Patrick W. Pearsall is the Chief of Investment Arbitration in the U.S. State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser. At the U.S. State Department, Mr. Pearsall leads a team of attorneys who defend the United States in claims brought under certain treaties and free trade agreements, such as the United States’ bilateral investment treaties and FTAs, including the NAFTA, and the CAFTA-DR. He was the United States’ delegate to International Court of Arbitration’s (ICC) Task Force on Arbitration with State or State-Owned Entities, which was asked to provide recommendations for revision of the 2012 ICC Rules, and was later on the Special Drafting Committee. He has been Editor-in-Chief of International Litigation section of the ABA’s Year-in-Review, and has published on investor-state arbitration and Asia-Pacific region investment agreements. In addition Mr. Pearsall has led negotiating delegations for several of the United States treaties on marine life and was the lead lawyer on cross-border infrastructure matters for the State Department. He is currently serving as the United States delegate to the International Bar Association Arbitration Steering Committee. Prior to joining the U.S. State Department in January 2009, he worked as a litigator in private practice where he appeared in numerous international arbitrations as counsel to both sovereigns and multinational corporations. He has worked for both the ICC and the Hon. Sonia Sotomayor on the United States Court of Appeals. He has taught at Columbia Law School and at the George Washington School of Law in Washington D.C.
