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Biography
Dr William T (Bill) Onorato, was Legal Adviser, Energy & Mining for the World Bank in Washington, DC, for over 16 years. During that time he acted as the Bank's principal legal counsel for its oil & gas, electric power and mining sector lending and technical assistance programs, worldwide. Prior to joining the World Bank, Dr. Onorato had amassed extensive practical experience in the private sector in law and energy matters with Chevron Corporation, Getty Oil Company, Chrysler International S.A. and several major international law firms in their overseas offices.
He currently conducts an active legal consulting practice as an International Energy Consultant and Arbitrator through his sole proprietorship company, WTO Consulting. In addition to his ongoing advisory work for private, governmental and inter-governmental clients on international oil and gas contracts, regulatory frameworks, joint development zones and legal regimes for petroleum development, he has also been both a party-appointed Arbitrator and an Expert Witness in several energy-related international arbitrations under ICC, UNCITRAL and ICSID rules. He is also designated as an Arbitrator and Expert to the Cairo Regional Center for International Commercial Arbitration, Egypt.
Dr. Onorato has acted as the consulting Petroleum Legal Adviser to the World Bank’s Central Oil, Gas & Mining Group under the Extractive Industries Technical Assistance Facility for over 5 years now. He is a member in good standing of both the Bar of The Supreme Court of the United States and of the Honorary Society of Gray's Inn. He is an Adjunct Professor Emeritus of the Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC and an Honorary Fellow of the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy at the University of Dundee, Scotland.
Over the course of his career, Dr. Onorato has, from time-to-time, held Adjunct Professorships in International Law and Business at Notre Dame Law School's London Centre, The University of California, Berkeley and Georgetown University Law Center.
He holds his BA from Cornell University, his JD cum laude from The University of Pennsylvania Law School and his Ph.D in International Law from The University of Cambridge, England. He resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico and seasonally in Casco, Maine, USA.
He is also a member of the Scottish Arbitration Centre.