Appellate Litigation

Our appellate representations span a diverse array of clients from foreign sovereigns and sovereign wealth funds to public and private corporations. We have a wealth of experience handling appeals involving enforcement of international arbitration awards, foreign sovereign immunity, international trade, securities litigation, bankruptcy, economic sanctions, constitutional law, and national security issues, among others. And we have achieved major precedent-setting victories in high-stakes appeals.

An Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Team Approach to Appeals

Our competitive edge in appellate litigation stems from our integrated approach to handling disputes. While we count on the expertise of dedicated appellate lawyers with decades of combined experience, our litigators are actively engaged throughout the life of a case. As a result of this interdisciplinary approach, our appellate lawyers are able to capitalize on their intimate knowledge of a case while leveraging the broader team’s experience with appellate court procedures—a strength that enables us to ensure the highest quality representation from the critical, pre-trial motions stage to the highest levels of appellate review.

Historically Strong Appellate Litigation Practice

Curtis has a longstanding legacy as one of New York’s prominent firms representing international clients in appellate litigation proceedings. Since its earliest days, the firm has leveraged its international expertise to offer a specialized focus in handling complex appeals involving international and multi-jurisdictional issues.

Today, Curtis remains at the forefront of appellate litigation at the highest levels. Our appellate lawyers also have experience handling investment-treaty and international commercial arbitrations, continuing the firm’s tradition of combining their international savvy with their deep and broad experience in litigation. As a result of this specialized area of focus, our appellate lawyers have successfully litigated against and alongside some of the most formidable appellate groups.

• Successfully representing a foreign state-owned company in the Supreme Court at the certiorari and merits stages, as well as securing the dismissal of certain expropriation and commercial claims in the D.C. Circuit, under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
• Achieving a historic equal-protection victory in the First Circuit, vindicating the right of Puerto Rico residents to receive supplemental security income on equal terms with the residents of States under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
• Winning an appeal in the D.C. Circuit from a denial of foreign sovereign immunity, establishing the right of foreign states to assert sovereign immunity as a threshold defense in actions to enforce foreign arbitral awards under the FSIA.
• Successfully defending an appeal to enforce an international arbitration award in the Tenth Circuit. This case involved novel and complex questions of foreign law and personal jurisdiction in a dispute between foreign private companies.
• Succeeding in the Federal Circuit in overturning Department of Commerce practice regarding the application of countervailing duty measures to non-market economies, resulting in a change of law.
• Reviving an action on appeal from a dismissal of claims involving violations of state law and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) in the Fifth Circuit.
• Winning an appeal in the Second Circuit, reversing a decades-old practice of enforcing arbitral awards on an ex parte basis against foreign states under the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes. Plaintiffs must now comply with all procedural and substantive requirements of the FSIA when enforcing ICSID award against foreign states.
• Securing a stay of enforcement proceedings in the Third Circuit on panel rehearing from the denial of a mandamus petition, which is an exceptionally rare and difficult form of relief to obtain.