Duane Morris has strengthened its international disputes team with the hire of Willkie Farr & Gallagher’s co-head of arbitration in London, Duncan Speller.
Speller, who will co-head Duane Morris’s international disputes group, moves across after four years at Willkie, which he joined from WilmerHale to launch its London international arbitration practice.
Speller, a barrister, has represented clients in more than 200 institutional and ad hoc arbitrations in both common and civil law jurisdictions, across many European countries, including England, as well as Hong Kong and Singapore.
He also sits as an arbitrator and has been appointed as an arbitrator or emergency arbitrator by multiple arbitral institutions. He is ranked by Chambers UK (2025) for international arbitration, and the Legal 500 UK (2025) as a Leading Individual.
His sectoral experience ranges from aviation, oil and gas, to mining and insurance.
Philadelphia-based Duane Morris described his hire as “a key step” in its “strategy to double down on its London offering and to build a globally recognised international dispute resolution practice”.
Matthew A Taylor, chairman and CEO, said: “Duane Morris is operating on a global scale, and Duncan Speller is exactly the type of marquee talent we strive to attract to our firm. His experience and reputation will be a significant addition to our cross-border capability.”
The London office, which opened in 2000, lists 16 lawyers on its website, including 10 partners. Alongside its London office, its international network extends to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. It has 22 offices in the US.
Previously, the disputes group has acted as lead counsel for a telecommunications company in Southeast Asia, on a Singapore International Arbitration Centre mediation regarding a $5.5m dispute with a global software services provider.
It has also acted on behalf of a consulting engineer in a United Nations Commission on International Trade Law arbitration, where the group was tasked to recover unpaid invoices for design and engineering works which were linked to water treatment facilities in Egypt.
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