David W. Rivkin

David W. Rivkin is an independent arbitrator affiliated with Arbitration Chambers in New York, London and Hong Kong.  For more than 40 years, Rivkin practiced private and public international law at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, where he served as Co-Chair of its International Dispute Resolution Group for more than 20 years and was a founder of its Business Integrity/ESG Group. He now serves as a full-time arbitrator and mediator. As at Debevoise, his practice as arbitrator focuses on complex international commercial arbitrations and investor-state disputes.

Rivkin has long been recognized as a global leader in international arbitration. Chambers Global 2022 identified him as one of the top 10 arbitration practitioners worldwide. Chambers publications have described him as “the best arbitration practitioner anywhere” and “a true giant in the field, whose depth of knowledge is incredible.”

In 2015-16, Rivkin served as President of the International Bar Association. whose membership includes more than 100,000 members and 200 bar associations. He was the first American to serve in that position in 25 years. As IBA President, he focused on issues such as human trafficking, corruption, judicial integrity, business and human rights, climate justice and the independence of the legal profession.  He previously served in the IBA as chair of the Legal Practice Division, which includes more than 50 substantive committees, and of the Committee on Arbitration and ADR. 

In addition, Rivkin has held prominent positions in arbitration institutions, government committees and other NGOs across the world. He worked on initial government efforts to encourage alternative dispute resolution under NAFTA and advised on negotiations to create a worldwide judgments convention, US sanctions policy and nuclear deterrence. He has served in leadership positions in arbitration institutions on virtually every continent. Currently, he is the Co-Chair of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre and on the Council of the International Council for Arbitration in Sport (for which he serves as Deputy President of its Anti-Doping Division) and the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration, and on the Court of the MCCI Mediation and Arbitration Centre in Mauritius. In the past, he served, among others, on the London Court of International Arbitration (including as Vice President and Chair of its North American Users’ Council), the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (including as Vice Chair), American Arbitration Association, the Commission of the ICC Court of Arbitration, and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre.

He is a member of the Council of the American Law Institute, for which he is an advisor to the Restatement of the Law of International Arbitration, and a councillor to the Restatement of Foreign Relations Law. He held leadership positions within the ABA’s Litigation Section for 20 years, including five years as co-chair of the International Litigation Committee and a member of the Section’s council and its director of divisions. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Climate Law Initiative.

Rivkin graduated from Yale University in 1977 with a BA magna cum laude in history, and received a JD from Yale in 1980. From 1980 to 1981, he served as law clerk to the Hon. Luther M. Swygert, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He was with Debevoise ​​& Plimpton from 1982-2022 (as a partner from 1988).