Leon C. Skornicki practices in the areas of international dispute resolution and complex commercial litigation. Mr. Skornicki assists in representing investors and foreign governments in arbitration disputes, with a particular focus on Latin America.

He is currently involved in different pro bono matters, including representing Spanish-speaking asylum petitioners and criminal defendants in US District Courts and the US Immigration Court. He recently completed a secondment at the New York City Law Department, taking and defending depositions in tort suits against the City of New York.

Before joining DLA Piper, Mr. Skornicki interned in all branches of the United States government – at the White House and US Mission to the United Nations, in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, and twice in the US Senate. Mr. Skornicki was raised in Caracas, Venezuela.

Experience

• Representing Oman in an ICSID arbitration brought under the US-Oman Free Trade Agreement concerning lease agreements and concessions for mining rights
• Representing the Republic of Turkey in an ICC arbitration related to the Marmaray Project, the largest infrastructure project in Turkey, involving Istanbul's railway system
• Drafting and negotiating dispute-resolution and governing-law provisions for a diverse array of domestic and international agreements, including sub-usufruct agreements, hotel management agreements, technical services agreements, franchise agreements, stock purchase agreements, lease guarantees, confidentiality agreements, memoranda of understanding, consulting agreements and joint-venture agreements
• Advising a private investment fund regarding mortgage-backed securities litigations pending in state and federal courts
• Representing an Australian multinational corporation in a multimillion-dollar dispute against an American corporation arising out of the structuring of an investment fund in Latin America
• Represented the Czech Republic in an UNCITRAL arbitration brought under the bilateral investment treaty between Germany and the Czech Republic concerning the ownership of a golf course
• Represented a leading European Bank in a dispute related to the financing of real estate in New York State
• Represented an industrial port jointly owned by the Government of Oman and the Port of Rotterdam in an ICC arbitration venued in Muscat, Oman, involving a usufruct agreement
• Represented a US corporation in a billion-dollar litigation pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
• Represented a concessionaire in an ICC arbitration in London against a Caribbean country involving the construction of a toll road
• Represented a former banker in a Spanish criminal investigation led by former Magistrate Judge Baltasar Garzón
• Represented an executive of a major food company in a criminal investigation