For seven years and on three continents, attorneys for defense contractor DynCorp have been locked in a contract dispute and subsequent arbitration-award fight with a company based in the Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar.

The case has drawn in lawyers from powerhouses like Williams & Connolly and DLA Piper. Courts in Paris, the Qatari capital of Doha and now Washington have tackled the issue. And the litigation has tested the boundaries of international arbitration law.