Merra Kurubalan

Associate
Services

Education

  • Juris Doctor, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 2017
  • Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Business Law, Curtin University, Perth, WA, 2013

Admissions

Bar Admissions

  • State Bar of California
  • Australia
  • New Zealand

Court Admissions

  • United States District Court, Northern District of California
  • United States District Court, Southern District of California
  • United States District Court, Eastern District of California
  • High Court of Australia
  • Supreme Court of Western Australia
  • High Court of New Zealand

Professional Affiliations

  • Friends of the Children, San Francisco, CA
    Board Member, Events Chair (November 2023 – Present)
  • ICC Young Arbitration and ADR Forum (YAAF) Representative for North America 2024-2026 Mandate

Language Proficiency

  • English
  • Tamil

Publications & Presentations

  • SVAMC Guidelines on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Arbitration – Link
  • Lexology GTDT Practice Guide, Controversial International Mining Arbitrations and the Impact of ‘Social Licence’ – Lessons Learned and Future Planning
  • Society of Construction Law, Setting up for success – Early steps to avoid excessively expensive disputes
  • American Bar Association, The Invisible Divide: Domestic and International Arbitration Compared
  • Society of Construction Law, Produced Water Infrastructure Contracts: Turning Waste to a Long-Term Resource

Merra Kurubalan is an associate in Lubin Olson & Niewiadomski LLP’s Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Real Estate Litigation, and Construction groups. She is a member of the bar in California, Australia, and New Zealand, and she brings her extensive domestic and international dispute resolution experience. Her practice focuses on complex commercial litigation and arbitration, specializing in construction-related disputes. Miss Kurubalan has honed in on her construction expertise by providing proactive, dispute-resolution strategies across construction projects covering diverse sectors, including education, energy, infrastructure, IT, and residential.

Miss Kurubalan offers her clients unique perspectives by viewing legal matters from the lens of not just a private practitioner but also a former consultant and in-house attorney. Prior to joining Lubin Olson, Miss Kurubalan practiced at Vinson & Elkins as a member of the complex commercial litigation team, providing critical support on international arbitration disputes. She handled legal research, prepared pleadings, and offered substantial input on high-value construction and investor-state disputes. She also brings with her experience working as an arbitral secretary on arbitral matters listed under the ICC rules. While in-house at KBR, she represented the EPC Contractor on the $40 billion Ichthys Project, covering disputes across the entire project lifecycle.