Paisley Kathleen

Kathleen Paisley

Partner - Brussels office
Tel: +32 (0) 2 290 04 68
kathleen.paisley@amboslaw.be

Kathleen Paisley is an American lawyer who has been practicing in Belgium and England for more than 20 years. She therefore brings to her cases the unique perspective of someone who has spent more than two decades crossing the cultural and legal divide between Europe and US, and helping her clients understand and capitalize on that knowledge.
Kathleen specializes in international dispute resolution, European Union competition law, and all aspects of IT/IP exploitation and development. She serves Belgian and international clients in all sectors, with particular emphasis on issues where an understanding of technology, accounting or finance matters.
Kathleen joined Ambos after serving as a partner in the London and Brussels offices of two major international law firms and as General Counsel to an internet company. Before moving to Belgium, she graduated from the Yale Law School in the United States; passed the public accounting exam; and completed a Masters of Business Administration in finance.

 

EXPERTISE

Contentious Practice.

Arbitration and Mediation. Kathleen acts as counsel and as an arbitrator and mediator in commercial and investor-State disputes under all the major international arbitration rules. She was the longest serving legal advisor to the American arbitrators at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in the Netherlands. Cases in which she acted included many of the most important cases decided by the Tribunal involving expropriations of oil assets, construction disputes and complex contractual matters. In private practice, she has acted in arbitrations or mediations of disputes related to:

IP/IT 

  • Construction and infrastructure projects
  • Upstream and downstream energy projects
  • Expropriations 
  • Commercial and contractual matters
  • Banking and financial services
  • Shareholder disagreements
  • Accounting problems
  • Government procurement and military sales

Litigation. Kathleen's litigation experience spans the Atlantic from handling pan-European patent disputes between the world's largest semiconductor companies to trying major cases in the US courts. She also provides litigation support in Europe for US litigation matters.

Non-contentious practice

EU Competition Law. Kathleen is an expert in EU competition law and particularly the intersection between intellectual property and competition. She has been involved in some of the most high profile competition matters decided by the European Union institutions over the last two decades and has successfully counselled clients in all aspects of EU competition law.

IP/IT. Kathleen also represents clients in complex commercial matters, particularly as they relate to IT and intellectual property of all kinds. She has advised on the IP aspects of mergers and acquisitions; licensing arrangements, supply; distribution and agency arrangements; and the panoply of other issues involving the exploitation of IT and IP.

Bars and Courts

  • New York, admitted 1987
  • District of Columbia, admitted 1988

Education

  • JD, Yale Law School, 1986
  • CPA Exam, Public Accountancy, 1986
  • MBA, Florida Atlantic University (Finance), 1984
  • BS, Florida State University (Business Administration), 1981


Judicial and Arbitral Clerkships

  • Charles Brower, Richard Allison, and Howard Holtzmann, Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, 1987- 1991
  • The Honorable Gilbert S. Merritt, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. 1986-1987