In 2011, the Spanish biofuels company Abengoa Bioenergia Agricola Ltda. turned to Shearman & Sterling’s Henry Weisburg for help. The company had just won $120 million in two arbitration awards against a Brazilian sugar cane magnate over a deal gone sour. But lawyers for the losing party, Adriano Ometto, sued in New York to get the awards thrown out, citing evidence that the lead arbitrator, David Rivkin of Debevoise & Plimpton, was tainted by conflicts of interest.
On Tuesday, a year after prevailing in U.S. district court, Weisburg convinced an appellate court to affirm Abengoa’s awards. (See here for our full report on the ruling.) Along the way he helped clear Rivkin, a friendly rival in the world of high-stakes international arbitration, of any whiff of impropriety.
