Steptoe hires Queen Mary professor Loukas Mistelis as London arbitration partner, bolstering its international disputes practice with a leading ICC and ICSID practitioner
Steptoe has recruited Loukas Mistelis as a partner in its international disputes practice in London. Mistelis is the Clive Schmitthoff Professor of Transnational Commercial Law and Arbitration at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary University of London, one of the foremost academic centres for international arbitration in the world. He joins from Clyde & Co. Mistelis's practice spans both international commercial arbitration and investor-state arbitration (disputes between foreign investors and sovereign states, typically governed by bilateral investment treaties). He has acted as expert, counsel, and arbitrator in high-value matters before a range of major arbitral institutions, including the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce), ICSID (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes), LCIA (London Court of International Arbitration), PCA (Permanent Court of Arbitration), UNCITRAL, SCC, and DIAC. The combination of top-tier academic credentials and institutional arbitration experience is relatively rare and positions Mistelis as a practitioner capable of sitting on both sides of the arbitration table — as counsel or as arbitrator. The hire reflects continued lateral investment by US firms in London's international disputes market, where elite arbitration capacity is a critical differentiator for cross-border transactional and post-M&A dispute mandates.
Why this matters
Senior lateral hires in London arbitration are commercially significant because they signal where deal flow is expected and which institutional relationships a firm is betting on. Mistelis's breadth across ICC, ICSID, and LCIA — covering both commercial and investor-state disputes — gives Steptoe capability across the full range of high-value international dispute types. The move from Clyde & Co to Steptoe also reflects the continuing trend of US firms investing in London disputes capacity to service their transactional client base when deals go wrong. For junior lawyers, this type of hire increases the volume and complexity of international arbitration work flowing through the London office, which translates into more disclosure review, witness statement bundle preparation, and hearing support work in the near term.
On the Ground
On an international arbitration matter, a trainee would assist with disclosure review and categorisation — identifying and organising documents relevant to the issues in the arbitration — and help prepare chronologies of key events for use in skeleton arguments and hearing bundles. The trainee might also assist with coordinating cross-border legal opinion requests from local counsel in jurisdictions where evidence or enforcement steps are required.
Interview prep
Soundbite
Combining academic arbitral authority with institutional practice breadth makes Mistelis the kind of hire that attracts instructions to sit as arbitrator — not just as counsel.
Question you might get
“What are the key differences between commercial arbitration seated in London under LCIA rules and investor-state arbitration under ICSID, and why might a client choose one forum over the other?”
Full answer
Steptoe has hired Loukas Mistelis, Queen Mary's leading arbitration professor, as a London disputes partner from Clyde & Co. Mistelis's experience spans commercial and investor-state arbitration across ICC, ICSID, LCIA, PCA, and UNCITRAL — a breadth that signals Steptoe is competing for the full range of high-value international dispute mandates from its London base. For law firms, the lateral arbitration market in London remains intensely competitive, with US firms consistently outbidding UK incumbents to attract practitioners with both academic credibility and institutional arbitrator panel appointments. The hire continues a trend of US firms treating London as the centre of gravity for international disputes work — a strategic bet on English law and London-seated arbitration remaining the default choice for cross-border commercial contracts. This is the kind of move that directly shifts client relationships and, over time, the composition of firms' arbitration practices.
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