Chris Helmer

Representative Experience

• International—Arbitration Plus

  • Successful defense of federal court action to recognize and enforce arbitral award rendered by a provincial Chinese arbitration institution. Foreign arbitration awards are enforceable in the United States under the New York Convention and their enforceability is difficult to challenge. Defended on the basis of lack of due process because all communications from the arbitral proceeding were in Mandarin, a language that the client did not know. This was a very significant decision nationally and internationally.

  • Current international arbitration before the Singapore International Arbitration Centre involving significant claims arising out of failed manufacturing joint venture in India.

  • Obtained federal district court judgment dismissing New York Convention challenges to multimillion-dollar ICC arbitral award involving Belgian client's chemical manufacturing facility.

  • Arbitrated lumber sales contract dispute between U.S. buyer and Russian and Austrian sellers to successful resolution before International Arbitration Centre of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.

  • Successful Stockholm Chamber of Commerce product liability property damage arbitration on behalf of Beijing truck manufacturer under the U.S. Convention on the International Sale of Goods.

  • AAA International Center for Dispute Resolution arbitration between Saudi Arabian product distributor and U.S. manufacturer under Saudi Arabian government-sponsored form of unregistered distribution agreement.

• International—Contracts Plus

  • Drafted hundreds of international sales contracts, standard form international terms and conditions, product distribution or channel agreements, custom foreign manufacturing agreements, foreign country agency agreements, ex-pat employee agreements, and foreign-invested joint venture agreements for variety of industries including technology, wood products, heavy equipment, solar energy, pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, food products and pet food, alcoholic beverages, and agricultural products.

  • Negotiated resolution of a $50 million long-term supply contract dispute between a United States/German supplier and a Belgium product purchaser in a specialty industry.

  • On behalf of a company owned by five Middle Eastern sovereigns, investigated and prepared claims against the U.S. government regarding more than $10 million for services rendered in connection with the Iraq war.

• International—Compliance Plus

  • Initial and renewal applications for People's Republic of China AQSIQ scrap licenses sought by United States scrap companies, together with ongoing advice regarding the interpretation of and compliance with AQSIQ regulations.

  • Negotiated civil penalties for accused employee of admitted long-term FCPA violations where company paid more than $10 million in fines and entered into a multi-year compliance consent decree.

  • Obtained Department of Commerce ruling removing trademarked manufactured products from scope of long-standing and anti-dumping order, despite existing contrary scope ruling purporting to cover the same products.

• International—Litigation Plus

  • Acted as foreign counsel representing multinational medical equipment manufacturer in several litigated contract disputes in Caracas, Venezuela, and Bogota, Colombia.

  • Handled numerous cross-border discovery disputes, including recent successful defense of broad-based document discovery orders affecting a European religious entity alleged to have a United States presence.

  • Represented the association of French bankruptcy trustees in pursuing a multimillion-dollar claim against the recipient of funds taken from a French trustee through international fraud.

• Maritime Plus

  • After five years, before the state of Washington federal district court and two trips to the 9th Circuit, successfully obtained an order of civil contempt after trial, a $2.55 million (public) contempt settlement, and a permanent Injunction for Japanese clients based on several international maritime treaties in order to ensure safety at sea as a result of defendants' annual direct action campaigns in the Antarctic Southern Ocean against Japanese fleet. 9th Circuit decisions reported at 774 F.3d 935, 588 Fed. Appx. 701, 702 F.3d 573, 725 F.3d 940, and 708 F.3d 1099. Institute of Cetacean Research and Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd. vs. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Paul Watson, United States District Court, Western District of Washington at Seattle, Case No. C11-2043JLR, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 12-35266.

  • Obtained defense verdict in federal district court and 9th Circuit of admiralty collision case on basis of Act of God where similarly situated blue water bulk carriers were held liable for significant property damage to Columbia River docks and manufacturing facilities, reported as Weyerhauser v. ATROPOS ISLAND, 777 F2d 1344.

• Import/Export Plus

  • Assisted privately held agricultural industry leader with eleven simultaneous Prior Disclosures to Commissioner of Customs covering approximately 27,000 import entries at 33 ports valued at more than $800 million.

  • Prepared two recent customs petitions for clients experiencing product seizure and penalties, with the result of 100 percent and 90 percent penalty decreases, respectively. One of these results was particularly difficult to obtain because the client had in fact violated registered intellectual property rights with products it had manufactured in China for U.S. sales.

  • Drafted and advised public port entity on successful multimillion-dollar equipment purchase and custom construction contract with Chinese company, including import and payment issues.

• Education Institutions Plus

  • Prepared Human Resources and Tax/Social Benefits Framework Agreement for U.S. private university’s relationship with U.K. company to allow U.K. company to hire and secondments temporary employees for U.S. university in a variety of countries, including preparation of individual foreign employee employment contracts.

  • Advice to U.S.-based higher education institutions on foreign country requirements for providing college-level classes and degrees, establishing subsidiaries abroad, and handling employment relationships, including contract negotiations and drafting.

• Insurance Recovery Plus

  • Successful settlement resolution of state court insurance coverage recovery action against multiple national and international insurers for multinational manufacturer named as a potentially responsible party in the ongoing extensive Portland Harbor cleanup. As a part of that proceeding, obtained an antisuit injunction prohibiting insurers from continuing with a duplicative action brought by them in another state seeking a declaratory judgment of no coverage. Coverage was sought for the client under insurance policies of predecessor companies that had owned the client's current Portland facility within the Portland Harbor cleanup study area.