Biography
Prince-Alex Iwu is a Partner at Diaz Reus. He represents U.S. and international clients in complex commercial litigation, international arbitration, and appeals, with a particular focus on high-stakes and cross-border disputes. His experience includes matters conducted under leading institutional and ad hoc arbitration rules.
Prince is an oral advocate par excellence, with a commanding presence in the courtroom and a reputation for clear, persuasive advocacy. Clients seek him out for challenging, sensitive matters where the stakes are high and sound judgment, strategic thinking, and effective courtroom advocacy are critical. His work includes contentious ownership and control disputes, sensitive reputational disputes, and cases involving sophisticated financial or tax structures.
Through his appellate work, Prince has helped establish new Florida law governing service of process by email on defendants abroad in the first instance. In one case, he argued the issue before Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal and obtained a per curiam affirmance in his client’s favor. In a separate appeal addressing the same issue, Prince successfully briefed the question, resulting in the Third District’s opinion recognizing court-authorized email service under Florida Statute § 48.197(1)(c) in the first instance.
Prince is admitted to practice in Florida, New York, and Nigeria, and has extensive experience advising on Nigerian law and cross-border matters involving Nigeria. Before joining Diaz Reus, he practiced at one of Nigeria’s largest international law firms, where he represented Fortune 500 companies and other multinational clients in litigation and corporate matters.
Accolades
Areas of Practice
Education
- JD/LLM in International Arbitration, University of Miami
- LLM, Penn State Law
- LLB, Nnamdi Azikiwe University
Professional Leadership
- FINRA - Financial Industry Regulatory Authority - Arbitrator
Accolades
- Best Lawyers® USA 2027 (Ones to Watch): Commercial Litigation
Community Leadership
- Prince serves as an Alternate Member of the Board of Directors of the Miami-Dade Beacon Council and contributes to initiatives advancing Miami-Dade’s economic development. He serves on the Beacon Council’s Finance Advisory Council and supports initiatives focused on education, talent development, and economic growth.
Admissions
- Florida
- New York
- Southern District of Florida
- Southern District of New York
- Eastern District of New York
- Nigeria
Certifications & Specializations
- Anti-Money Laundering Certified Associate (FIBA)
Scholarly Work & Publications
- Research Assistant at the American Law Institute (ALI) and Penn State Law, on the Restatement of the Law: The U.S. Law of International Commercial Arbitration and Investor-State Arbitration, focusing on the preclusive effects of arbitral awards and procedural fairness issues under the supervision of Professor Catherine Rogers.
- “International Arbitration: Transnational Debate and Ethics Quagmire,” Transnational Dispute Management. The article was included in UNCITRAL’s bibliography of recent writings related to its work.
- “Nigeria’s $10 Billion Article V(1)(e) Off-Ramp and the Niggling Issue of Set-Aside or Annulled Awards,” Kluwer Arbitration Blog.
- “Arbitration Procedures and Practice in Nigeria: Overview,” Practical Law (co-author).
- “The Legal Regime for Enforcement of Image Rights: A Nigerian Question.”
Representative Matters
- First-chair a trial resulting in a victory for a client whose former senior executive claimed a 49% ownership interest in a Florida corporation based principally on years of tax filings, K-1s, and representations to third parties. The case required disentangling tax reporting and other indicia of ownership from actual corporate ownership and reconstructing years of financial and business dealings to establish that the economic reality of the parties’ relationship proved the client was the corporation’s sole shareholder.
- Act for a leading Italian provider of turnkey maritime accommodation solutions in a high-stakes contractual dispute with one of the largest commercial shipbuilders in the United States.
- Represent a Nigerian company in a multi-jurisdictional real estate ownership dispute involving a multimillion-dollar Miami property and claims for a purchase-money resulting trust involving significant cross-border issues arising from parallel proceedings in the United Kingdom and Nigeria, including the recognition and preclusive effect of foreign judgments and the interaction between foreign matrimonial orders and title to Florida real property.
- Represent an Australian investor in an arbitration involving millions of dollars in alleged losses arising from an algorithmic foreign-exchange trading platform. The dispute involves alleged misrepresentations concerning the platform’s performance and risk controls, commodities-trading advisory activity, and federal and state securities law issues.
- Represent the appellee in Wepard Corporation, Limited v. Diaz, Reus & Targ, LLP, securing a decision from Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal recognizing court-authorized service by email on foreign defendants under Florida Statute § 48.197(1)(c) and establishing new Florida law on service by email abroad in the first instance.
- Defend a Brazilian client in the Southern District of New York against an attempt to enforce an approximately $40 million foreign arbitral award.
- Represent Australian company Ataraxia Capital Partners and other international defendants in a multimillion-dollar Southern District of New York dispute arising from an international PPE transaction, obtaining dismissal of the claims against Ataraxia in the operative complaint then before the court and dismissal of fraud and other claims asserted against several international defendants.
- Represent a prominent American fashion executive and television personality in a sensitive, high-profile defamation matter arising from media coverage of a contentious corporate ownership dispute. Secured a favorable resolution without litigation by identifying and strategically leveraging critical factual and legal vulnerabilities in the reporting, persuading the British international news publication to substantially correct its coverage and material misrepresentations concerning the client’s ownership rights and judicial findings.
- Represent Venezuelan clients in an arbitration arising from shareholder disputes regarding their investment in a Miami hotel.