Roland Potts

Roland Potts is Of Counsel and Chair of the International Arbitration Team at Foley & Lardner LLP.  Roland is based in the Miami office where he is a member of the Business Litigation & Dispute Practice Group. Roland has an extensive background in litigation, arbitration, and appellate matters. He has advised foreign and domestic clients across multiple industries, including construction, technology, telecommunications, energy, entertainment, agriculture, real estate, and hospitality, to name a few. Roland has counseled dozens of international clients in business and partnership dispute claims.

He routinely advises multinational clients in international legal disputes and arbitral matters ranging from intellectual property disputes to breach of contract claims, anti-competitive claims, construction defects, product liability claims, expropriation, and more. A bi-lingual attorney, Roland is able to litigate and arbitrate claims in English and Spanish seamlessly, with extensive experience in international arbitration, including investor-state arbitrations. Roland has arbitrated claims before a myriad of arbitral forums, including the ICDR, JAMS, ICC, SMA, LCIA, CeCAP, and ICSID.

A large portion of Roland’s international arbitration expertise and experience is focused in Latin America.  Based out of Miami, he has handled arbitral proceedings arising out of disputes in Mexico, Panama, Honduras, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Canada, among others. He has also advised clients on corporate structuring as it relates to investor-state treaty protections.

Roland has an excellent reputation in the community, has been named a top lawyer by South Florida Legal Guide, recognized in international arbitration by The Legal 500 Latin America, and was a South Florida Business & Wealth Legal Awards honoree in international law. He was  selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® in the field of Litigation.  He also co-authored the Latin America-Wide Trends and Development section in the 2019 Chambers Global Practice Guide for International Arbitration. Roland regularly attends and speaks at international arbitration conferences, particularly those with a Latin America focus.

Representative Matters

• Represented international roofing corporation in Spanish language Panamanian arbitration against developer and general contractor of airport expansion project in a multi-million-dollar breach of contract claim.
• Represented foreign sovereign entity in multiple arbitrations across multiple countries as well a maritime attachment proceeding in the Southern District of New York against joint venture partner concerning the alleged breach of multiple contracts, successfully arguing the entity was entitled to immunity under Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
• Represented movie and television producer in multimillion dollar litigation dispute concerning the financing of several projects with claims of fraud, breach of contract, and securities fraud.
• Represented former partners in offshore investment bank group against remaining partners in a multi-million-dollar state complex commercial court action with claims of breach of contract, fraud, negligence, and unjust enrichment.
• Represented agricultural manufacturer against former global distributor in multimillion dollar arbitration involving breach of contract and anti-competitive claims that went to final hearing.
• Represented hydroelectric power plant owner in matter against developer and contractor of the power plant for breach of procurement engineering and construction contract.
• Represented global communications company against national telecommunications company in a multibillion dollar arbitration concerning a breach of a telecommunication services contract.
• Represented national university and hospital against several hundred foreign plaintiffs alleging various human rights violations under state and federal laws. 

Recognition

• Selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® in the field of Litigation — Construction (2023-2024)
• Recipient, South Florida Business & Wealth Legal Awards 2021: Honoree, International Law
• Recipient, Legal 500 Latin America 2021: International Arbitration
• Recipient, 2021 South Florida Legal Guide: Top Lawyer
• Recipient, 2019 Latinvex Rising Legal Star
• Recipient, 2016-2020 Florida Super Lawyers (Rising Star): Civil Litigation, Class Action/Mass Torts, Criminal Defense: White Collar, Alternative Dispute Resolution

Education

• Florida International University College of Law (JD, 2010)
• Florida International University Chapman School of Business (MBA, with Honors, 2006)
• University of Miami (BS, 2005)

Professional Memberships

• Vice Chair, International Ethics Committee of the American Bar Association
• Former editor for the Caribbean Region, International Law Quarterly
• Member, Cuban American Bar Association
• Member, The Florida Bar, International Law Section
• Panelist, XIII International Arbitration Congress (Congreso Internacional de Arbitraje IPA), Lima, Peru.

Languages

• English
• Spanish
• Portuguese (Conversational)

Admissions

• Florida Bar
• United States District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Publications

• “Trends and Developments, Latin-America-Wide,” International Arbitration, Chambers – Global Practice Guide, Second Edition, 2019, pp. 323-327, ISBN: 978-0-85514-823-2.
• “Caribbean banks address fears of severed ties with U.S. banks due to fines and higher costs in a new set of U.S. compliance regulations issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network,” Financial Services Advisor, a publication of Inter-American Dialogues, May 5-18, 2016 edition.
• “Miami: Una Nueva Estrella en el Arbitraje Comercial Internacional,” International Law Quarterly, Vol. XXXII, No. 1 (Fall 2015)
• “Controlling the Rising Costs in Arbitration; Where Technology Can Help (And Where It Can’t),” Journal of Technology in International Arbitration, ISSN 2378-2072, Vol. 1 No. 1, 2015. 
• “How to Cut Costs in Complex International Arbitrations,” Daily Business Review (September 18, 2014)
• “Three Beneficial Terms in Today’s Arbitration Clause,” Kluwer Arbitration Blog (March 26, 2014)

Speaking Engagements

• XV Congreso Internacional de Arbitraje, IPA, 2021, August 25, 2021, Ejecución de Medidas Cautelares y Laudos Arbitrales Extranjeros, Panel Moderator.
• XIV Congreso Internacional de Arbitraje, IPA, 2020, November 4, 2020, Nulidad, Anulabilidad e Ineficacia de los Contratos. ¿Un tribunal arbitral puede declarar de oficio la nulidad o la ineficacia de un contrato cuando se ha demostrado que el contrato fue obtenido por corrupción?, Panelist.
• International Trade Council Conference, Chicago, Illinois, October 23, 2019, ABCs of Economic Sanctions and Embargoes, Speaker.
• I Congreso Internacional de Arbitraje Comercial y Arbitraje de Inversión, Guayaquil, Ecuador, August 21, 2019, El impacto de las Reglas de Praga en el arbitraje internacional. Coincidencia y diferencias con las Reglas de la IBA sobre práctica de prueba, Panelist.
• TransPerfect Legal Solutions, May 8, 2019, Cross-Border eDiscovery: Using Emerging Technology to Address Conflicting U.S. and Foreign Data Obligations, Panelist.
• XIII Congreso Internacional de Arbitraje, IPA, 2019, April 25, 2019, Innovación en el arbitraje. ¿Hacia dónde va el arbitraje internacional con la inclusión de nuevas tecnologías, inteligencia artificial y mejores mecanismos de transparencia?, Panelist.
• Judicial Events, Legends of the Boardroom, October 19, 2018, A View from the “C” Suite, What General Counsels Want You to Know About Billing, Panel Moderator.