univ. Press, 2017).

Book Review: The Foundation of Choice of Law by Sagi Peari (Oxford 2018), Int’l Comp. Law Quarterly (2020)

Book Review: General Principles of Law in Investment Arbitration by A. Gattini et al (Nijhoff 2019), Journal of World Investment and Trade (2020)

The Adoption by International Tribunals of a Substantive/Transactional Approach to Res Judicata--A New Paradigm in International Dispute Resolution?, with James A Egerton-Vernon, 30(3) ICSID Review 486 (2015)

Apotex Inc. v. The Government of the United States of America: Will barriers to Jurisdiction Inhibit an Emerging Trend?, with James Egerton-Vernon, 30(1) ICSID Review 215 (2015)

General Principles of Law, International Due Process, and the Modern Role of Private International Law, 23 Duke J. Int'l & Comp. L. 411 (2013)

Practical Suggestions to Promote the Legitimacy and Vitality of International Investment Arbitration, with Luke A. Sobota, 28(2) ICSID Review (2013)

Andrew B. Steinberg & Charles T. Kotuby Jr., Bilateral Investment Treaties And International Air Transportation: A New Tool For Global Airlines To Redress Market Barriers, Journal of Air Law and Commerce (2011)

Introductory Casenote: King v. Cessna, 48 I.L.M. 820 (2009)

Private International Law Before The United States Supreme Court: Terms In Review, J. Priv. Int’l L. (2008)

Inverse Federalism: The Need for International Consensus In the Federal Standardization of Private International Law, in Ronald A. Brand (ed.), Private Law, Private International Law, and Judicial Cooperation in the EU-US Relationship, CILE Studies Vol. II (2005).

Book Review - Francesco Seatzu, “Insurance in Private International Law - A European Perspective” (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2003), E.L. Rev. (March 2004).

Internal Developments and External Effects: The Federalization of Private International Law in the European Community and its Consequences for Transnational Litigants, 21 J.L. & Com. 157 (2002).

The External Competence of the European Community in The Hague Conference on Private International Law: Community Harmonization and Worldwide Unification - A Summary, 15 N.Y.I.L.R. 99 (2002).

Research Interests

Practice of International Litigation and Arbitration
Transnational Litigation and Conflict of Laws
Investor-State Dispute Settlement
Public International Law