Our firm boasts world-class practitioners in the field of commercial arbitration and alternative dispute resolution.

Stephen L. Drymer

Specialized in domestic and international arbitration and alternative dispute resolution (ADR), Stephen L. Drymer joined our firm in 2012 to lead our arbitration and ADR department.

Stephen acts as counsel, as well as arbitrator and mediator, in domestic and international commercial and investment disputes, and he advises parties on a broad range of issues associated with the design, negotiation, drafting and implementation of dispute resolution agreements and strategies. He has acted in disputes in the manufacturing, construction, petrochemical, oil & gas, energy, financial services, IT, outsourcing, hospitality, transportation, aerospace and telecommunication industries, among others, both in ad hoc proceedings and under the rules of most major international arbitral institutions.

Stephen also advises and represents clients, both government and non-governmental, in matters of public international law and dispute resolution, including in matters involving maritime delimitation and transboundary resource management.

He was a negotiator for Canada in the renewal of the Canada-U.S. Pacific Salmon Treaty and counsel to Canada in the mediation of disputes arising under that Treaty. He was counsel for the Government of Nova Scotia before an international tribunal constituted to determine the offshore boundary between the province of Nova Scotia and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. He was an adviser to the Secretary General of the United Nations and mediator in a territorial and resource dispute between Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. And he is currently a neutral evaluator in an international dispute involving private and public parties and interests in the Middle East.

Stephen is as well particularly active in the resolution of sport-related disputes in Canada and internationally, in cases before the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC) and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne. In addition to extensive work as counsel, he has served as arbitrator and mediator in numerous cases involving a wide range of issues and sports.

Stephen has been named as one of the world’s leading international lawyers and arbitrators by numerous international publications.

James A. Woods

James A. Woods, the founding partner of our firm, throughout his career spanning more than 35 years, has not only led numerous arbitration matters, as counsel, but also acted as arbitrator, either as president or member of a panel, in a large number of commercial and international files, both ad hoc and under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

Joseph R. Nuss

The Honourable Joseph R. Nuss, Q.C., is a former Justice of the Quebec Court of Appeal. He joined Woods LLP, as Senior Counsel, in December 2009 after his retirement from the Court, and concentrates his practice in the fields of domestic and international arbitration and mediation.

Prior to his appointment as a judge, he was a lawyer specializing in litigation, who appeared as counsel, in various areas of the law, before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court, all the Courts of Quebec as well as before administrative tribunals. He was also counsel before a number of Federal Commissions of Inquiry. As a judge, he also acted as mediator within the framework of the system of mediation established in the Quebec Court of Appeal. He, in addition, was a lecturer on mediation at national and international conferences.