Experience and Professional Background

Ms. Sicard-Mirabal has more than 25 years of international arbitration and transactional experience. She frequently serves as an arbitrator in disputes administered by international and regional arbitral institutions, as well as in ad hoc proceedings under a vast array of applicable laws. She has worked extensively with clients and entities in Asia, Latin America, the United States and Western Europe and has a particular focus on transactions and disputes stemming from joint venture and partnership agreements, distributor and supply agreements, intellectual property and license agreements, mergers and acquisitions, construction and engineering contracts, and telecommunications.

  1. Recent arbitrator appointments:

    • President, ICC arbitration involving a share purchase agreement between a Commonwealth of the Bahamas company and Honduran companies. Spanish language, Honduran law.
    • Sole arbitrator, Centro de Resolución Alternativa de Controversias de Santo Domingo (CRC), breach of contract between a Colombian company and a Dominican company. Spanish language, Dominican Republic law.
    • President, Centro de Arbitraje y Conciliación de Panama (CeCap) breach of joint venture agreement, between a Spanish company and a Panamanian company. Spanish language, Panamanian law.
    • President, Centro de Arbitraje y Conciliación de Panama (CeCap), breach of distribution agreement between Panamanian, Costa Rican and US entities. Spanish language, Panamanian law.
    • Co-arbitrator in an UNCITRAL arbitration, between a North American company and the Central American branch of an international organization, related to a lump sum contract for the construction of a hospital. Spanish language, UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts.
    • President, FINRA arbitration, unjust termination between a financial institution and an employee. English language, New York law.
    • President, FINRA arbitration, breach of contract. English language, New York law.

  2. Recent Counsel Cases include:

    • External advisor to a Cayman Islands energy company in an arbitration brought against a State agency and State for breach of contract under ICC Rules. Spanish language, Dominican Republic law.
    • Represented an Argentinian and Panamanian entities suing U.S. company for patent infringement in AAA arbitration. English language, New York law.
    • Represented a Dominican agent in an arbitration brought under and agency agreement by a UK shipper under Maritime Rules of Arbitration. English Language, Dominican law.
    • Represented an Italian party against a US party involving a breach of contract in the fashion industry. English language, United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.

  3. Sanctions Committee of Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) Experience:

    • The Sanctions Committee (anti-corruption tribunal) is the second and final instance of the IDB’s Sanctions System adjudication process. The tribunal decides the appeals presented against the Sanctions Officer’s Determinations. (See https://www.iadb.org/en/sanctions-committee)
    • As a Member of the Sanctions Committee from 2010-2020, Josefa Sicard-Mirabal heard and decided on appeal, more than 45 cases stemming from IDB-bank loans for infrastructure projects in IDB member countries, including Bolivia, Costa Rica, Haiti, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, among others.

  4. Experience as a Judge

    • Ms. Sicard-Mirabal commenced her legal career as a Judge of a Small Claims Court and subsequently as Chief Justice of the Civil, Commercial and Labor Court in La Vega, Dominican Republic. During her eight-year tenure, she rendered hundreds of decisions on commercial, civil, and labor matters. She also had stint sittings as substitute judge at the Court of Appeals of the Judicial Department of La Vega.

Academia

Ms. Sicard-Mirabal is an adjunct professor of law at Fordham University School of Law in New York City. She teaches International Business Transactions, LL.M. International Arbitration Practicum and Introduction to Investor-State Arbitration. She has been a guest lecturer on international commercial and investment arbitration at several law schools including, Harvard University, Columbia University, Boston University, Northwestern University, the Law School at the Università degli Studi di Firenze, and La Sapienza – Università di Roma, Italy, and the Universidad de Montevideo, Uruguay, among others.

Professional Background

Ms. Sicard-Mirabal began her legal career as a judge in the Dominican Republic where she rendered a vast array of decisions on commercial, civil, and labor matters. She continued her legal practice in the United States, first as an associate at the law firm of Thelen, Reid & Priest and then as a Of Counsel at Winston & Strawn and Greenberg Traurig. Because of her language abilities and civil law and common law background, her practice focused on international business transactions as well as international litigation and dispute resolution.

Her experience includes having served for ten years as an External Member of the Sanctions Committee of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) (anti-corruption tribunal). The Sanctions Committee is the second-tier of the IDB Sanctions System. The Committee reviews and makes final decisions on cases concerning fraud and other Bank-prohibited practices committed by beneficiaries of IDB Bank loans for IDB-sponsored projects.

She was the Executive Director (formerly, Regional Director) of Arbitration and ADR for North America for the ICC International Court of Arbitration/SICANA, Inc. During the same period, she served as Director of Dispute Resolution Services of the United States Council for International Business, ICC-USA.

Ms. Sicard-Mirabal is a dual-qualified lawyer and is admitted to the bars of New York State and the Dominican Republic. After receiving a law degree from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Santiago, Dominican Republic, she continued her legal studies, attending the Foreign Lawyers Graduate Program at Fordham University School of Law in New York. Ms. Sicard-Mirabal is fully bilingual English/Spanish; speaks French and has working knowledge of Italian, Portuguese and basic Turkish.