Media item displaying Benjamin W. Graham

Benjamin W. Graham

Partner

[email protected]

202.434.5542

Benjamin W. Graham focuses his practice on international arbitration and complex commercial litigation. Outside the firm, Ben is also a Visiting Clinical Lecturer at Yale Law School, where he teaches a seminar on Advocacy in International Arbitration. 

Ben has significant experience in trials, arbitrations, and complex motions practice.  He has argued dispositive motions and appeals in both state and federal court; examined witnesses before judges, juries, and arbitrators; and presented opening statements in international arbitrations.  Ben has handled investment-treaty disputes before ICSID and diverse commercial disputes before the leading arbitral institutions (ICC, LCIA, SCC, HKIAC, etc.).  His clients include sovereign states, multinational corporations, and AmLaw-100 law firms.

Ben has received recognition from several leading publications: Benchmark Litigation named him to their 2025 and 2026 editions of “40 Under 40.” The Legal 500 recognized him as a 2026 “Leading Partner” in International Litigation.  From 2022-2024, The Legal 500 named him a Rising Star in International Litigation.  For the last five years, Who’s Who Legal recognized him as a Future Leader in Commercial Litigation (2020-2024).  According to that publication, it identifies “the foremost practitioners in the litigation community aged 45 and under.”  On each occasion, Ben was one of only three attorneys in the United States to receive the honor in the non-partner category.  In 2021, Conflict Prevention Resolution (CPR) named him as a Rising Star in international arbitration.

Originally from Missouri, Ben earned his bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from Washington University in St. Louis.  He spent a year on an academic fellowship in Berlin, Germany, before attending Yale Law School, where he won the school’s top prize for trial advocacy.

Experience

Though all cases vary and none is predictive, Ben’s experience includes:

International Arbitration Matters

  • Winning a complete defense award as second-chair trial counsel and principal brief writer for an Eastern European country in an ICSID arbitration, defeating a claim of EUR 300 million.
  • Winning a complete defense award as second-chair trial counsel for a major private equity firm in an UNCITRAL arbitration seated in New York.
  • Winning a complete defense award as trial counsel for a global project-finance company in an ICC arbitration seated in Madrid, in which the claimant sought more than $450 million in damages.
  • Winning a complete defense award as trial counsel for a sovereign state in an ICSID arbitration in the mining sector.
  • Securing dismissal as lead counsel of a petition to enforce an arbitral award against the Kingdom of Spain under the Energy Charter Treaty; this was the first such dismissal in the United States under the CJEU’s rulings in Achmea and Komstroy.
  • Representing a foreign auto manufacturer on merits briefing in the United States Supreme Court concerning the interpretation of Section 1782 as applied to international commercial arbitrations.
  • Representing an American technology company as trial counsel in an ICC arbitration against a Hong Kong technology company, involving a demand for indemnification and the scope of patent licenses.
  • Representing a Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer as trial counsel against a Japanese biotechnology company in an ICC arbitration seated in Tokyo concerning a royalty dispute.
  • Representing a Hong Kong subcontractor as trial counsel in an HKIAC construction arbitration against an Australian developer.
  • Representing an American medical device manufacturer as trial counsel in an SCC arbitration seated in Sweden, concerning allegations of trademark infringement.

Complex Civil Litigation Matters

  • Winning a complete defense verdict as trial counsel for an AmLaw-100 law firm in a legal malpractice action and successfully defending the verdict on appeal.
  • Winning summary judgment, enforcing a $100 million foreign money judgment against a Fortune 50 company in New York.
  • Securing a preliminary injunction and settlement as lead counsel in a trademark and trade secret case on behalf of a New York entertainment business.
  • Securing dismissals in several actions against one of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical benefits managers, including qui tam actions seeking more than $200 million in damages in the federal courts of Delaware and New Jersey.
  • Securing dismissals in several actions against one of the nation’s largest healthcare companies, including a putative class action alleging ERISA claims in California federal court and a qui tam alleging False Claims Act violations in Pennsylvania federal court.
  • Representing a Fortune 100 company in an ongoing $75 million commercial contract dispute concerning a renewable energy project.

Recognitions

  • “International Arbitration: Counsel (Nationwide),” Chambers USA, 2026
  • “Hall of Fame” in International Arbitration, The Legal 500, 2026
  • “Next Generation Partners” in International Litigation, The Legal 500, 2026
  • Recognized as a “Leading Associate” in Dispute Resolution: International Litigation by The Legal 500, 2025
  • “D.C. Rising Star,” The National Law Journal, 2025
  • “40 Under 40,” Benchmark Litigation, 2025-2026
  • “They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40,” Bloomberg Law, 2025
  • Recognized as a “Rising Star” in International Litigation by The Legal 500, 2024, 2023 & 2022
  • Recognized as a “Future Leader” by Who’s Who Legal: Commercial Litigation, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021 & 2020
  • Recognized as a “Rising Star” by CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution, 2021

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