International Arbitration

Dawn Yamane Hewett is an associate in the Washington, DC office of Arnold & Porter LLP and is a member of the firm's international arbitration, litigation, global anti-corruption, and white collar practice groups. Ms. Hewett's practice includes the representation of foreign sovereigns, corporate clients, and individuals in international arbitrations, US litigation, and US criminal investigations. Her practice also includes counseling companies on issues arising under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), UK Bribery Act, and other anti-corruption laws, including helping companies develop, implement, and evaluate anti-corruption policies and procedures. Ms. Hewett also maintains a corporate social responsibility practice, advising multinational corporations on compliance with domestic laws and international norms.

In her international arbitration work, Ms. Hewett represents both sovereign governments and investors in international arbitrations filed under the auspices of free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties. She has recently represented the Republic of Guatemala in the first Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) arbitration proceeding brought before the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a Greek/Austrian company in an ICSID arbitration against the Republic of Serbia, the Republic of Panamá in an international arbitration before ICSID, and a Central-American state-owned power company in a United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) ad hoc arbitration against a foreign investor.

In her global anti-corruption work, Ms. Hewett counsels multinational corporations on regulatory and compliance matters, including the design, implementation, and ongoing assessment of anti-corruption compliance programs to help prevent, detect, and respond to potential violations of anti-corruption laws. She provides legal advice on US Department of Justice requirements for FCPA compliance programs, helps review corruption risks relating to proposed third parties that would interact with government officials on clients' behalf, and reviews potential charitable contributions, gifts, and hosting of government officials for anti-corruption concerns. She also advises companies in a variety of industries on the scope and interpretation of statutory requirements under US and other anti-corruption laws.

Ms. Hewett also maintains an active and diverse pro bono practice, including immigration, voting and election law, and public international law matters, and she was appointed to the firm's Immigration committee in 2012.

Ms. Hewett obtained her JD from Yale Law School in 2008, Master's of Public Affairs from Princeton University in 2005, Master of Philosophy in Ethnic and Racial Studies (Sociology) from Trinity College Dublin in 2002, and undergraduate degrees in International Studies and Political Science and minor in Latin American Studies from the University of Washington in 2000. At the University of Washington, Ms. Hewett was the Student Body President, representing 36,000 students to the campus and state legislature. At Yale Law School, she was Executive Editor of the Yale Journal of International Law, a supervising director of the Complex Federal Litigation Clinic, co-Director of the Lowenstein Human Rights Project, and founder and director of the Yale Legal Project Assisting the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, where offenders from the Khmer Rouge regime are tried for serious crimes they committed while in power from 1975-1979.

From 2009-2010, Ms. Hewett served as a law clerk for the Honorable M. Margaret McKeown on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Ms. Hewett is fluent in Spanish, proficient in Japanese and Portuguese, and has studied French and German. She regularly works for clients on cases and projects that have required a sophisticated knowledge of multiple languages.

International Arbitration Representative Matters

International Arbitration

• Represents the Republic of Guatemala in the first ever international ICSID arbitration filed under the auspices of CAFTA. The case was filed against Guatemala by a US railway management and development company. Railroad Development Corporation (RDC) v. República de Guatemala (ICSID Case Number ARB/07/23).
• Represented claimant investors in an ICSID arbitration under Greece-Serbia and Austria-Serbia bilateral investment treaties, involving a license agreement for casino operations in Belgrade. Club Hotel Loutraki and Casinos Austria v. Republic of Serbia (ICSID Case Number ARB/11/4).
• Represented the Republic of Panamá in the first ever international ICSID arbitration filed against it by several US-based investors under the auspices of the Bilateral Investment Treaty between the US and the Republic of Panamá involving a multimillion dollar claim arising from allegations that certain Panamanian tax credits were not honored and obtained a complete dismissal of all claims filed against Panamá. Nations Energy, Inc. y otros v. República de Panamá (ICSID Case Number ARB/06/19). (Case conducted entirely in Spanish).
• Represented a Central-American state-owned power company in an UNCITRAL ad hoc arbitration against a foreign investor.

Regulatory and Compliance

• Counsels a Fortune 250 company on the design, implementation, and ongoing assessment of anti-corruption compliance programs to help prevent, detect, and respond to potential violations of anti-corruption laws. Interacts with local lawyers in Spanish, Portuguese, and English.
• Counsels companies affected by domestic consumer protection laws.

US Litigation

• Represents two Japanese nationals in separate white collar criminal antitrust investigations.
• Represents the Republic of Panamá in actions filed in U.S. District Court and bankruptcy court to enforce an ICSID Award entered in its favor.
• Represents a number of individual petitioners in a state constitutional challenge against Pennsylvania's Voter ID Law.

Pro Bono

• Acts as pro bono counsel to the Global Fairness Initiative, a non-profit organization promoting a more equitable, sustainable approach to economic development for the world's working poor.
• Represents two individuals in U visa proceedings.
• Represented a detained individual in a immigration matter.
• Assisted a non-profit organization with the drafting of legislation to the Organization of American States.
• Assisted a voting rights non-profit organization with research on voter registration restrictions.