Experience
Arbitration
Amb. Huebner has handled more than 300 arbitrations in three dozen jurisdictions around the world as arbitrator or advocate, under the rules of more than a dozen arbitral institutions.
Although his matters have involved a wide range of industry sectors and legal issues, he has particular expertise in technology (including software, cloud, hardware, semiconductor, materials, AI, haptics, optics, telecom, and gaming), life sciences (including pharma, biotech, clinical trials, health tech, medical devices, healthcare), entertainment/media (including new technology R&D), investment (including investor-state under ICSID, UNCITRAL, and ICC rules), engineering, and infrastructure disputes.
He has been named to the Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center’s “List of the World’s Leading Technology Neutrals” and to the inaugural Sino-US Joint Panel of Arbitrators established by Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration and JAMS to resolve cross-border technology and other IP disputes.
He has been included on the panels or lists of arbitrators of the major international and regional arbitration institutions, including the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), JAMS, International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), Shanghai International Arbitration Centre (SHIAC), Beijing International Arbitration Centre (BIAC), Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC, formerly KLRCA), Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (JCAA), Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB), London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center (SVAMC), American Arbitration Association (AAA), and New Zealand International Arbitration Centre (NZIAC).
Ambassador Huebner has served on numerous arbitration and other professional boards, including the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR and as chair of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators’ North America Branch. He currently serves on the board of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and as the trustee for the Western Hemisphere on the global board of trustees of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, as well as that board’s deputy chair and chair of its nominations committee. He previously served as the Institute board’s treasurer and audit & risk committee chair.
He has received numerous honors for his professional work and volunteer service, including the CPR Institute’s 2020 Outstanding Contribution to Diversity in ADR Award for his full-spectrum inclusiveness efforts in the arbitration sector.
Education & Qualifications
Amb. Huebner is a 1982 graduate of Princeton University (summa cum laude), where he majored at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and a 1986 graduate of Yale Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Journal on Regulation.
He is a member of the Bars of California, New York, and the District of Columbia, a licensed solicitor in England & Wales, a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, and a Distinguished Fellow of the Auckland University of Technology Faculty of Business and Law. The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators has conferred on Amb. Huebner the title of Chartered Arbitrator (C.Arb), its highest qualification.
Employment
Amb. (r.) David Huebner established his independent arbitrator practice in December 2016 and affiliated with JAMS in April 2017.
He previously worked at Arnold & Porter LLP in Los Angeles (2014-2016), Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP in Shanghai (2006-2009), and Coudert Brothers LLP in various offices (1992-2005). He was a partner in the arbitration, intellectual property, and public international law practices of the firms. He began his career as an associate at Irell & Manella LLP (1987-1992) handling patent and other intellectual property arbitration and litigation matters in the technology and life sciences sectors.
Over the course of his career he has been regularly listed on a variety of “best” practitioners lists in his fields of practice. Most recently he was named to “Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration 2020” and to the Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center’s “List of the World’s Leading Technology Neutrals.” The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators has designated him a Chartered Arbitrator, its highest credential.
He held a number of administrative and executive positions in his law firms, including as chairman and c.e.o. of Coudert Brothers, managing partner of Coudert’s Los Angeles office, and founding managing partner of Sheppard Mullin’s Shanghai office.
From 2009 to early 2014, he served as the American Ambassador to New Zealand and the Independent State of Samoa, appointed by President Barack Obama. He was widely acknowledged to be an effective and influential diplomat and received a number of awards for his dispute resolution, public engagement, and science and technology work, including the U.S. Navy’s Distinguished Public Service Award, Public Affairs Asia’s Gold Standard Award, and a Royal Society of New Zealand’s illuminated manuscript honor. The Smithsonian Institution took certain of his papers and artifacts into its permanent collection of American history.
He has been a guest lecturer at universities in the United States, China, New Zealand, and Germany. Most recently, he taught a full-semester course in intellectual property law and policy at the University of California – Los Angeles School of Law. From 1999 to 2007 he taught full-semester courses in international arbitration, international intellectual property, and international business transactions at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
Amb. Huebner chaired the California Law Revision Commission under both Governors Davis and Schwarzenegger. In 2022 he was again appointed to the California Law Revision Commission by Governor Newsom and confirmed by the California Senate, and he currently served as the Commission’s vice chair.
