Philip D. O’Neill, Jr. is a senior independent international arbitrator for complex commercial and technology-related disputes. Since first sitting as an arbitrator in 1987, he has served in approximately 150 large and complex matters, including more than 60 international disputes, more than 40 chair appointments, more than 60 sole-arbitrator appointments, and more than 70 reasoned awards.
His experience includes technology and intellectual property, software and semiconductors, telecommunications and satellite systems, life sciences, aerospace and defense, energy and infrastructure, private equity and M&A, distribution and supply arrangements, and sovereign and public-entity disputes. His perspective is also informed by prior experience as a first-chair trial lawyer and outside general counsel.
Mr. O’Neill has written and spoken extensively about technology’s impact on arbitration and the adjudication of emerging technology disputes. His article, “Transformative Technology and Arbitration’s Emerging Future,” was published in the American Review of International Arbitration, and in May 2026 he addressed the International Arbitration Club of New York on AI-driven disputes and the evolving role of arbitrators in complex, data-driven controversies.
He has been named annually since 2017 to SVAMC’s peer-vetted Tech List. He has also been designated by the European Union as suitable to chair sovereign trade disputes under the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. He is a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and a Fellow and Chartered Arbitrator of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He taught international arbitration for 34 years at Boston College Law School, at Boston University for tens years, as well as Harvard Law School, where he was the Nomura Lecturer in Law on International Arbitration.
Philip D. O’Neill, Jr.
