Winston & Strawn’s Ricardo Ugarte to Head Firm's Geneva Office

Geneva, Switzerland — Winston & Strawn LLP announced today that Ricardo E. Ugarte is the new managing partner of the firm's office in Geneva, Switzerland. 

Ugarte is a multi-lingual partner whose far-ranging international arbitration and complex litigation practise includes the representation of major oil and energy companies and global financial institutions, as well as telecom concerns, insurers, pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers, and foreign sovereigns. He has extensive experience in numerous major jurisdictions in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, as well as in the United States. Ugarte's high profile arbitrations, some with stakes well in excess of $1 billion, also has involved appearances in UNCITRAL arbitrations and arbitrations conducted under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, ICSID, and the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He is currently counsel of record in numerous investment arbitrations filed before ICSID, the ICC, and under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, including a recently filed arbitration where $27 billion is at stake.

"I am very pleased that Rich is assuming the leadership of our Geneva office," said Thomas Fitzgerald, Winston & Strawn's firm wide managing partner. "His remarkable experience in handling complex arbitrations and litigation on the international stage makes him the ideal leader of this office. And Winston's ongoing presence in Geneva is, of course, a cornerstone of our strategy to grow its global presence and full service capabilities for a corporate clientele."

Mr. Ugarte will continue to work closely with the firm's prominent arbitration team in its various offices, including those in London, Washington, D.C., and Paris, where Partner Bruno Leurent focuses on ICC matters.

Said Mr. Ugarte, who has practised in the firm's Geneva office in the past: "I'm thrilled to be returning to Geneva and taking up residence there. It's historically a center of the international arbitration community's thought leadership and activity. I'm particularly looking forward to growing the firm's presence there and fully supporting its outstanding international arbitration practise group."

Ugarte replaces Marc Palay, who will be joining another firm. 

Ugarte is also serving on the ICC's Task Force on Investor-State Arbitrations and is a member of the Swiss Arbitration Association. He earned his Juris Doctorate from Northwestern University's School of Law, after receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago.