David N. Cinotti has handled a wide variety of matters at the trial and appellate levels. His practice focuses on international dispute resolution, complex commercial litigation, and appellate litigation.

International Dispute Resolution

Mr. Cinotti has extensive experience in international dispute resolution, including international commercial and investor-State arbitration and the application of international, foreign, and foreign-relations law in U.S. courts. Among other things, he has experience with the New York Convention and the Federal Arbitration Act, bilateral investment treaties, the enforcement of foreign judgments, the Hague Evidence Convention, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, and mutual legal assistance treaties. Mr. Cinotti’s work has included:

representing a Latin American State in two ICSID arbitrations and an annulment proceeding relating to claims by European investors alleging violations of bilateral investment treaties, including presenting argument on behalf of the State to two arbitral tribunals and an annulment committee;
representing the foreign representative of an insolvent Swiss company in bankruptcy litigation seeking more than $70 million against U.S., South Korean, and U.K. financial institutions relating to the closing out of derivatives contracts governed by New York and Canadian law;
representing a Spanish oil-and-gas company in a contract suit that successfully recovered over $125 million arising out of an expropriation in Latin America;
representing a hedge fund in an ICDR arbitration sited in New York under New York law;
representing and advising clients regarding litigation collateral to arbitration proceedings, including petitions to enjoin an ICDR arbitration, to compel arbitration before CIETAC, to annul an ICC award, and to confirm a AAA award; and
representing European telecommunications companies and their U.S. affiliate in the successful defense of a multibillion-dollar civil RICO claim regarding control of an Eastern European joint venture, with related proceedings in multiple foreign jurisdictions.


Complex Commercial Litigation

Mr. Cinotti also frequently litigates complex issues of federal and state law in commercial cases. His experience includes:

representing multiple clients in a federal bankruptcy case arising out of the early termination of derivatives transactions in a putative defense class action;
representing a Canadian oil-and-gas consulting firm in a federal securities-fraud class action regarding alleged misrepresentations concerning the recoverability of bitumen from Western Canada;
defending an Internet advertising company in federal multi-district litigation alleging violations of federal wiretap and computer-access statutes based on the alleged placement of cookies on the plaintiffs’ computers;
representing one of the world’s largest hotel-management companies in a dispute with a hotel owner regarding premature termination of the management company;
representing U.S. NGOs in a successful First Amendment challenge to restrictions on U.S. foreign-aid funding, which was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court; and
coordinating the collection and production of electronically stored information, including ensuring compliance with data-privacy laws, from companies in various jurisdictions inside and outside the United States.


Appellate Litigation

Mr. Cinotti’s appellate experience includes:

briefing an appeal to the Third Circuit in defense of the district court’s dismissal of claims that advertising companies violated federal wiretap and computer-access law by allegedly placing cookies on the class members’ computers;
briefing an appeal to the New York Appellate Division regarding an issue of first impression in New York concerning the right of a management company to obtain an injunction preventing premature termination by a hotel owner;
in the same case, briefing and arguing an appeal regarding dismissal of the hotel owner’s claim for trespass; and
briefing and arguing an appeal to the New York Appellate Division regarding the right of a commercial real-estate broker to recover commissions on a theory of implied contract.


Before joining Venable, Mr. Cinotti clerked for the Honorable Joseph M. McLaughlin, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the Honorable Richard Conway Casey, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He was also an associate at WilmerHale LLP.

Activities
Mr. Cinotti is a member of the European Affairs Committee of the New York City Bar Association. He previously was a member of the City Bar’s Foreign & Comparative Law Committee and Secretary of the International Law Committee. He has organized CLE and other programs on litigating issues of international and foreign law in U.S. courts, and he has published in the areas of international litigation and arbitration.

Mr. Cinotti also serves as a legal adviser to the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations and participates on behalf of the Holy See at meetings of the Sixth Committee (Legal) of the General Assembly and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.

From 2009-2013, Mr. Cinotti was an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University School of Law, where he advised the Jessup International Law Moot Court Team and lectured on international arbitration.