Lesley Benn is Of Counsel in the Firm's Commercial Litigation Group, with a multi-disciplinary national and international practice.  She assists clients in navigating major conflicts, including handling high-stakes litigation or transnational arbitration, as well as designing creative contract provisions and procedures to avoid disputes or resolve them efficiently.  Ms. Benn has represented clients in arbitrations before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and other arbitral institutions, as well as ad hoc arbitration under the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).  She has handled numerous matters involving treaty-based claims, international investment protections, sovereign immunity, and the enforcement of and challenge to international arbitral awards. Ms. Benn’s experience includes developing and implementing compliance programs, including those arising under anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws.

Ms. Benn also devotes a significant part of her practice to the area of Fashion Law, where she represents designers, photographers and other creative professionals and companies.  She advises clients on both legal and business issues, which concern their intellectual property assets, including trademarks and copyrights, and related business contracts and licensing matters of both a domestic and international nature.

Ms. Benn currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at George Mason University School of Law, where she teaches oral and written advocacy in international law.

Prior to joining Shulman Rogers, Ms. Benn was a member of the litigation and international arbitration group in the Washington, D.C. office of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, LLP and a member of the commercial litigation group in the Chicago office of Winston & Strawn, LLP.  Ms. Benn earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where she taught legal research and writing to first year law students.  She received her undergraduate degree in art history and political science from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.  Ms. Benn is a volunteer with Suited for Change, a non-profit organization providing professional clothing and ongoing career education to low-income women.  She has appeared in the Best Dressed issue of Washingtonian magazine.