Luke Sobota and Donald (Trey) Childress III will speak at California Arbitration Week on a panel titled “Myth Busting: What Cutting-Edge Empirical Research Tells Us About Enforcing and Compliance with International Arbitral Awards,” presented by the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution.
The session will examine recent empirical findings on voluntary compliance with international arbitral awards. While it is often reported that 90% of awards are honored without court involvement, verified data from U.S.-seated ICC arbitrations suggests a maximum voluntary compliance rate of 74.2%. The panel will discuss these findings and offer practical recommendations for maximizing compliance with international awards.
Luke and Trey will speak alongside Maria Chedid (Arnold & Porter), Mylene Chan (White & Case), and the session will be moderated by Jack J. Coe (Pepperdine Caruso School of Law).
The program will take place on Thursday, 12 March, from 9:00 am to 10:00 am.
To learn more about the program, visit: https://calawyers.org/2026-california-international-arbitration-week/schedule/
ABOUT LUKE SOBOTA
A founding partner of Three Crowns, Luke represents private and sovereign clients in some of their largest and most important commercial and investor-State arbitrations, including the successful prosecution of one of the largest ICC cases in history. He also has more than 25 years of experience litigating international issues in US courts. Luke’s cases span a variety of sectors, including, energy, technology, aerospace, financial, and construction.
He is active in pro bono matters, including work for Equality Now and the Penobscot Nation.
Luke is a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law. He is also a member of the SIAC Board and a Vice President of the ITA’s Executive Committee. Among other publications, Luke is the co-author with former ICJ President Stephen Schwebel of International Arbitration: Three Salient Problems (2nd edition, Cambridge University Press 2020), and with Professor Charles Kotuby of General Principles of Law and International Due Process (Oxford University Press 2017).
Luke is ranked by Chambers, which describes him as an “extraordinarily intelligent” attorney who “draws extensive praise for his advocacy skills, with clients affirming that ‘his analysis and strategic view is outstanding.’” Lexology Index has recognised him a “sharp intellectual” who “is praised for his fantastic analytical and writing abilities”. The Legal 500 writes that Luke “is extremely smart and a great strategic thinker” and is “an excellent draftsman”.
ABOUT DONALD (TREY) CHILDRESS III
Trey is Of Counsel based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. His practice focuses on international arbitration and litigation, public international law, and private international law (conflict of laws).
Trey has briefed and argued cases as counsel before the International Court of Justice and has consulted as an expert on various matters before international arbitral tribunals, with particular experience in PCA and ICSID-administered arbitrations. He has appeared as counsel before courts throughout the United States, including the United States Supreme Court, and has appeared as an expert before various courts outside of the United States. Trey was the 28th Counselor on International Law to the Legal Adviser at the U.S. State Department, which involved advising on the formulation of the government’s arbitration and litigation strategy. He also represented the United States before international bodies, including as part of the U.S. delegation to UNCITRAL Working Group III (regarding reforms to Investor-State Dispute Settlement), before the Council of Europe’s Committee of Legal Advisers on Public International Law (CAHDI), and in the Diplomatic Session of the Hague Judgments Convention.
Trey is a tenured professor of law at the Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law and has been a Scholar-in-Residence at the New York University School of Law’s Center for Transnational Litigation, Arbitration, and Commercial Law, and a visiting professor of law at the Washington & Lee University School of Law. He teaches courses on international arbitration and litigation, international business transactions, conflict of laws, comparative law, ethical considerations in international arbitration, civil procedure, and ethical lawyering. He has also taught courses through the Center for American and International Law.