Job Title: International Arbitration Associate & Pro Bono Coordinator
Organization: K&L Gates LLP
Bio: Robert Houston is an International Arbitration Associate and the Pro Bono Coordinator for K&L Gates LLP in Singapore. Prior to joining K&L Gates, Robert represented the United States in Singapore in the U.S. Department of State’s Fulbright Program through the research and development of scholarship related to the use of international arbitral process to resolve disputes in public international law. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Signal Corps with the 1-175 Infantry Battalion of the Maryland Army National Guard, receiving the Meritorious Service Medal for his work with the Multinational Force & Observers peacekeeping mission in Sinai, Egypt in 2011-2012. Robert has organized a number of events highlighting the role of the public interest in international legal contexts, including Pro Bono Engagement with Human Trafficking & Forced Labour in Southeast Asia (Singapore – 2016) and Public Interest/Private Dispute: The Future of the Public-Private Divide in International Arbitration (Paris – 2014). Robert plays a leading role in his firm’s global Anti-Trafficking Working Group, recently coordinating the firm’s pro bono support of a multi-jurisdictional anti-trafficking legal research project involving the combined efforts of lawyers from eight of the firm’s offices and three partner law firms on four continents.
