Ann Ryan Robertson, associate, Ajamie LLP, Houston
Image: John Everett

Ann Ryan Robertson
Associate
Ajamie LLP
Houston
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As the catalyst for the University of Houston Law Center's participation in a major international moot court competition, Ann Ryan Robertson is giving the next generation of Texas lawyers the world -- complete with its foreign legal systems, court opinions and styles of advocacy.

"I would like to see more young lawyers understand that the common-law practice that we all know is not the only way to resolve disputes and is not the only legal system that works," she says, so she teaches students that Texas law is but one small piece of the global legal puzzle.

In the most recent Willem C. Vis International Arbitration Moot Court Competition held in March, a prestigious contest between 52 universities from 13 countries, her squad made it to the final 16 and was runner-up for Best Respondent's Memorandum.

Robertson, who earned her J.D. in 1977 and her LL.M. in international economic law in 2005, both from UH, has a law practice rich in trial and appellate work involving complex, high-stakes, cross-border disputes. Many of those cases are heard by international arbitrators.

After serving as an invited arbitrator at the Vis and seeing only two Texas law schools there, she championed UH's participation, and faculty and administrators agreed. Robertson and others started coaching the team in 2002. The results are international contacts and experience for UH students, who learn to achieve at a high level on a world stage.

"She is committed, 100 percent, to them performing up to the best of their abilities. If it takes meeting with them all day on the weekend, she'll do it," says Jim Lawrence, assistant director of UH's Blakely Advocacy Institute.

The students prepare from October through spring. Robertson helps develop the budding advocates, work that has culminated in team competitions in Hong Kong and Vienna, Austria, where students' memoranda and arguments must appeal to lawyers who work in common- and civil-law systems. In the 2004-2005 Vis, UH advanced to the final round but lost to India.

Appointed by the U.S. Council for International Business, Robertson is finishing a three-year term as a member of the International Chamber of Commerce Commission on Arbitration. She's one of only two lawyers from Texas on the 500-member panel representing 90 countries and has a hand in shaping international arbitration policy.

Robertson also is a fellow of the London-based Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. She estimates there are no more than 10 women in the country who are fellows. And she's on the organization's North American branch executive committee.