Richard D. Deutsch

Rich Deutsch is a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in Houston. Rich is a commercial litigator with a focus on international arbitration.

Rich advises clients in international arbitrations worldwide under various institution rules, including the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), as well as ad-hoc arbitrations. Rich advises clients on risk management by utilizing arbitration provisions and international investment agreements. His broad international commercial experience includes representing three major multi-national oil and gas exploration companies in an ICDR rules arbitration over the costs of a multibillion offshore production facility in the Gulf of Mexico, and representing another major energy company in a large international dispute involving a semi-submersible rig offshore Libya. His experience with investor-state claims includes some of the most important ICSID arbitrations against the government of Argentina. He also helped secure one of the largest awards rendered under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) when he represented a United States food products company against Mexico for import restrictions.

Rich’s international practice also includes representing companies in corporate investigations, including compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).  He represented clients implicated in two major industry-wide FCPA scandals, both of which involved energy companies under investigation by the Department of Justice or Securities and Exchange Commission. He has provided FCPA due diligence to U.S. companies with business dealings in high-risk locales, including Brazil, China, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mexico and Nigeria, among others. 

In his commercial litigation practice, Rich has represented U.S. and Canadian banks and energy companies in large securities matters in federal and state court, including several multi-million dollar cases related to the Enron scandal. He has also defended a multinational bank in class action consumer claims and general commercial disputes.

Rich teaches International Commercial Arbitration and International Investor-State Arbitration at the University of Texas School of Law and serves on the advisory board of the school’s Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law and Business. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and is on the ICDR’s Houston Advisory Committee and the steering group of the American Bar Association’s International Arbitration Committee. He is President of the Houston International Arbitration Club.

Before earning his law degree, Rich was a former sportswriter and wrote extensively for Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, The Austin American-Statesman, The Houston Post and Texas Monthly Magazine.