Viren Mascarenhas is counsel in King & Spalding’s New York office, and is a member of the International Arbitration Practice Group. He is a specialist in public international law and international arbitration, focusing on both investment treaty arbitration and international commercial arbitration. He has been recognized as a “Rising Star” by the New York Law Journal for attorneys under 40 practicing in New York (2014); a “Rising Star” nation-wide in the United States in energy disputes by Law360 (2015); and a “Rising Star” in international law and alternative dispute resolution by New York Super Lawyers (2015). He was also named a Finalist for the American Bar Association’s National Outstanding Young Lawyers Award in 2016.
Viren has acted as counsel in domestic and international arbitration proceedings held under the auspices of nearly all the major arbitral institutions, including the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the American Arbitration Association/International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA/ICDR), JAMS and ad hoc cases under the UNCITRAL Rules. He has experience across a number of industries, but especially in energy, mining, chemicals, consumer products and luxury goods. In his pro bono practice, he has represented clients in immigration matters, and advised on a wide range of international human rights law and humanitarian law issues.
Viren is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Law School, where he currently teaches an upper-level seminar on International Commercial Arbitration. Prior to joining King & Spalding, Viren served as a law clerk to H.E. President Rosalyn Higgins at the International Court of Justice, and as a Legal Officer at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, a hybrid war crimes tribunal based in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He previously was a member of the arbitration group at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP and the litigation group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
Viren received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Kent Scholar, and his LL.M. from the University of London with Distinction.
