Claire Morel de Westgaver is an Associate in Bird & Bird’s Dispute Resolution Group. Based in the London office, Claire specialises in international arbitration and litigation and acts as counsel in both institutional and ad hoc arbitral proceedings as well as in arbitration-related court matters.  In addition, she regularly advises the firm's clients on dispute resolution and arbitration clauses.

Claire has represented clients in numerous high value and complex cases which arose from a broad range of international contracts and bilateral investment treaties and in a variety of sectors.  These include disputes governed under English, New York, Belgian, Qatari and Pakistan law. 

Bilingual in French and English, Claire is admitted to practice in England and Wales (Solicitor of the Supreme Court) and in the State of New York (Attorney at Law).  She holds law degrees from Northwestern University School of Law (LLM ’06, with Honours) and from the Catholic University of Louvain (LLB ’04, cum laude).

Before joining Bird & Bird in 2007, Claire was a Teaching Assistant at Northwestern University School of Law and spent some time at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the Arbitration Chamber of Paris and the Chicago International Dispute Resolution Association.  She has authored and co-authored several articles on international arbitration topics (see non-exhaustive list below)

● “How Crouch provided certainty over the arbitrability of shareholder disputes”, Global Arbitration Review (Vol. 6 – Iss. 5), online publication on 13 September 2011

● “International Transactions: An Aide-Memoire To Get Your Dispute Resolution Clause Right!”, Inside, Newsletter of the New York State Bar Association, Spring/Summer 2011, Vol. 29 – No 1

● “Lawyer-client privilege in international arbitration - a blurred area prone to unpredictability or useful flexibility?” (co-authored with Jane Player), Int. A.L.R. 2009, 12(5), 101-106