Thomas J. Brewer

Thomas J. Brewer is an independent arbitrator specializing in international and domestic commercial arbitrations. Previously a trial lawyer representing clients in commercial cases, he has more than thirty years of experience serving as an arbitrator, court-appointed special master, and mediator in commercial cases.  Mr. Brewer's arbitration experience includes both domestic and international commercial arbitrations, with over 350 appointments as panel chair, neutral panelist arbitrator or sole arbitrator since becoming a full-time neutral in 2000.

His caseload includes a wide range of experience in business and commercial disputes, principally in the following areas:

BUSINESS AND COMMERCIAL: Commercial contracts, sale of business/asset purchase, corporate governance and disputes between business co-owners, product development and licensing, insurance, international trade, commercial real estate and many other kinds of business agreements and transactions.  Member of the ICDR's International Roster of arbitrators, the AAA’s Commercial and Large, Complex Case panels, and of the CPR Institute's Cross-Border, National Panel of Distinguished Neutrals and Commercial Real Estate panels of arbitrators.  Examples of specific prior cases include a domestic arbitration between a professional athlete and a manufacturer of athletic clothing and footwear arising out of an international licensing and promotional agreement (Panel Chair); a dispute between a Class I railroad and eleven short lines over interpretation of the rate provisions in their freight operating agreements (Neutral Panelist); an international arbitration between investors in a commercial real estate project related to alleged breaches of the parties' development agreements, fiduciary duties and capital call obligations (Neutral Panelist); a dispute between Alaska Regional Corporations over whether certain revenues must be shared pursuant to the requirements of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (Panel Chair);  a contract dispute between a Texas tank farm and an international customer over billings following a fire and invocation of a force majeure clause (Neutral Panelist); an employment-termination dispute between a major league baseball team and one of its former management employees (Sole Arbitrator); an antitrust dispute between a large U.S. national retailer and a Japanese manufacturer of flat screen technology products relating to damages allegedly caused by a horizontal price-fixing conspiracy; an international arbitration between U.S. and Korean parties alleging breaches of long-term international supply contracts for zinc concentrates (Panel Chair); and a commercial real estate arbitration involving decennial rent re-set appraisal and valuation issues related to the biotech campus buildings of a large U.S. medical school (Neutral Panelist).  Additional examples available at www.tjbrewer.com.

ENERGY, OIL & GAS, ELECTRIC POWER:   Oil and gas arbitrations have included participation agreement, area of mutual interest, marketing and trading, pipeline, refinery, natural gas gathering, treating, processing, transport and sales, contract interpretation, royalty, production curtailment, joint venture, petrochemical, sale of business and valuation disputes.  Electricity arbitrations have included numerous power purchase agreements, tolling, transmission, joint operating, co-generation, PURPA, ISO/RTO, contract interpretation, wind, solar and photovoltaic projects, biomass, steam supply, project development and other types of disputes and agreements.  Member of the ICDR’s International Energy Arbitrators List, the AAA’s National Energy panel, and of the CPR Institute's Energy, Oil & Gas panel of arbitrators.  Examples or prior cases include an international arbitration between co-owners of a 100,000 barrel/day Texas oil and gas refinery and related trading entity arising out of a corporate governance dispute, resulting exercise of one owner's "put" rights and valuation of the refinery (Panel Chair); a domestic energy arbitration involving claims for royalty income damages arising out of production curtailments and pipeline replacements in a large U.S. oil field (Panel Chair); an  arbitration between parties to an electric power tolling agreement involving claims for recovery of winter reliability penalties imposed by the New England ISO and counterclaims alleging  miscalculation of availability charges (Panel Chair); an energy arbitration between an RTO  and a transmission customer over alleged breaches of a service agreement (Panel Chair);  an energy arbitration over interpretation of the price term in a long-term gas purchase contract (Panel Chair); an energy arbitration involving alleged breaches of an agreement providing for development and financing of solar electric power projects for a California city (Neutral Panelist); a wind energy dispute between the owner of a 5,000+ acre wind power generation project and a large public utility over alleged curtailment losses arising under a long-term power purchase agreement (Panel Chair); a dispute between a California city and the owner of a gas-fired power plant involving disputes arising under a power purchase tolling agreement, and under a related interconnection and transmission services agreement (Sole Arbitrator); and a domestic energy arbitration between a coal-fired electric power generating plant and a utility over interpretation of the pricing provisions in a long-term (30 year) power purchase agreement (Panel Chair).  Additional examples available at www.tjbrewer.com.

TECHNOLOGY/INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY:   IP and technology arbitrations have included patent, royalty, product development and licensing disputes related to semiconductor, pharmaceutical, medical product, vaccine, telecom and other technologies, trade secret misappropriation and Lanham Act disputes, copyright, software and business acquisition-related IP disputes. Member of the AAA’s Intellectual Property and of the CPR Institute's Health Care and Life Sciences panels of arbitrators.  Member of the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center's Tech List of leading arbitrators and mediators in the technology sector (2020 and prior years).  Examples of prior cases include a patent licensing dispute relating to development of a vaccine (Panel Chair); an international arbitration related to patent licensing and product development agreements for technologies used in e-readers (Panel Chair); a trade secret arbitration involving alleged misappropriation of a hedge fund's financial modelling technologies (Neutral Panelist);  An international biotech arbitration between US and Swiss parties related to alleged breaches of a licensing agreement covering certain genotypes sold for use in a test kit for human papillomavirus (Neutral Panelist); an international pharmaceutical licensing dispute (Panel Chair); a patent arbitration relating to "winglets" used on certain commercial airliners (Neutral Panelist); and an international arbitration between a U.S. seller and a Japanese buyer over alleged breaches of an asset purchase agreement for a nanocrystal technology business (Sole Arbitrator).  Additional examples available at www.tjbrewer.com.

LLC, M&A and JOINT VENTURES:  Substantial experience in arbitrations involving disputes between investors and business co-owners, including LLC members, M&A, joint operating and joint venture agreements, asset purchase, representations and warranties, post-closing purchase price and escrow adjustments, earnout provisions, tax-related acquisition disputes and non-competition disputes.   Member of the AAA's M&A and Joint Ventures panel of arbitrators.  Examples of prior cases include an international M & A arbitration between European and U.S. parties arising out of the sale of a software company involving alleged breaches of representations and warranties given by the sellers related to balance sheet and tax liabilities (Neutral Panelist); a dispute between members of an LLC that operated a gold mine in Alaska (Neutral Panelist); an arbitration between owners of an East Coast  marine fuel terminal involving claims of breach of fiduciary duties by the LLC's Managing Member (Panel Chair); an international arbitration between a US software company and its Saudi Arabian  joint venture partner (Panel Chair); and an arbitration between two telecommunications companies arising out of an asset sale (Sole Arbitrator).    Additional examples available at www.tjbrewer.com. 

OTHER:  Arbitration experience also includes numerous construction cases, ERISA multiemployer pension plan withdrawal liability disputes, class action and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective arbitrations, insurance coverage, healthcare payor-provider reimbursement disputes, service as an ICDR Article 37 emergency arbitrator, and many other types of commercial cases.  Member of the AAA/ICDR’s recently-created Aviation, Aerospace and National Security panel of arbitrators to handle high-value defense, cyber and security-related disputes in the aerospace, aviation and national security sectors.  Substantial prior experience in arbitrations involving aviation, aerospace, software, railroad and government-related disputes.  Examples include a government-contracting dispute related to satellite bandwidth used for military applications (Sole Arbitrator); an international arbitration between a U.S. aircraft manufacturer and a European customer involving breach of warranty claims (Panel Chair); and an international arbitration relating to interpretation of the royalty provision in a software licensing agreement covering a GPS product sold to the commercial aviation industry (Neutral Panelist); an arbitration between US and Canadian railroads to set fair-market rental car-hire rates for use of a fleet of 73-foot centerbeam flatcars (Sole Arbitrator).  Additional examples available at www.tjbrewer.com.

EDUCATION:   Dartmouth College (B.A., Government, magna cum laude, 1968); Oxford University (B.A., Jurisprudence, First Class Honours, Wronker and Jurisprudence Prizes, Rhodes Scholar, 1973); Harvard Law School (J.D., magna cum laude, law review, 1975). 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.  Additional information, and a printable CV, available at www.tjbrewer.com.