SPEAKERS
SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
FIRESIDE CHAT
IT TAKES TWO TO WALTZ - IS INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION OUT OF STEP WITH ITS USERS?
ANNA JOUBIN-BRET
Secretary | UNCITRAL – United Nations Commission on International Trade Law
Anna Joubin-Bret is the Secretary of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and the Director of the International Trade Law Division in the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations.
Prior to her appointment, Anna practiced law in Paris, specializing in International Investment Law and Arbitration, as counsel and arbitrator. Prior to 2011, she was a Senior Legal Adviser with UNCTAD.
She holds a DEA in Private International Law and a Masters Degree in International Economic Law from Paris I and a Bachelor Degree in Political Science.
KARL HENNESSEE, FRAeS
Karl Hennessee, FRAeS, is SVP Litigation, Investigations & Regulatory Affairs at Airbus, where he leads the Group’s global activities in these areas. Separately, he occasionally sits as arbitrator and serves on the board of directors of companies and nonprofits. He previously served as Chairman of the Governing Body of the ICC Court of International Arbitration and is now a member of the HKIAC Council as well as its Rules Committees. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the International Council of Commercial Arbitration, the IBA Mediation Committee, the Advisory Council for the School of International Arbitration at Queen Mary University of London and on the Board of the Toulouse Capitole Law School.
MELANIE VAN LEEUWEN
Partner | Derains & Gharavi
Melanie van Leeuwen has been practising international arbitration since 1996. She has solid experience as counsel and arbitrator in both commercial and investment arbitration, conducted under all major sets of arbitration rules (ICC, LCIA, LCIA-MIAC, ICSID, SCC, ICDR, UNCITRAL, PCA, DIAC, NAI, SIAC, CEPANI and Swiss Rules) and governed by various procedural and substantive laws. She has handled over 100 arbitrations as counsel and arbitrator concerning disputes arising out of international commercial contracts, cross-border investment, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, construction projects and investment protection under international law. She has been particularly active in the sectors of energy, mining, media, information and communication technology, construction and engineering, real estate, aviation and infrastructural and defence projects. She also regularly represents clients in annulment, enforcement and consolidation proceedings before the Netherlands state courts.
Melanie has been appointed to the ICSID panel of arbitrators by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. At present, she is serving as chair of the ICC Commission on Arbitration, as co-chair of the ICCA-IBA Joint Task Force on Data Protection in International Arbitration, and as a board member of the Swiss Arbitration Association.
Senior Vice-President, Head of Litigation, Investigations & Regulatory Affairs | Airbus SAS
CONFERENCE WRAP-UP
STEPHAN WILSKE
Partner | Gleiss Lutz
Stephan studied at the Universities of Tübingen, Aix-en-Provence (Maîtrise en Droit 1986) and Chicago (LL.M.; Casper Platt Award 1996). He is admitted to the New York bar as well as to various U.S. federal courts including the U.S. Supreme Court and the German bar. He has been a partner at Gleiss Lutz since 2002.
Stephan has been a lecturer at the University of Heidelberg since 2008 and at the University of Jena since 2016.
He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and of the Asian Institute of Alternative Dispute Resolution (AIADR), as well as a member of the American Law Institute (ALI). Since 2019, he is Vice President of the CAAI Court of Arbitration and a member of the ICC Task Force “Addressing Issues of Corruption in International Arbitration”. Since 2021, he is a member of the KCAB International Arbitration Committee and since 2023 a member of the International Advisory Board of VIAC
PANELISTS
ASHWITA AMBAST
Legal Counsel | Permanent Court of Arbitration
Ashwita Ambast is a Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). The PCA is an independent intergovernmental organization established by treaty in 1899, which facilitates arbitration and other dispute resolution proceedings. As Legal Counsel, Ashwita has acted as tribunal secretary in over 35 international arbitrations involving various combinations of states, state entities, international organizations and private parties. She has also assisted the PCA Secretary-General and other appointing authorities with over 35 requests relating to arbitral appointments and challenges under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules and other procedural rules.
From 2018-2020, Ashwita also served as a Registrar of the Mauritius International Arbitration Centre (MIAC).
Ashwita holds a Bachelor of Arts and Law with Honours from the National Law School of India University in Bangalore. She obtained an LL.M. degree as a Goldman Scholar from Yale Law School, where she is currently a JSD candidate.
PATRICK BAETEN
Chief Legal Officer M&A and Investments (Paris) | ENGIE
Patrick Baeten graduated in law from the University of Ghent and holds an LLM in international law from the University of Louvain-la-Neuve.
He joined ENGIE in 1996 after three years at the Brussels’ bar. Patrick held several senior positions at regional level (general counsel Europe 2006-2015, general counsel Brazil 2019-2021) and at corporate level (chief legal officer competition & regulation 2003-2006, chief legal officer global disputes 2016-2018). He now serves as ENGIE’s chief legal officer for mergers, acquisitions and investments.
Patrick lectured European energy law at the University of Leuven. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the CEPINA, the Advisory Board of the Climate Change Arbitration Monitor, the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, and has participated to several ICC task forces. He is a regular speaker at conferences, in particular on energy, climate change and litigation.
Patrick is fluent in English, French and Dutch and has working knowledge of Portuguese.
ANNE-KARIN GRILL
Principal | AKG ADVISORY
Anne-Karin has a proven track-record as counsel in both commercial and ISDS arbitration settings. She also disposes of first-hand experience in hybrid ADR process design. As an IMI certified mediation advocate, Anne-Karin accompanies clients in negotiation and solution-generating processes, managing party dynamics and assisting in the formulation of legally sustainable solutions. As a CEDR accredited mediator, she acts as neutral in multi-jurisdictional commercial disputes and is also active in investor-state mediation. Her arbitrator work focuses on multi-jurisdictional commercial disputes. Who's Who Legal Commercial Mediation praises Anne-Karin for standing out in the international market as a "top mediator in her generation" with a "dynamic and excellent" demeanor. Anne-Karin is a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, the VIAC Mediation Advisory Board, and Vice-President of the Austrian Arbitration Association. She also serves on the ICSID Panel of Conciliators. In 2022, the European Commission selected her for its new pool of arbitrators for appointment in bilateral disputes under EU trade agreements with third countries.
ENIKŐ HORVÁTH
National Partner | Dechert LLP
Dr. Enikő Horváth is a national partner in the international arbitration group of Dechert (Paris) LLP. Her practice covers public international law matters, in particular investor-State and inter-State disputes, human rights cases and matters involving international organizations, as well as commercial disputes. She has represented parties in proceedings conducted under the auspices of inter alia the ICC, ICSID, DIS, LCIA and the SCC, as well as in ad hoc proceedings under the UNCITRAL rules. Enikő is admitted to practice in New York, England & Wales and France.
EILEEN KHOR
Business Area Litigation Counsel (Gas Services) | Siemens Energy
Eileen is Malaysian by birth. At 15, she started school in Singapore and thus began her long association with the Little Red Dot. Eileen is an experienced disputes lawyer having worked in Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China and Germany. She is responsible for dispute resolution for the Gas Services business area of Siemens Energy.
AMANDA NEIL
General Counsel | Head Group
Amanda Neil is General Counsel of the Head Group. Prior to joining Head, she was Special Counsel at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where she specialised in international commercial and investment arbitration, with a particular focus on ESG issues, and also sat as arbitrator and tribunal secretary. Amanda is qualified as a solicitor in both Australia and England and Wales. She speaks English and German.
HELMUT ORTNER
Managing Partner | Peters Ortner Partners
Helmut Ortner is a founding partner at Peters Ortner Partners. His practice focusses on complex multi-jurisdictional disputes, drawing from his long-time experience in practicing law in New York, Vienna, and the London office of a leading US-based international law firm. Helmut completed his studies in economics and law in Austria (Vienna, Innsbruck) and the US (Yale, Harvard) and is admitted to the New York bar as well as the Austrian bar. He is experienced in arbitral practice and procedure in civil and common law systems. Helmut also enjoys teaching and is a lecturer at several universities throughout Europe.
Luminita Popa is Founder and Managing Partner of Suciu Popa & Asociatii, a Romanian full-service law firm with a strong international dispute resolution practice. The firm was established in 2016 and recognized as a GAR 100 leading arbitration practice since then.
For 11 years before establishing Suciu Popa Luminita acted as a Partner of a large Romanian law firm, heading practices of international arbitration, infrastructure & natural resources.
Luminita focuses on international dispute resolution in a variety of business sectors, including energy, natural resources, infrastructure, construction and engineering, mergers & acquisitions, partnerships & corporate governance. She advises clients in high-stake international arbitrations, having a successful track record that brings along sophisticated clients and significant projects. As well, she regularly serves as arbitrator and is recognized as a leading practitioner by Legal 500, Chambers & Partners, IFLR 1000 and Who’s Who Legal. Luminita is a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration since 2018.
LUMINITA POPA
Managing Partner | Suciu Popa, Bucharest
Member | ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris
JÖRG RISSE
Partner | Baker McKenzie
Prof. Dr. Risse, LL.M. (Berkeley) is a partner of Baker McKenzie. He unanimously considered one of the leading German arbitration practitioners and most-in-demand arbitrators (Chambers, JUVE, Legal 500, Who is Who Legal). Jörg Risse teaches advocacy skills at the University of Mannheim and at Humboldt University Berlin.
Laurence Shore leads the BonelliErede international arbitration practice group. He is resident in the firm’s Milan office. Laurence works as both counsel and arbitrator, under a wide array of arbitration institutions and rules, in many seats and across many industry sectors. He previously worked as an arbitration practitioner in law firms in London and New York City (Herbert Smith, Gibson Dunn) and began his career in the law as a litigation associate at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C. Laurence’s law degree is from Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia), where he was a Woodruff Fellow and editor-in-chief of the Emory Law Journal. He has a doctorate in History from Johns Hopkins University. His undergraduate degree is from the same university that Michael Jordan attended. Among Laurence’s publications are co-authorship of International Investment Arbitration; Substantive Principles, published by Oxford University Press, second edition 2017.
LAURENCE SHORE
Of Counsel | BonelliErede
TIGRAN TER-MARTIROSYAN
Director | Accuracy
DALIBOR VALINČIĆ
Tigran Ter-Martirosyan is a Director in the Singapore office of Accuracy and has over 15 years of professional experience, focusing on the valuation of businesses, damages, and accounting issues in international arbitration and litigation.
He has been appointed as an expert witness and advisor, including by arbitral tribunals, and has been involved in arbitration matters under SIAC, HKIAC, ICC, LCIA, SAC (former SCAI), SCC and UNCITRAL rules, and litigation in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, UK and offshore jurisdictions. His experience also includes valuations for the purposes of mediation, expert determination, M&A, restructuring and tax.
Tigran has been featured in Who’s Who Legal Global Commercial Litigation and Southeast Asia Arbitration Expert Witness rankings, which describe him as an “esteemed, highly responsive and cooperative practitioner with excellent experience providing expert testimony in valuation and damages-related litigation”.
He has performed valuations and damages assessments in sectors including metals and mining, financial services, energy and power, telecommunications, technology and others.
Partner | Wolf Theiss
Dalibor Valinčić heads the Dispute Resolution team in the Zagreb office of Wolf Theiss and co-heads the firm-wide arbitration group. He focuses on investment and commercial arbitration and also has extensive experience in energy law. He has successfully represented investors in multi-million-dollar arbitrations under both ICSID and UNICTRAL Rules. His commercial arbitration experience includes representing and advising clients in arbitrations under the VIAC Rules, ICC Rules and the Zagreb Rules as well as serving as arbitrator. Dalibor graduated from the University of Zagreb Law School and holds an LL.M. (Distinction) degree in International and Comparative Dispute Resolution from Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. He is a visiting lecturer at the University of Osijek Law School and a regular speaker and panellist at international conferences and seminars. Dalibor is a member of ICC Arbitration Committee, Croatian ICC National Committee and IBA Arbitration Committee in which he co-heads the Eastern European Arbitration Group.