José Astigarraga focuses his practice on international litigation, arbitration and insolvency.  Described by Chambers Global Guide to the World's Leading Lawyers as "a major figure for Latin American litigation and arbitration [who] represents large U.S., European and South American corporations," Astigarraga has handled a variety of international disputes in 27 years of practice. 

He has both defended and prosecuted substantial international business disputes in state and federal courts in the U.S.  He has served as an officer of the Civil Procedure Rules Committee of The Florida Bar, and has lectured extensively on U.S. litigation issues, including to foreign lawyers, such as the corporate counsel section of the Law Society of England.

He has an extensive international arbitration practice, having handled U.S. and foreign arbitrations, both as counsel and as arbitrator.  He was one of the 10 Americans initially appointed by the United States Government pursuant to the NAFTA Agreement to advise the NAFTA Commission on international arbitration and dispute resolution.  According to Chambers' Guide to the Leading Lawyers in the United States, Astigarraga is regarded as the "nation's leading Spanish-speaking arbitration practitioner."

Astigarraga has served as sole arbitrator, co-arbitrator or chair of arbitration tribunals for the major international arbitration institutions.  He is regularly asked to speak on arbitration at international conferences, including in Asia, Europe and Latin America.  He serves as Vice President on the 35-member London Court of International Arbitration and is an officer of the International Bar Association's worldwide International Arbitration Committee.

Recognized in the Best Lawyers in America, he regularly oversees local counsel in foreign jurisdictions, devising the overall strategy in a case.  With his intimate knowledge of the local language, rules and culture, he frequently handles complex business disputes in the region that have sensitive political, criminal and regulatory ramifications.  Astigarraga has lectured abroad on the "Impact of Culture on the Resolution of Disputes."  The University of Miami School of Law's Inter-American Law Review recently honored him for his significant contributions in the field of international law, awarding him its "Lawyer of the Americas" Award.

In the course of his work, he has gained extensive experience in international insolvencies. Astigarraga has represented institutional lenders and multinational corporations in the collection and enforcement of debt and contractual obligations in the United States and abroad.  While serving as a consultant to the World Bank, he co-authored an assessment of Latin American insolvency systems, which the World Bank published.  He has been designated by the U.S. Department of State to represent the United States at meetings of experts at the Organization of American States on private international law.

His clients include Fortune 500 companies, major U.S. and European banks, government-owned companies as well as Latin American enterprises.  He is Vice President of the National Law Center for Interamerican Free Trade, a center dedicated to developing the legal infrastructure to promote trade and commerce in Latin America.