KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
HAMID GHARAVI
Co-founder | Derains & Gharavi | France
Dr. Hamid Gharavi is the co-founder of the Paris based firm dispute resolution firm Derains & Gharavi.
Member of the Paris & New York Bars, he has acted as counsel and arbitrator in over 250 ad hoc and institutional commercial, investment and sport arbitrations.
Dr. Gharavi holds or has held Court or board positions at major institutions, currently serving as member of the ICC International Court Arbitration and Board Member of ISTAC.
He teaches investment arbitration at the University of Paris II and is the author of books and essays in international arbitration.
PANELISTS:
AUGUST REINISCH
University of Vienna | Vienna
August Reinisch is Professor of International and European Law at the University of Vienna, where he heads the Section of International Law and International Relations and serves as Deputy Head of the Department of European, International and Comparative Law. He is also Director of the University of Vienna’s LL.M. Programme in International Law. His research and practice focus on public international law, international economic law, investment law, the law of international organizations, state responsibility and international arbitration.
August has extensive experience as arbitrator, counsel and expert in international investment disputes and serves on the panels of arbitrators of ICSID and the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He is a member of the United Nations International Law Commission, a member associé of the Institut de droit international, and a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He has authored numerous publications and is internationally recognized as a leading scholar and practitioner in international law and investment arbitration.
MIRJAM VAN DE HEL-KOEDOOT
Partner | LOYENS & LOEFF | AMSTERDAM
Mirjam van de Hel-Koedoot has extensive experience acting as counsel in commercial and investment treaty arbitrations under a range of arbitration rules, including ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL, ICSID and NAI Rules. She also regularly acts in complex and high-value proceedings before the Dutch courts concerning the setting aside and enforcement of arbitral awards, particularly in disputes involving bilateral and multilateral investment treaties.
Mirjam serves as president of the Dutch Arbitration Association (DAA). She is also a delegate to the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR to represent ICC Netherlands and a member of the Executive Board of the International Federation of Investment Law and Arbitration (IFILA).
In addition, Mirjam sits as arbitrator. Mirjam publishes frequently on topics of arbitration and procedural law and is a co-author of the standard textbook in the Netherlands on the Dutch Code of Civil Procedure.
ROBIN OLDENSTAM
Partner | Mannheimer Swartling | Stockholm
Robin Oldenstam is Head of Mannheimer Swartling’s International Arbitration Practice. He serves as Chair of the Board of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) and is a board member of the Finnish Arbitration Institute (FAI). A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), he has extensive experience acting as counsel and arbitrator in international disputes under SCC, ICC, FAI, UNCITRAL and other rules, both in Sweden and internationally.
Between 2015 and 2021, he was a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, and from 2010 to 2014 chaired the Swedish Arbitration Association, Sweden’s leading arbitration practitioners’ association. Robin has acted in disputes across a wide range of sectors, including oil and gas, construction, pharmaceuticals, automotive, securities and finance. He regularly lectures on arbitration and litigation, is responsible for the Swedish Bar Association’s mandatory course in trial advocacy, and has authored numerous publications on dispute resolution.
VERICA TRSTENJAK
University of Vienna | Vienna
Verica Trstenjak is Professor of European Law and former Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union (2006–2012) and former Judge at the General Court of the EU (2004–2006). She is Emerita Professor at the University of Vienna and also teaches in several LL.M. programmes. She serves as a substitute member of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and is a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague as well as several other international advisory and academic bodies.
Previously, she held senior governmental positions in Slovenia, including State Secretary and Secretary-General of the Government. Her academic work focuses on EU law, fundamental rights, private law and international dispute resolution. She has published extensively, with more than 300 scientific articles and several books, and has lectured at universities worldwide, including leading institutions in Europe, the United States and Australia. She is widely recognized as a leading expert in European and international law.
JUDITH KNIEPER
Legal Officer | UNCITRAL | Vienna
Judith Knieper is a legal officer at the Secretariat of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in Vienna. She is the Secretary of Working Group II on Dispute Settlement, also services Working Group III on Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform and is responsible for Mediation.
Until her appointment to the Secretariat, she had been working in South East Europe from 1998 -2013 for numerous donors/organizations, e.g. OSCE, CoE, Worldbank and GIZ, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, the German international cooperation.
She obtained both Legal State Exams in Frankfurt, Germany as well as her PhD and is also qualified and certified as a Mediator.
YAS BANIFATEMI
Partner | Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes | France
Professor Yas Banifatemi is a founding partner of Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes and is widely recognized as one of the leading specialists in international arbitration and public international law. Prior to this, she was Global Head of the International Arbitration Practice at Shearman & Sterling and Head of its Public International Law practice. She advises and represents States, State-owned entities and companies in public international law and international arbitration, and acts as counsel, arbitrator and expert under all major arbitration rules. She is a former Vice-President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and former member of the LCIA Court and SIAC Court.
She currently serves on the HKIAC Council and the KCAB Advisory Board. From 2021 to 2023, she was President of the International Arbitration Institute (IAI). She co-founded the Arbitration Academy in 2011. She teaches at Harvard Law School and is Adjunct Professor at Panthéon-Sorbonne University, and has authored numerous publications and lectures internationally.
PARIS ABORO
Special Counsel | Covington & Burling LLP | London
Paris Aboro advises clients across a range of industries in complex international disputes, including both investor-state and commercial arbitrations, and related litigation. Her practice also includes sovereign representation before international courts.
Paris rejoined Covington from the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, where she was the Legal Advisor to Judge. O. Thomas Johnson.
Before joining the firm, Paris previously practiced as a barrister in London. In her practice as a barrister, Paris acted in a variety of litigation across a range of practice areas, including cases that involved an international or cross-border element.
Paris currently guest lectures a seminar on International Investment Law at Columbia Law School. She also maintains an active pro bono practice, with a focus on public international law advisory matters.
ANDRÉS JANA
Partner| Jana & Gil | Chile
Andrés Jana Linetzky is a founding partner at Jana & Gil Dispute Resolution; International arbitrator; Chair of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group II on Dispute Settlement; Vice-President of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC); Member of the Governing Board and Chair of the Judiciary Committee of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA); Member of Panel of Arbitrators of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID); and Professor of Private Law at Universidad de Chile.
He serves as counsel and arbitrator in commercial and investment treaty arbitrations. He has also appeared as counsel before the International Court of Justice. His experience includes disputes under the auspices of ICC, ICSID, SIAC, HKIAC, PCA, LCIA, AAA, SCC and others, as well as proceedings in aid of arbitration before courts of different jurisdictions. In addition, he has served as legal advisor to a number of Latin American countries in the negotiations of the investment and financial services chapters of Free Trade Agreements.
ATHINA FOUCHARD PAPAEFSTRATIOU
Athina Fouchard Papaefstratiou Arbitration | France
A Greek national and dual-qualified lawyer registered with both the Paris and Athens Bars, she spent over 15 years in the arbitration departments of leading international law firms before launching her independent practice in 2022.
Athina has extensive experience in Africa-related arbitration, as well as in complex disputes involving States and State entities.
She has been repeatedly recognised as a prominent arbitrator and "thought leader" in the French and international arbitration market.
Athina is listed as arbitrator with major international arbitration institutions and is an active member of several prestigious professional organisations. She serves as a member of the ICC Court, and as a board Member of the Arbitration Committee of ICC Greece, of which she is also a member of the Nominations Commission. She is a member of the organising committee of Paris Arbitration Week, and a founding member (and former co-head) of AfricArb. Athina is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), and the treasurer of the Executive Committee of the CIArb European Branch. She holds master’s degrees from Paris II Panthéon-Assas University and Queen Mary University of London, as well as a bachelor’s degree from the University of Athens.
BROOKS DALY
Arbitrator | Netherlands
Brooks Daly is an American attorney and arbitrator based in the Netherlands. He has served as arbitrator under the rules of the ICC, UNCITRAL, ICSID, SCC, and SIAC. Until 2023, he was Deputy Secretary-General and Principal Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), where he served for 20 years. In this role, he oversaw the legal affairs of an intergovernmental organization with 122 member states dedicated to the peaceful settlement of international disputes. Before joining the PCA, he worked as Counsel at the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, and for law firms in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London.
Mr. Daly is regularly ranked as a leading arbitration practitioner by Who's Who Legal and in 2013 was appointed by the Netherlands as an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau in recognition of his service to international arbitration. He is a member of the State Bar of California and a Visiting Professor at Leiden University. He is a co-author of A Guide to the PCA Arbitration Rules (Oxford University Press, 2014).
MAHNAZ MALIK
Arbitrator & Barrister | Twenty Essex | London
Mahnaz Malik has served as a judge on the World Bank Group Sanctions Board since January 2024. She is a Barrister and Arbitrator who has over twenty-five years of experience advising Governments, corporations and international organizations on complex cross-border disputes. She is particularly adept with disputes relating to natural resources, sporting events, joint venture partners, shareholders, international organizations, institutional lenders, foreign investment laws and state entities. She has served as a member of the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators for over a decade, and has been appointed as a member of the ICSID ad hoc Annulment Committee in two cases.
She has also served as a member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Commissions on Arbitration and Anti-Corruption. After graduating with a master’s in law from Cambridge University, she qualified as a Barrister in England and Wales, Attorney at Law in New York and an Advocate in Pakistan. She is a Fellow of Hughes Hall College, University of Cambridge ). She publishes, teaches and speaks extensively. Her writings are frequently cited in academic journals, arbitration awards, and examination papers and appear on syllabi.
NORADÈLE RADJAI
Partner | LALIVE | Geneva
Noradèle specialises in international commercial arbitration and investment arbitration across a number of sectors including energy, construction and infrastructure, and mining. She routinely advises and represents clients from the Middle East and on disputes relating to Middle Eastern projects and contracts.
Hailed as “exceptional”, Noradèle is renowned for being “highly skilled in written and oral advocacy” and for her “superb cross-examination skills”, Chambers Global, Arbitration International, 2023. She has acted as counsel and arbitrator in about 100 international arbitration proceedings, both ad hoc and institutional (under the ICC, LCIA, SCC, ICSID, AAA/ICDR, UNCITRAL and Swiss Rules), including disputes arising from share sales and acquisitions, joint ventures, and large projects, governed by a variety of procedural and substantive laws.
ALFRED SIWY
Partner | Zeiler | Vienna
Alfred Siwy is a partner at ZEILER and focuses on national and international dispute resolution, with a strong focus on international arbitration and litigation.
Alfred acts as counsel in disputes across all industries, recently including in particular disputes involving post-M&A disputes, competition law disputes, distributorship disputes and international investment disputes. He has acted under various rules, including the ICC, LCIA, VIAC, UNCITRAL and ICSID Rules. Alfred also represents clients before Austrian courts in commercial and corporate matters.
Alfred also sits as arbitrator and has acted as chairman, sole arbitrator in co-arbitrator in a number of disputes, mainly under the ICC and VIAC Rules. He was admitted to the Austrian bar in 2011 and as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2019.
He is a graduate of the University of Vienna (Mag. iur. 2003, Dr. iur. 2011) and King’s College London (LL.M. 2006).
