The LCIA Court

President

Biographies

Paula Hodges KC - UK

Paula heads Herbert Smith Freehills' Global Arbitration Practice and has over 30 years' experience of advising on international disputes, particularly in the energy, telecommunications and technology sectors. She specialises in international arbitration and has represented clients in many jurisdictions (including London, Paris, Geneva, Zurich, Stockholm, the US, Canada, Dubai, Africa, Asia, Russia and the CIS) in ad hoc arbitration and proceedings under the auspices of the major arbitral institutions. She also sits as an arbitrator.

Paula has been closely involved in several high profile cases before the High Court in London, and has also appeared before the Court of Appeal and House of Lords (now the Supreme Court). Paula studied law at the University of Cambridge and graduated in 1986 with an M.A. in Law.

Paula became a QC in 2014 and President of the LCIA Court in May 2019. She was appointed for a second term as President of the LCIA Court in May 2022.

Raëd Fathallah - France

Raëd Fathallah is a partner in Bredin Prat’s international arbitration group. He focuses his practice on acting as counsel and arbitrator in investment treaty and commercial arbitrations.

Over the past twenty years, he has conducted more than 150 cases under the major institutional rules (including ICSID, LCIA, ICC, OHADA, CRCICA, BCDR and DIAC) and subject to many different common law and civil law legal systems. He is particularly well known for his expertise in investor-State disputes and is listed on the ICSID Panel of Conciliators and Arbitrators.

Raëd is recognised by all major directories as a leading practitioner in the field of international arbitration and has been described as “one of the brightest minds of his generation” who delivers “first-class work”. In January 2014, he was awarded the prestigious biennial ASA Prize for Advocacy in International Arbitration.

A Lebanese and Canadian national, Raëd is admitted to practice as a Solicitor in England & Wales as well as Avocat in France and in Québec, Canada. He holds a Licence en Droit Civil from the University of Ottawa (L.L.L.), Master of Comparative Jurisprudence (M.C.J.) from New York University School of Law and Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil) in Law from the University of Oxford.

Matthew Gearing KC - UK

Matthew was at Allen & Overy for 24 years before moving to practice from Fountain Court chambers as an independent barrister in May 2021. He is a King’s Counsel (England & Wales) and Solicitor Advocate (Hong Kong). He has acted in arbitrations under the LCIA, ICC, UNCITRAL, SIAC, HKIAC, AAA, JCAA, SCC, and ICSID Rules, and has spent a substantial part of his career based in Asia. He also often sits as an arbitrator.

Matthew is a joint editor of "Russell on Arbitration" (23rd and 24th Eds.) a leading text book on arbitration in England & Wales. He is a past Co-Chair of the LCIA Young International Arbitration Group and a past Chairperson of the HKIAC.

Christopher Lau SC - UK/Singapore

A Senior Counsel and Chartered Arbitrator, Christopher Lau is recognised as “obviously one of the most experienced arbitrators in Singapore” (Chambers Global Guide 2019) and is ranked by Chambers & Partners as one of the Most In Demand Arbitrators in the Asia-Pacific Region. His arbitration practice encompasses investment as well as all aspects of commercial disputes including construction, corporate, maritime, energy, communication, military & defence procurements involving the laws of various common and civil law jurisdictions. Christopher has also acted as mediator in both international and domestic commercial disputes.

He is further a member of, among others, the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, KCAB’s International Arbitration Committee, the Council of the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration and the Global Advisory Board of the New York International Arbitration Centre. Christopher is also an independent, non-executive director of the Board of Directors of Wing Tai Holdings Ltd. and an associate member of 3 Verulam Buildings.

Karyl Nairn KC - Australia (UK)

Karyl Nairn KC is the former global co-head of International Litigation and Arbitration at Skadden. She now works as an independent arbitrator from Arbitration Chambers in London. She is also a Deputy High Court Judge in England & Wales.

Her expertise spans both commercial and treaty arbitration. As counsel, she acted for governments, corporations and individuals across a range of industry sectors including finance and banking, energy, mining, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and media. She has particular expertise in joint venture/shareholder issues and disputes arising out of complex M&A transactions.

She is regularly appointed as arbitrator in complex international cases conducted under the auspices of the leading arbitral institutions as well as ad hoc arbitrations.

Karyl was a member of the ICC Court of Arbitration from 1999 to 2015, including serving as a Vice President for 6 years. She is currently a Trustee on the Board of Inter-Mediate, a charity which seeks to resolve conflicts in the most troubled regions of the world. She also serves as the Chair of the Development Board of JUSTICE, a UK based charity dedicated to preserving the Rule of Law and ensuring access to justice.

Gabrielle Nater-Bass - Switzerland

Gabrielle Nater-Bass is a partner in the Litigation and International Arbitration Group at Homburger in Zurich. She is an experienced party counsel and arbitrator in international commercial arbitration proceedings, ad hoc and institutional, across a wide range of industries. She also regularly represents clients in investment treaty arbitrations and complex cross-border litigations.

Gabrielle Nater-Bass is listed on the panel of arbitrators of the ICC National Committee (Switzerland), the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC). She is a board member of the Swiss Arbitration Centre, the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA) and Vice President of the LCIA Court. She served as President of the Arbitration Court of the Swiss Chambers' Arbitration Institution (SCAI) from 2016 to 2020. Furthermore, Gabrielle Nater-Bass co-chairs the ICCA-ASIL Task Force on Damages in International Arbitration and was actively involved in the development of the DIA app (Damages in International Arbitration). Moreover, Gabrielle Nater-Bass is a member of the SIAC Users' Council, the Advisory Board of ArbitralWomen (former vice president) and the steering committee of the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge.

Gabrielle Nater-Bass received the Client Choice Award 2020 and 2021 in the category Arbitration & ADR (Switzerland).

Professor Luca Radicati di Brozolo - Italy

Luca is a founding partner of Arblit and a door tenant of Fountain Chambers, London. He is also a Full Professor at the School of Law of the Università Cattolica di Milano, where he holds the chair of Private International Law and is the Director of the Institute of International Studies. He currently also teaches Law of International Arbitration and Transnational Commercial Law at that University. In the course of his career as a tenured professor in several Italian universities since 1987 he also taught European Union law, public international law and competition law.

He appears as counsel and sits as presiding, sole and party-appointed arbitrator in ad hoc and institutional domestic and international arbitrations under a variety of rules (Geneva Chamber of Commerce, ICC, LCIA, Milan Chamber of Arbitration, Stockholm Arbitration Chamber, Danish Institute of Arbitration, Swiss Chamber of Commerce in Milan, UNCITRAL, Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, European Development Fund) and laws governing the merits. As arbitrator he has sat in cases applying the law of Italy, Albania, Algeria, Brazil, Denmark, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as the Vienna Convention on the International Sale of Goods.

Professor Dr Maxi Scherer - Germany (UK)

Maxi Scherer is a Professor of Law at Queen Mary University of London, School of International Arbitration, where she holds the Chair for International Arbitration, Dispute Resolution & Energy Law, and a Special Counsel at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in London. Maxi is admitted to the bar in Paris (France) and as solicitor (England and Wales) and has extensive experience with arbitral practice in civil and common law systems. She has represented clients, provided expert opinions and sat as arbitrator in more than 100 commercial and investor-state arbitration. She has been regularly identified by Who’s Who Legal, The Legal 500 etc. as leading arbitration practitioner, was ranked one of the ten most prominent arbitration practitioners in Europe and “Global Elite Thought Leader” and described by peers as “one of the very best in both commercial and investment arbitration proceedings.”

Maxi publishes extensively in the field of international arbitration, is the General Editor of the Kluwer Journal of International Arbitration and has won several prizes, including the GAR award for best speech or lecture in 2018. She held visiting positions in numerous universities around the world, including NYU Law School, National University of Singapore, Georgetown Centre of Transnational Legal Studies, Bucerius Law School Hamburg and University of Melbourne.

Professor Dr Karl-Heinz Böckstiegel - Germany

Karl-Heinz is a past President of the LCIA; President of the International Law Association (ILA); Chairman of the German Institution of Arbitration (DIS) and past President of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, The Hague. After holding the Chair for International Business Law of Cologne University until 2001, he now works as an independent arbitrator and currently serves as Chairman or party-appointed arbitrator on international arbitral tribunals constituted under the rules of LCIA, ICC, ICSID, AAA, DIS, Swiss Rules, UNCITRAL, as well as ad hoc panels.

The Honourable L Yves Fortier CC OQ KC - Canada

Yves is the former Chair and Senior Partner of Norton Rose (formerly Ogilvy Renault) in Montréal. He is a graduate of Université de Montréal, McGill University and Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar). He is a past president of the London Court of International Arbitration and of the Canadian Bar Association. Yves was made Queen’s Counsel in 1976 and an Avocat émérite of Quebec in 2007. In 1984, he became an Officer of the Order of Canada and promoted to Companion in the Order in 1991.

From 1984 to 1989, he was a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. From July 1988 until February 1992, he was Canada’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. In 1989, he was president of the Security Council of the United Nations. In 2006, he became an Officer of l’Ordre National du Québec. During the last 25 years, Yves has acted as arbitrator and mediator in numerous international arbitrations under the auspices of all major arbitral institutions in the world.

Judith Gill KC - UK (Singapore)

Judith is recognised as one of the leading practitioners in the field of international arbitration and is listed as the second most highly regarded individual in the field in the 2014 edition of The International Who’s Who of International Arbitration. She joined Allen & Overy in 1983, qualifying two years later, and was made partner in 1992. She headed the Allen & Overy’s global international arbitration practice for 10 years from 2001 to 2011 and again from 2012 to 2013. On 1 May 2018, Judith left Allen & Overy to join barristers' chambers 20 Essex Street, as an arbitrator based in Singapore.

Judith has conducted cases under various sets of rules and subject to many different systems of law. In particular she has experience of arbitrations under the rules of the LCIA, the ICC, ICSID, DIAC, AAA, UNCITRAL, SIAC and the LMAA. She has particular experience of projects (specifically in the energy and infrastructure sectors), joint ventures, distributorships, investor protection disputes, insurance claims and warranty claims.

In 2009, Judith became only the second female solicitor advocate to be appointed a QC and the first in the field of international arbitration. She regularly acts as lead advocate in arbitration cases and also sits as arbitrator in a wide variety of arbitrations.

Her professional memberships include: Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators; Fellow, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies; Member, Advisory Board to the Arbitration Committee of the International Bar Association; Trustee of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law; Member, SIDRC International Advisory Board; Former Member, Board of Directors, AAA; Former Member, Board of Directors, SIAC; Former Co-Chair, Arbitration Committee of the International Bar Association; Former Chair, The International Arbitration Club; Former Member, ICC UK Arbitration Group.

Professor Dr Gerold Herrmann - Germany (Austria)

Gerold is known throughout the world of arbitration, both from his time as Secretary of UNCITRAL, in which role he served from 1991 to 2001, and having previously been Secretary of the UNCITRAL working group, which prepared the draft model law on international commercial arbitration. Gerold served as President of the LCIA Court from May 2001 until May 2004 and is now an Honorary Vice President of the Court. Gerold is currently President of ICCA (International Council for Commercial Arbitration). He is Honorary Professor of the University of Vienna.

Professor Jan Paulsson - Sweden/France/Bahrain (USA)

Jan holds the Michael Klein Distinguished Scholar Chair at the University of Miami School of Law. He is also the Faculty Chair of the Specialisation in International Arbitration and heads the newly-established International Arbitration Institute. Jan holds degrees from Harvard, Yale and the University of Paris. He has acted as counsel or arbitrator in over 500 hundred international arbitrations. He has conducted cases under many arbitration rules, as well as before the International Court of Justice.

He is President of the Administrative Tribunals of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and past President of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal. He is also the President of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration, a Vice-President of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, and a board member of the American Arbitration Association. He is the author of numerous publications, in particular co-author of the standard reference work ICC Arbitration (3rd edn 2000).

Professor William W Park - USA

Rusty is Professor of Law at Boston University, where he lectures on tax and banking. After Yale and Columbia, he practised in Paris until returning home to teach and to direct his university’s Center for Banking and Financial Law. He has held visiting academic appointments at Cambridge, Université de Dijon, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and University of Hong Kong. Rusty’s books include "International Chamber of Commerce Arbitration" (with Craig and Paulsson), "International Forum Selection", "International Commercial Arbitration" (with Reisman, Craig and Paulsson), "Income Tax Treaty Arbitration" (with Tillinghast) and "Arbitration of International Business Disputes".

Rusty has served on the NAFTA Financial Services Roster, the Appeals Tribunal for the Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, and the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Accounts in Switzerland. He recently retired as Co-Chair of the ABA Committee on International Commercial Dispute Resolution, has succeeded Johnny Veeder as General Editor of Arbitration International.

Ramūnas Audzevičius - Lithuania

Ramūnas Audzevičius is the partner and co-head of the Dispute Resolution practice at the law firm Motieka & Audzevičius based in Vilnius, Lithuania. He has more than 25 years of experience in solving business and regulatory disputes involving application of EU, international and foreign law, as well as shareholder conflicts and corporate investigations. Ramūnas’ practice also involves handling matters before the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Human Rights, the Supreme Court of Lithuania, the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania, and the Court of Appeal. Ramūnas has been involved in advising clients in courts of the highest instances in the Baltic States and the CIS region.

He is a well-known arbitration figure in the region. His practice involves representation of the clients under UNCITRAL, ICC, SCC, LCIA, MKAS, GAFTA, FOSFA, CAS, Lithuanian Court of Arbitration and Vilnius Court of Commercial Arbitration rules.

Ramūnas sits as a party-appointed arbitrator in high-value SCC, ICC, LCIA and MKAS arbitrations. He is also appointed as law expert in numerous international arbitrations.

Ramūnas’s expertise is recognised by the leading international law directories The Legal 500, Chambers Global, Who‘s Who Legal, CEE Arbitration Powerlist and Global Arbitration Review.

Marie Berard - France/UK

Marie is a Partner with Clifford Chance LLP, specialising in international commercial arbitration. A British and French national based in London, she has acted as counsel for multinational corporations, governments, and individuals in over 50 international arbitration proceedings, with particular emphasis on the energy, oil & gas, construction and finance sectors. Marie also sits as a sole arbitrator, panel member and chair.

She is the Vice President of the LCIA European Users' Council, and a member of ICC UK Nominations Subcommittee. Marie is on the Editorial Board of the International Arbitration Law Review and Kluwer’s Journal of International Arbitration. She regularly contributes to UK arbitration updates circulated by International Law Office.

Stavros Brekoulakis - UK

Stavros Brekoulakis is a professor in International Arbitration at Queen Mary University of London and an associate member of 3 Verulam Buildings (Gray’s Inn). Stavros is a widely acknowledged authority in international arbitration, regularly named as a Thought Leader by Who’s Who Legal being described as “standing out as a first-rate arbitrator and academic; an expert in construction and commercial disputes who is regularly engaged in matters arising out of major infrastructure projects around the world” and as “very thorough and professional” and “held in the highest regard”. He has been shortlisted for the “Best Prepared and Most Responsive Arbitrator” Award of the Global Arbitration Review in 2016 and 2017. Stavros has been appointed in more than 35 arbitrations, as chairman, sole arbitrator and co-arbitrator with a particular expertise in arbitrations concerning major construction and complex infrastructure, energy and natural resources projects.

He holds several public appointments and commissions of trust including being a member of the Steering Committee of the UNCITRAL Academic Forum on ISDS, an Assistant Rapporteur in the International Law Association Committee of International Commercial Arbitration, a Co-Chair of the ICCA-Queen Mary Task Force on Third Party Funding, while his academic work includes the leading publications on Third Parties in International Arbitration (OUP 2010), Arbitrability (Kluwer 2008), ICCA-Queen Mary Report on Third Party Funding (2018) and GAR’s Guide to Construction Arbitration (2019) and numerous publications in leading legal journals and reviews.

Kate Brown de Vejar - Australia (Mexico)

Kate is a Partner and Global Co-Chair of International Arbitration at DLA Piper, where she specialises in both international commercial and investor-State arbitration. An Australian and New York qualified attorney, resident in Mexico City since 2009, she has represented private corporations, sovereign states and state-owned entities in arbitrations under the leading institutional and ad hoc arbitration rules (ICSID, UNCITRAL, ICC, LCIA, ICDR, CANACO, JCAA). Kate also sits as an arbitrator.

Widely recognised for her experience and results handling complex, high profile disputes in the energy and infrastructure sectors, Kate is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Queensland, is Vice President of ANZMEX (the Australia, New Zealand, Mexico Business Council), and is fluent in English, French and Spanish.

Dr Alfredo José Bullard González - Peru

Alfredo Bullard has acted as arbitrator, counsel, and legal expert in more than 300 cases under the ICC, ICSID and IACA rules, among others. His practice focuses primarily on international arbitration, both commercial and investment. He is founding partner of Bullard Falla Ezcurra+ (2000), a boutique law firm specialised in Arbitration, and is in charge of the Madrid office. He is professor at various universities where he teaches Arbitration, Law and Economics, and Legal Skills.

Alfredo was President of the Commission that drafted the Peruvian Arbitration Act. From 2017 to 2021, he was member of the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC. Formerly, Alfredo was the President of the Tribunal for Defense of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI). He is member of the Board of Directors of the Latin American Arbitration Association (ALARB) and of the Board of Directors of the “Club Español e Iberoamericano de Arbitraje”.

Utku Cosar - Turkey

Utku Coşar is an independent arbitrator at Arbitration Chambers with offices in New York, London and Istanbul. She specialises in commercial and investment arbitration and has extensive experience in energy, finance, shareholders’ and post-M&A/joint venture-related disputes, and investment arbitrations.

Prior to joining Arbitration Chambers, Utku was the senior partner at Coşar Avukatlik Burosu in Istanbul, acting as counsel in numerous high-profile international cases and sitting selectively as arbitrator.

Utku is a member of the LCIA Court and the Arbitration Court of the Swiss Arbitration Centre; Vice Chair of the IBA’s International Arbitration Committee; and a fellow at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb). She serves on the editorial board of Dispute Resolution International, the journal of the dispute resolution section of the IBA, and on the ICCA Publications Advisory Board.

Utku has been ranked in the first band and top tier for dispute resolution lawyers in Turkey by Chambers and The Legal 500 from 2008 to the present. She is a graduate of Georgetown University, with two LLM degrees in law and international legal studies, and is admitted to practise in New York and Turkey.

Anneliese Day KC

Anneliese is a ”leading lawyer of her generation” based out of Fountain Court Chambers who handles some of the most high-value and complex cases in the world, both as Lead Counsel and as Arbitrator. Anneliese has extensive expertise in commercial, energy, construction, investment treaty, insurance and professional liability disputes in both a national and international context. She was named as Construction Barrister of the Year at the Chambers & Partners Bar Awards in both 2014 and 2018, Construction and Energy Silk of the Year 2018 at the Legal 500 UK Awards, Barrister of the Year 2014 by The Lawyer and selected as one of the 500 most influential people in the UK by Debretts in 2015. She has dealt with a significant number of large international commercial and construction disputes concerning legally and technically complex projects, whilst also being known for her user friendly approach and ability to relate to others. She is a Bencher of The Inner Temple, a former Kennedy Scholar, and a regular speaker at arbitration conferences around the world.

Anand Desai - India

Anand has been the Managing Partner of DSK Legal since its inception in April 2001. With over three decades of wide-ranging experience in both contentious and non-contentious work across a wide range of practice areas, he has been a respected and sought-after counsel serving several large Indian and multinational corporations, business leaders and HNI’s, including Bollywood A-listers.

Anand’s expertise is recognised not only for his Dispute Resolution work but also for Mergers & Acquisitions / Private Equity, Real Estate, Insolvency & Restructuring, White-Collar Crime, Media & Entertainment, and Technology work. He appears as lead counsel in several significant international and domestic arbitrations, and domestic litigations in various Courts. He is widely regarded as a professional who takes a fair and practical approach to enable resolution of matters wherever possible.

Anand is ranked as the only “Eminent Practitioner”, being the highest ranking under Dispute Resolution – Mumbai based, in Chambers Global and Chambers Asia-Pacific. He is also highly ranked in various international publications including Who’s Who Legal, Asialaw, IFLR, and Legal 500 and was recognised by Asian Legal Business as one of Asia’s Top 15 Litigators in 2023. He is listed in ‘100 Legal Luminaries of India’ by LexisNexis, and recognised in India Business Law Journal’s “The A-List 2022” as a Legal Icon.

He has served as the National President of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and as President of TIE Mumbai, and is actively involved with several NGOs as a member of the Board or Advisory Board.

Artem Doudko - Russia/UK

Artem Doudko FCIArb, a solicitor-advocate, is a Partner and Head of Russia & CIS Disputes in the London Disputes and Risk Practice at Osborne Clarke LLP. Artem focuses on international arbitration and litigation involving Russian and/or CIS issues as well as advising Russian-speaking clients. Artem has a strong reputation and profile in his field and has been recognised as a Global Leader in the Who's Who Legal: Arbitration 2020 directory. Artem is identified as a Next Generation Partner and described as a "sharp-minded litigator" and as "very experienced in Russia and CIS-related arbitrations" in Legal500 UK 2020.

Artem is the Vice Chairman of the Board of the Russian Arbitration Association and a member of the Board of the Ukrainian Arbitration Association. He is a representative of the Anglo-Russian Law Association and a member of the executive committee of the Russia CIS Arbitration Network. Artem is a founder of "RYUMKA", a member of the London and Moscow committees of the Commercial Litigators' Forum ("CLF"), a member of the organising committee of the London International Disputes Week ("LIDW"), and a member of the Membership Committee of the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center ("SVAMC").

Nicola Dunleavy - Ireland

Nicola is a partner in the Dublin office of Matheson, and is head of the Matheson arbitration team. She has over twenty years' experience in commercial litigation, arbitration and mediation. Much of her work crosses borders, representing internationally-focused companies and financial institutions doing business in and from Ireland. As well as acting as counsel in arbitrations under the auspices of leading arbitral institutions, she represents clients in court proceedings concerning enforcement of arbitral awards and in applications for interim measures such as disclosure and freezing orders.

Nicola represents clients in complex, often multi-jurisdictional, commercial disputes including arising from M&A, regulatory disputes, EU and competition litigation, and constitutional litigation, as well as many major contractual disputes. Her experience arises in diverse sectors including technology and telecommunications, pharmaceutical, chemicals, food and drink, waste, water, energy, mining, and transport. Nicola has authored a number of articles and chapters on international arbitration. She is a Chartered Tax Adviser by the Irish Tax Institute and is Vice-President of Arbitration Ireland.

John Fellas - UK (USA)

John Fellas is a full-time arbitrator at Fellas Arbitration and an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law, teaching international commercial arbitration. He has over three decades of experience in international dispute resolution, and has acted as counsel and has served as co-arbitrator, chair or sole arbitrator in arbitrations all over the world, under all the major arbitration rules, and across a range of sectors. John is recognised as a leading international arbitrator by all the major legal directories including Chambers USA where he is ranked as “one of the best—his reputation is phenomenal and deserved.” He was recognised by Best Lawyers the Best Lawyer in New York for International Commercial Arbitration in 2019, and the Best Lawyer in New York for International Governmental Arbitration in 2022. He received a BA (Hons.) in law from the University of Durham, and both an LLM and an S.J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Steven Finizio - UK

Steven Finizio is a partner in Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP’s international arbitration and dispute resolution group, and has been based in London since 2000. Mr Finizio has acted as counsel or arbitrator in disputes under most leading international arbitration rules, involving the laws of jurisdictions in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the US, as well as bilateral and regional treaties. His work has involved a wide range of industries, and he has particular experience with oil and gas, financial services, shareholder, joint venture and M&A, and manufacturing issues. He also has assisted in drafting arbitration legislation and has been counsel in a number of cases in regional courts.

Steven has taught international arbitration as an adjunct professor, and is on the faculty of a number of arbitration academies in Asia, Europe, and Africa. He regularly speaks and writes on international dispute resolution issues, and his publications include “A Practical Guide to International Commercial Arbitration: Assessment, Planning and Strategy” (Sweet & Maxwell) and “International Commercial Arbitration” in The Law of Transnational Business Transactions (Thompson Reuters). Mr Finizio is a graduate of Georgetown University and the University of Chicago Law School.

Agis Georgiades - Cyprus

Agis is a partner and head of the dispute resolution team at Christos Georgiades & Associates LLC in Cyprus. His practice focuses on international litigation and arbitration. He has extensive experience in dealing with complex commercial, construction, energy, IP and fraud cases. His is regularly briefed by international law firms to represent clients as counsel in litigation and arbitration proceedings in Cyprus and abroad. He also acts as arbitrator and mediator. Agis lectures on the law of evidence at the University of Nicosia. He is a member of the Supreme Court’s Committee for Amending the Civil Procedure Rules. He is a Barrister of Lincoln’s Inn, a Fellow of CIArb and an Accredited Mediator. He is the author of several publications on arbitration, mediation, civil procedure and international law.

Beatrice Hamza-Bassey - USA

Beatrice Hamza Bassey is Group General Counsel at Atlas Mara Limited, a publicly listed financial services company where she oversees legal, compliance and corporate governance matters. Prior to that she was a partner in the New York offices of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, a Wall Street law firm where she was a member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the Africa Practice Group. Beatrice has acted as counsel in international arbitrations under the LCIA, ICC, AAA, and ICSID Rules across a number of industries and has successfully litigated and won many high-profile and precedent-setting cases on behalf of corporates and sovereign governments in state and federal courts in the U.S., as well as in other jurisdictions. She has also circled the globe representing clients in various parts of the world, including interfacing with regulators, across the whole spectrum of compliance matters. Clients frequently call upon Beatrice to bring to bear her knowledge of the regulatory landscapes and multi-cultural environments in which they operate to help formulate viable, forward-looking options for mitigating risks of pursuing business opportunities in various parts of the world.

Her work includes providing advice related to activities in Angola, Argentina, Botswana, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, China, France, Gabon, Ghana, India, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Panama, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Seychelles, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, the U.S., Zambia and Zimbabwe. She has been selected as a “New York Super Lawyer,” as one of the top lawyers in the specialty of Litigation for many years and has been recognized for several consecutive years as a “Future Star” of the United States Litigation Bar by Benchmark: Litigation: The Definitive Guide to America’s Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys. Her work has been featured in several publications as well as in a thirty-minute profile on CNN International’s “African Voices” highlighting her trailblazing role. She is a frequent speaker at Bar and industry events.

James Hope - Sweden

James Hope is head of international arbitration at the Stockholm office of Vinge in Sweden. He is a dual-qualified Swedish Advokat and English Solicitor-Advocate, with nearly 25 years’ experience of working as a dispute resolution lawyer. He started his career as a solicitor in Scotland and then spent ten years in London – at Simmons & Simmons and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom – before moving to Stockholm in 2006.

James has acted as counsel or arbitrator in more than 80 international arbitration cases, including inter alia under LCIA, ICC, SCC, UNCITRAL, ICDR, Danish Institute of Arbitration, and Finnish Chamber of Commerce arbitration rules. He has sat as arbitrator in Stockholm, London, Paris, Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki, under Swedish, English, Danish, Norwegian, Russian, Ukrainian and Finnish substantive laws, as well as under CISG. He is also a CEDR Accredited Mediator.

In addition to private practice, James is also a guest lecturer in arbitration at Stockholm, Uppsala and Edinburgh universities. From 2013 to 2018, James was a member of the Board of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, and prior to that he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Swedish Arbitration Association.

David Joseph KC - UK

David is a barrister and King’s Counsel practising from Essex Court Chambers, London. He acts both as counsel and arbitrator and has extensive experience in a wide range of commercial practice, in particular in joint ventures, shareholder disputes, banking and financial instruments, telecommunications, mining, oil and gas, renewable energy, shipping and shipbuilding, investment disputes, and software technology claims. He regularly appears as counsel in the courts of England and Wales in many of the leading cases concerning arbitration claims and ancillary injunctive relief. David has also appeared at all levels as counsel in the courts of Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. David has argued well over 200 major international arbitrations world-wide. He also sits as arbitrator (party appointed and Chair) in numerous references in the major arbitration seats of the world.

David is presently Secretary of COMBAR and representative of the Bar of England and Wales on the Brexit Law Committee. David is the author of Jurisdiction and Arbitration Agreements and their Enforcement (3rd Edition, Thompson, Sweet & Maxwell). David is co -author and editor of Singapore International Arbitration, Law & Practice (2nd Edition, Lexis Nexis).

Álvaro López de Argumedo - Spain

Álvaro López de Argumedo joined Uría Menéndez in 1992 and has been a partner since 2003. He is the coordinator of the Firm’s Litigation and Arbitration Department. He focuses his practice on domestic and international arbitration, international civil litigation and mediation. He has considerable experience in the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards, as well as in interim measures in judicial and arbitration proceedings. He has taken part in over 50 international and domestic arbitration proceedings before the main arbitral institutions (ICC, LCIA and CAM among others), particularly in matters relating to construction, energy distribution and M&A, as well as in judicial proceedings regarding those sectors. He is a member of both the Governing Board and the Mediation Commission of the Club Español del Arbitraje (CEA), Officer of the IBA’s Arbitration Committee (and President of its Soft Law Commission) and member of the UIA’s International Arbitration Committee.

Nania Owusu-Ankomah - Ghana

Nania is a litigation and arbitration practitioner and a Partner at Bentsi-Enchill, Letsa & Ankomah, a first tier law firm in Ghana. She regularly advises and represents clients in a range of high value litigation and arbitration disputes, and is particularly noted for her innovative approach to solving complex legal issues. She has served as a Member of the Electronic Communications Tribunal of Ghana, quasi-judicial body that hears appeals in respect of the regulation and licensing of telecommunications companies, television and radio stations in Ghana. Nania sits as an arbitrator and is listed on CPR’s Panels of Distinguished Neutrals and the Ghana ADR Hub List of Arbitrators.

She is a board member of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce International Arbitration Centre, a Councillor of the LCIA Africa Users’ Council and was recently appointed Co-Chair of the Africa Arbitration Group of the IBA Arbitration Committee, after serving as Editor of the IBA Arbitration Committee Newsletter. She has been recognised as one of Africa’s 50 Most Promising Young Arbitration Practitioners (2020) by the Association of Young Arbitrators and was named a Rising Star by Africa Arbitration (July 2019). She has also been featured as a ‘Woman to Watch’ by the African Institute of Women in Law and was part of the Task Force for the Commonwealth International Arbitration Study commissioned by the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Nania is a lecturer in Alternative Dispute Resolution at the Ghana School of Law. She is called to the bar in England and Wales and in Ghana.

Ank Santens - USA

Ank Santens is a partner in White & Case’s International Arbitration practice based in New York. She serves as counsel or arbitrator in commercial, investment, and construction arbitrations around the world. She frequently acts for sovereigns and global clients in the energy sector (electricity and oil & gas), infrastructure, mining, insurance, telecommunications, and other diverse industries. Ank is civil and common law trained, and multi-lingual (Spanish, French, Dutch).

Ank has been named a thought leader (Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders – Arbitration), one of "Most Highly Regarded Individuals" in arbitration (Who’s Who Legal’s Future Leaders 2017), and “Best in Commercial Arbitration” (Euromoney's Americas Women in Business Law Awards 2016), among other rankings.

She is a member of the Board of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR) and Delos Dispute Resolution, and serves on the Executive Committee of the Foundation for International Arbitration Advocacy (FIAA) and the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA). Past appointments include the ICCA-Queen Mary Task Force on Third Party Funding, Vice Chair of the IBA Arbitration Committee, Chair of the CPR Arbitration Committee, and Advisory Board member of Columbia University's Center for International Commercial and Investment Arbitration (CICIA). Ank is on the arbitrator roster of CPR, ICDR, CIESP/FIESP (Sao Paulo, Brazil), LCIA and the Lagos Court of Arbitration (Nigeria), as well as the IEL Energy Arbitrators List.

Kamal Shah - UK

Kamal is an arbitration partner, and the Head of Stephenson Harwood's Africa and India groups. He has been the President and Vice President of the African Users’ Council of the LCIA between 2016-2023, and is a Court Member since 2018, having been re-elected in May 2023. He is also a Court Member of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce International Arbitration Centre. Kamal is a Board Member of the Eastern Africa Association and the Rhino Ark UK.

Kamal is highly ranked in the Legal directories including The Legal 500, Chambers UK and Global and IFLR1000, and was listed in the Lawyer’s Hot 100 list of leading lawyers in the UK for 2009 and 2014. He has been in the Africa and Arbitration Power lists for the Legal 500, and in Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration - Future Leaders for the past few years. In addition to Africa, Kamal has extensive experience of advising Indian corporates and Government entities. He has been recognised as a leading name by the India Business Law Journal for several years.

Kamal acts for governments, government entities, national and independent energy companies, banks and financial institutions, private corporations and high net worth individuals in a range of arbitrations and litigations as counsel as well as arbitrator. He has experience in a diverse range of sectors and industries including energy, banking and finance, projects and infrastructure, tech and fintech, Agriculture and FMCG.

Shai Sharvit - Israel

Shai is an Israeli lawyer based in Tel-Aviv, Israel. He holds an LL.B. from Tel-Aviv University Law School and a joint LL.M. from Tel-Aviv University and UC Berkeley law schools. He is an Of Counsel in the international arbitration and transnational litigation practice group of Gornitzky & Co., one of Israel's leading law firms. Shai’s practice focuses mainly on counsel work in international arbitration and complex commercial disputes, which have cross-border or multi-jurisdictional aspects, in a wide variety of fields, including construction, insurance, shareholders’ disputes, D&O liability, IP, class actions, real estate, professional negligence, product liability, and contractual disputes.

Shai advised and represented clients in international arbitrations, conducted under the AAA-ICDR, ICC, ICSID and LCIA Arbitration Rules, and acted as a foreign legal expert in disputes before foreign courts, including US Federal and State Courts in various cases. Shai Holds various positions in arbitral institutions, including the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, ICC Belt and Road Commission and the Israeli Institute of Commercial Arbitration, where he was a member of the committee drafting the Institute's international arbitration rules.

Mohamed Shelbaya - France

Mohamed Shelbaya is a founding partner of Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes and is recognised as “as a leading figure in arbitration” with a particular focus on arbitrations in the oil & gas sector and/or arbitrations involving interests in the Middle East. Prior to founding Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes he was a partner at Shearman & Sterling LLP where he practiced for more than twelve years. He is based in Paris and has represented companies, States and State-owned entities in more than 60 commercial and investment treaty matters, including many multibillion-dollar disputes involving novel questions of international law and geopolitical issues. Mohamed has secured a number of landmark victories for his clients, including in a recent string of precedent-setting awards on the application of the ICSID Convention and the English law of assignment, which fully dismissed claims exceeding USD 4 billion that were brought against the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company in connection with the Damietta LNG Liquefaction plant.

He also advises energy companies regarding their contractual portfolio and on how to manage potential liability and mitigate litigation risk through dispute-minded contract drafting and corporate structure optimisation. He advises the Egyptian Government on the liberalisation of the Egyptian gas market and a number of State entities in the Middle East on the restructuring of their respective energy sectors.

Mohamed also regularly acts as arbitrator in commercial and investment arbitrations under the rules of the ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL and CRCICA. Mohamed teaches investment arbitration at Sciences Po Law School. He also serves as a member of the LCIA Court and as President of the LCIA’s Arab Users Council.

Christopher Style KC - UK

Christopher Style is a King’s Counsel and arbitrator practicing at One Essex Court. He has more than 35 years’ experience of International dispute resolution, including acting as counsel and arbitrator in institutional and ad hoc references with seats in many of the centres of International arbitration. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and one of the UK’s representatives on the ICC Commission on Arbitration.

Between 1977 and 2012, Christopher Style practised at Linklater’s in London. He became a partner in 1985 and held a number of senior management positions. He acquired solicitor’s higher courts rights of advocacy in 1997 and was appointed silk in 2006. He was called to the Bar to develop his practice as arbitrator in international commercial arbitration. He has been rated a leading practitioner by Chambers, the Legal 500 and GAR.

May Tai - Hong Kong

May Tai is a partner in Herbert Smith Freehill's International Arbitration group. She is also the Managing Partner of the firm's Greater China offices. She is currently based in Hong Kong but has also spent time in the firm's Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo and London offices.

In her cases, May advises governments, government owned-entities and commercial clients. Her practice covers a wide range of commercial and investment disputes and she has a particular focus on China-related arbitrations, and the energy and TMT sectors. She has acted as counsel and advocate in arbitrations under various rules and has sat on a number of cases as arbitrator. May speaks fluent English, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese) and Bahasa (Malaysia and Indonesia).

Sami Tannous - UAE

Sami is an international arbitration specialist focusing on international commercial arbitration and investor-State arbitration. He has represented clients in arbitrations under all major arbitration rules including the ICC, LCIA, ICSID, DIAC, SCC and UNCITRAL rules, with seats in London, Paris, Dubai, DIFC, Geneva, The Hague and Washington.

Sami has particular expertise of disputes involving the Middle East and North Africa. His experience includes advising clients on a broad range of commercial disputes including joint venture and shareholder agreements, SPAs, production sharing agreements and distribution/agency agreements, in various sectors including oil and gas, banking, real-estate, telecoms, defence, travel, media, and construction.

Sami has been based in Dubai for over ten years. Before relocating to Dubai, Sami worked in Freshfields’ Paris office, and in London.

Professor Dr Jacomijn van Haersolte-van Hof

Jackie van Haersolte-van Hof has been the Director General of the LCIA since 2014. Previously, she practised as counsel and arbitrator in The Hague, at her GAR 100 boutique HaersolteHof. She set up HaersolteHof in 2008 after three years as counsel in the international arbitration group at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Amsterdam.

From 2000 – 2004 she was with De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek in The Hague, and before that with Loeff Claeys Verbeke in Rotterdam, which she joined on her qualification in 1992.

She continues to sit as arbitrator and has handled cases under the ICSID, ICC, LCIA and UNCITRAL Rules, as well as those of the Netherlands Arbitration Institute (NAI), and UNUM, the Institute of Transport, Arbitration & Mediation, and at the Royal Dutch Grain and Feed Trade Association, based in the Netherlands. She is on the ICSID roster of arbitrators and was and is a member, including as president, of several ICSID Annulment Committees.

She was also involved in setting up the arbitral process for the Claims Resolution Tribunal in Zurich, which analysed claims from Holocaust survivors over dormant accounts in Swiss banks.

She is the professor of arbitration law at Leiden University and a member of GAR’s editorial board. Her 1992 PhD thesis on the application of the UNCITRAL Rules by the Iran-US Claims Tribunal was one of the first books to be published on the subject. On 3 December 2020 she delivered the 35th Annual Lecture of the School of International Arbitration and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, entitled “Impartiality and Independence: fundamental and fluid”. View here...

Johanna Wirth - Germany

Johanna is a partner in Hengeler Mueller’s international arbitration group. She primarily acts as counsel and arbitrator in domestic and international arbitration proceedings with particular focus on energy, technology, banking & finance and post-M&A disputes. Her major clients include companies in the energy and telecommunication sector, as well as German and international financial institutions. In addition to her arbitration work, Johanna advises her clients on a variety of international law issues and in compliance matters.

Johanna is admitted to the German Bar and the New York Bar. She is a graduate from Humboldt University Berlin and holds a Master of Law in Corporate Law (LL.M.) from the New York University School of Law. Her expertise has been recognised in various international and German rankings. She regularly speaks and writes on international dispute resolution issues.

Robert Wisner - Canada

Robert Wisner is a litigation partner at McMillan LLP and its Co-Chair, International Arbitration. His practise focuses on international dispute resolution and corporate litigation. Robert has argued numerous cases before international arbitral tribunals seated in venues throughout Canada, the United States, Asia and Europe. He has also appeared at all levels of court in Ontario and other Canadian jurisdictions. Robert has also served as arbitrator in domestic and international commercial disputes.

Many of Robert’s cases have involved matters of international law, shareholder remedies or complex commercial contracts, including M&A, joint venture, shareholder, supply and services agreements. Robert has been described "as ‘a leader in his field' through his premier international commercial and investor state arbitration work" (Who's Who Legal 2012). Chambers Canada ranks Robert in Band 1 of the leading individuals in arbitration and other legal directories have consistently recognised Robert’s work in the areas of international arbitration, cross-border business litigation and disputes relating to the Global Mining sector. Many of Robert's clients are involved in the mining, energy, aviation, infrastructure or telecommunications sectors.

Byung-Chol (B.C.) Yoon - Korea

Byung-Chol (B.C.) Yoon is a partner at Kim & Chang and the co-chair of the firm’s International Arbitration and Cross-Border Litigation Practice. Mr. Yoon has extensive experience in international arbitration and cross-border disputes. He has represented the firm's clients in a broad range of fields such as mergers and acquisitions, overseas investments, construction and joint venture in more than 200 arbitration cases in various jurisdictions, under various rules.

He served as a court member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration after serving as a member of the SIAC Board from 2009. He currently serves on the arbitration panels of ICSID, SIAC, ICDR, HKIAC and KCAB. In addition to his international career, his arbitration expertise has been highly valued in Korea where he was the President of the Korean Council for International Arbitration (KOCIA), playing a key role in promoting international arbitration and revising the KCAB’s International Arbitration Rules. At the same time, he served as the Secretary General of the Seoul International Dispute Resolution Centre (Seoul IDRC).

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