Chairperson - Prof. Dr. Maxi Scherer

Prof. Dr. Scherer is a member of the Paris bar and a Solicitor of England and Wales. She is a Special Counsel at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP (London). Professor Maxi Scherer represents clients in numerous international arbitrations before most major arbitral institutions (including HKIAC, ICC, ICDR, ICSID, LCIA, SCC and SIAC) and at various seats, governed by a variety of substantive and procedural laws (including Algerian, Congolese, English, French, German, Hong Kong, Nigerian, and Swiss law), in different industry sectors, with a strong focus on energy disputes. She regularly serves as arbitrator in numerous ad hoc and institutional arbitrations, including with States and State-owned parties, with significant amounts in dispute and multiple parties, conducted in English, French and German. She has published numerous articles and treatises in the field of international arbitration, and is the General Editor of Kluwer Journal of International Arbitration.

Ms. Chiann Bao

Ms. Bao is a Mandarin-speaking Attorney of New York. She is a member of Arbitration Chambers in Hong Kong and London. She has served as chairman, party-appointed arbitrator, sole arbitrator and emergency arbitrator on international arbitral tribunals in ad hoc and institutional arbitrations under the ICC, HKIAC, SIAC, UNCITRAL, and KCAB rules. She serves as Vice President of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Court of Arbitration and is a member of the ICC Belt and Road Commission. From 2010 to 2016, Chiann served as Secretary-General of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre. She is also a CEDR accredited mediator. She also has experience as counsel, having practiced at international law firms in Hong Kong and New York and represented corporates and state-owned enterprises in a range of disputes in sectors under all of the major institutional rules. She is an Honorary Senior Fellow to the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.

Prof. Lise Bosman

Lise Bosman is based at the Peace Palace in The Hague, as Senior Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) and Executive Director of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA). She is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and has published and spoken widely in the field of international arbitration. Lise is the General Editor of the ICCA International Handbook on Commercial Arbitration (a six-volume loose-leaf collection of arbitration-related legislation and commentary on over 80 jurisdictions; Kluwer Law International, published since 1984) and the General Editor and contributing author of Arbitration in Africa: a Practitioner's Guide (Kluwer Law International, 2013). Her areas of specialization are: international commercial arbitration law and practice; the practice and development of international arbitration in Africa; international investment law; investor-State arbitration; and State-State arbitration.

Dr. Remy Gerbay

Dr. Gerbay is an Attorney practising at at US-based disputes firm MoloLamken LLP, and an academic based at Queen Mary University of London’s School of International Arbitration. Remy was formerly Deputy Registrar of the LCIA and acting Registrar of DIFC-LCIA. He frequently sits as arbitrator in international disputes and serves on the Editorial Boards of the Kluwer Journal of International Arbitration and the ICC Bulletin.

Ms. Ndanga Kamau

Ms. Kamau is the Founder of Ndanga Kamau Law based in The Hague and Nairobi. Her practice focuses on Africa, and she specialises in international dispute settlement and public international law. She acts as counsel and sits as arbitrator in institutional and ad hoc arbitrations, advises clients on investment protection, and regularly speaks at conferences around the world. She is Vice-President of the ICC Court of Arbitration, President of the ICC Africa Commission, a Vice-Chair of the IBA Arbitration Committee, and a former Registrar of the LCIA-MIAC Arbitration Centre. She is Kenyan and a non-practising Barrister of England and Wales.

Ms. Jennifer Kirby

Ms. Kirby is a New York lawyer based in Paris. She acts as counsel and sits as arbitrator in a wide variety of international arbitration matters. She has experience under all major institutional and ad hoc arbitral rules. She served formerly as both Counsel and Deputy Secretary General of the ICC International Court of Arbitration. She regularly publishes in the field, speaks at conferences around the world and sits on a variety of expert groups helping to shape the future of international arbitration.

Mr. Jonathan Ripley-Evans

Mr. Ripley-Evans is a Director at Herbert Smith Freehills LLP based in Johannesburg. He has extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution, in particular arbitration and mediation, and general commercial litigation. He is an AFSA accredited mediator and arbitrator, a board member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, SA Branch, and a committee member of both AFSA International and AFSA Construction.

Mr. Jonathan Lim

Mr. Lim is a Senior Associate at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP (London) where he focuses on international arbitration matters. He has particular experience with disputes in the energy, financial services, technology and telecommunications sectors, representing clients in ad hoc and institutional arbitrations in common law and civil law jurisdictions in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. He has also advised governments in Asia and Africa on international law issues and the drafting of arbitration legislation. He is a Co-Chair of the Asia-Pacific Forum on International Arbitration.

Dr. Gregory Travaini

Dr. Travaini joined Herbert Smith Freehills in 2012 (Paris, Hong Kong) after acting as Deputy Counsel at the ICC and research assistant to Prof. Martin Hunter at Essex Court Chambers. He advises clients in commercial and investment treaty arbitration in particular in energy, infrastructure, and construction disputes, acting for both private companies and state-owned entities. He has extensive experience in Africa-related matters (including OHADA law) and appears before French courts in commercial matters, parallel, enforcement and setting aside proceedings. He is a founding member of AfricArb.

Ms. Funke Adekoya SA

Ms. Adekoya is a Senior Advocate admitted to the Nigerian bar and a Solicitor of England and Wales. She is a Partner at ǼLEX Partner, where she heads the dispute resolution practice. She provides legal representation to domestic and offshore clients, and advises foreign counsel and their clients on Nigerian government and regulatory compliance issues as a dispute avoidance mechanism. Ms. Adekoya acts as counsel, co-counsel and Nigerian law expert in both international and domestic litigation and arbitration proceedings. She is a member of the ICCA Governing Body, a board member of the Lagos Court of Arbitration and the African Users Council of the LCIA and a former Chairman of the Nigerian Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Mr. Cavinder Bull SC

Mr. Bull is Chief Executive Officer of Drew & Napier LLC in Singapore. He is called to the bars of Singapore, New York and England & Wales and handles both investor-state cases and commercial cases as arbitrator or counsel. Mr. Bull has an active practice in particular in complex litigation and international arbitration. He is a member of the ICCA Governing Board, Vice-President of the SIAC Court of Arbitration and Vice-President of the Asian Pacific Regional Arbitration Group. Mr. Bull has published work in the areas of international arbitration and contract law and is one of the authors of "Arbitration in Singapore" (Sweet and Maxwell, 2014) and is the General Editor of Law Relating to Specific Contracts in Singapore Sweet & Maxwell, 2nd Edition, 2016.

Prof. David Butler

Prof. Butler was an influential advisor to the South African Government on the International Arbitration Act and is Professor Emeritus and Research Fellow at Stellenbosch University's Department of Mercantile Law. He is also a member of the South African Law Reform Commission Advisory Committee for Alternative Dispute Resolution. Prof. Butler is South Africa's leading academic on arbitration law. He regularly speaks and represents South Africa at various international conferences and has written widely on the field of international arbitration, including "Arbitration in South Africa Law and Practice" (ARIA Vol. 4 No. 4 1993).

Dr. Helena H. C. Chen

Dr. Chen is partner and Joint Head of Office, China at Pinsent Masons LLP. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and qualified in Taiwan, Mainland China and New York State. Dr. Chen has vast experiences in arbitration, infrastructure projects and cross-border investments. She has acted as counsel and sole arbitrator, chairperson and co-arbitrator in over one hundred domestic and international disputes. Dr. Chen is a member of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Users Council, the Vice-Chairperson of the Mediation Center of Chinese Arbitration Association and an Associate Mediator of the Singapore Mediation Centre.

Ms. Joanne Cross

Ms. Joanne Cross is Assistant General Counsel for Dispute Resolution and Special Projects at British Petroleum (BP). She handles substantial disputes for the BP Group across the globe, including handling all the Group’s international arbitration cases and focuses on complex, high value and high risk disputes that may have significant financial and/or reputational impact on the BP Group. She also has considerable experience in human rights law and advises on human rights issues in the business context. Prior to this, she practiced as a Dispute Resolution specialist at Herbert Smith.

Mr. Ning Fei

Mr. Fei is managing partner at Hui Zhong Law Firm based in Beijing. He specialises in commercial arbitration and general dispute resolution, representing Chinese and foreign clients in more than one hundred cases before Chinese and international arbitral tribunals as well as PRC courts at various levels up to the Supreme People’s Court. Mr. Fei also advises foreign clients on foreign direct investment, mergers and acquisitions, real estate development in China as well as other forms of cross-border trade and economic activities. He sits as arbitrator in international arbitration proceedings and is the first mainland practitioner serving as a council member of Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC).

Mr. Steven Finizio

Mr. Finizio is a partner in the International Arbitration Practice at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in London. His practice includes international arbitration and alternative dispute resolution, general commercial litigation, and internal investigations, focusing on complex commercial and regulatory issues. He has particular experience with oil and gas, financial services, shareholder, joint venture and M&A, and manufacturing issues and also serves as an arbitrator. His pro bono work has included winning a landmark decision in the first freedom of expression case in the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Issa Loha Konaté v Burkina Faso. Mr. Finizio has also taught at a number of universities and is on the faculty at the Cologne Academy of Arbitration and the Africa International Legal Awareness (AILA) annual International Treaty Law and Arbitration Programme.

Rt. Hon. Lord Hoffmann

Lord Hoffmann was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (Law Lord) from 1995 to 2009 where he became well known for his lively decisions and willingness to break with convention. Since then he has been appointed as an arbitrator in more than 100 international commercial and investment treaty disputes under the ICC, LCIA, ICSID, UNCITRAL, SIAC and KLRCA Arbitration Rules in disputes concerning commercial, property, intellectual property rights, private international law and public international law. He is ranked among the “most in demand” international arbitrators global-wide with a “stellar reputation”.

Ms. Wairimu Karanja

Ms. Karanja is founder, Director and lead consultant at Wairimu & Co based in Nairobi, Kenya. Ms. Karanja regularly advises clients in sectors including telecommunication, private equity, real estate investment, energy and natural resources projects, investment law, and trade in Eastern Africa. She holds a Master’s Degree in Energy Law and Policy from the University of Dundee’s Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy.

Mr. Tejas Karia

Mr. Karia is a partner and head of Arbitration practice at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co in New Delhi, India. He specialises in international and domestic commercial arbitrations and information technology law. He has extensive experience in representing public and private corporations as counsel in arbitrations seated in India and abroad. He has been part of committee set up by Law Commission of India for preparing Report on amendments to the 1996 Arbitration and Conciliation Act. He regularly sits as an Arbitrator. He has been recognised as “Leading Lawyer in Dispute Resolution” by Asialaw Leading Lawyers, mentioned in Legal 500, ranked by Chambers & Partners for Arbitration and listed in Who’s Who Legal - Arbitration. He is a Member of the SIAC Court of Arbitration, the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, Fellow of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Director of India Branch of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Mr. Patrick Lane SC

Mr. Lane is a member of the bar both in South Africa and London, after formerly practising as an Attorney. He is a member of the Maisels Group and 39 Essex Street Chambers. Mr. Lane acts as counsel and arbitrator under EU, ICC, DIAC, LCIA and UNCITRAL rules in domestic and international matters and has chaired and been a member of a number of Dispute Adjudication Boards, including on the Berg River Dam, Nampula (Mozambique) Water Reticulation Upgrades, Kusile and Medupi Power Stations and the SANRAL Road Upgrading. He is a Vice-Chair of the AFSA Board of directors and is a member of the CAJAC International Guiding Committee. Mr. Lane has published and spoken regularly at both national and international conferences.

Prof. Dr. Julian DM Lew QC

Prof. Dr Lew QC is a full-time Arbitrator at Twenty Essex and a Professor and Head of the School of International Arbitration, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, at Queen Mary University of London. He has been involved with international arbitration for more than 40 years as an academic, counsel and arbitrator. Before 2005, Prof. Lew was a partner and, for some years, the head of the international arbitration practice group of Herbert Smith. He has considerable experience as arbitrator in international and domestic arbitration proceedings, ad hoc and under the aegis of institutional rules in construction, engineering, intellectual property, post-mergers and acquisitions, agency and distribution, foreign investment, joint ventures and general contractual matters.

Mr. Vlad Movshovich

Mr. Movshovich is an Attorney of South Africa and a Solicitor of England and Wales. He is a partner in the Dispute Resolution Practice at Webber Wentzel based in Johannesburg. He has particular expertise in the fields of complex commercial and corporate dispute resolution, domestic and international arbitration, public, administrative and procurement law disputes, as well as mining and mineral law. He serves as a board member of the African Arbitration Association. He is fluent in English, Afrikaans and Russian.

Ms. Lindi Nkosi-Thomas SC

Ms. Nkosi-Thomas is a Senior Counsel and a member of the Johannesburg Bar. Her areas of practice and interest include litigation and arbitration in commercial law, constitutional and administrative law, corporate governance law, aviation law, tax law and competition law. She acts both as counsel and arbitrator in various litigious matters of national importance and international arbitral cases. Ms. Nkosi-Thomas has acted as a Judge of the High Court of South Africa on numerous occasions and continues to do so from time to time. She is a board member of the China-Africa Joint Arbitration Centre NPC (CAJAC), a member of AFSA and a panellist of the Shanghai International Arbitration Center (SHIAC). She is also the Chairperson of South Africa BRICS Arbitration Expert Committee.

Dr. Emilia Onyema

Dr. Onyema is an Associate Professor teaching International Commercial Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and dually-qualified in Nigeria and England and Wales. She is a member of the court of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce International Arbitration Centre and of the Advisory Committee of the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration. She convenes the “SOAS Arbitration in Africa” conference series and has published widely in arbitration related issues, including "Rethinking the Role of African National Courts in Arbitration" (Kluwer Law International, 2018).

Ms. Alison Pearsall

Ms. Pearsall is Senior Group Counsel at Veolia Environment S.A., based in Paris, where she provides legal counsel and strategy development in complex arbitration and international litigation cases in Northern Europe, North America and Australia. Prior to this, she was responsible energy related arbitration and litigation cases in Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Shell. She previously served as the Common Law Counsel at the ICC Court of Arbitration. She is a Court Member London Court International Arbitration, a Member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration, and is a Board Member of Arbitral Women.

Dr. Mohamed Abdel Raouf

Dr. Abdel Raouf is Partner and Head of the International Arbitration Group at Abdel Raouf Law Firm, Cairo-Egypt; Associate Professor at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne; member of the Governing Board and former Vice President of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA); member of the Board of Trustees and the Advisory Committee of the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA); former Member of the Board of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC); former Vice President of the International Federation of Commercial Arbitration Institutions (IFCAI); former Director of the CRCICA; CEDR Accredited Mediator; Arbitrator, Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS); and Conciliator designated by the President of the World Bank Group to serve on the Panel of Conciliators maintained by the ICSID.

Ms. Ank Santens

Ms. Santens is a partner at White & Case and serves as counsel or arbitrator in commercial, investment, and construction arbitrations around the world, under all major international arbitration rules as well as under ad hoc and regional rules. She is a member of the Board of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution, Delos Dispute Resolution, the LCIA and the Executive Committee of the Foundation for International Arbitration Advocacy. She also serves on the advisory board of AFSA, the Program Committee of NYIAC and the Editorial Committee of International Arbitration Case Law. She helped Haiti build a culture of international arbitration as part of the country's efforts to rebuild and attract foreign investment.

Ms. Leyou Tameru

Ms. Tameru is a legal consultant and the founder of I-Arb Africa, the online portal exclusively focused on arbitration in Africa. She regularly consults African governments and international organizations on international arbitration disputes, investment and policy matters including treaty drafting/amendment. She is an ICC Court Member and a member of its Africa Commission, Advisory Board member of the MARC arbitration center in Mauritius and member of the Board of Directors of the African Arbitration Association (AfAA).

Mr. Craig Tevendale

Mr. Tevendale is a partner and Head of Herbert Smith Freehills' International Arbitration group in London. He has broad experience of commercial arbitration, court and expert determination proceedings in particular in the energy and projects matters. North Africa and the Middle East are areas of particular specialism. He is also frequently nominated as arbitrator by parties and institutions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Craig is a member of The Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration's advisory committee and frequently publishes on arbitration and energy law. He also lectures at the University of London on upstream oil and gas disputes.

Mr. Fui Tsikata

Mr. Tsikata is senior partner at the Reindorf Chambers based in Ghana. He is a member of the Ghana Bar and has significant experience working on mineral law and policy issues in Africa. He regularly advises clients on the regulatory regime applicable to their investments in Ghana and was one of Ghana’s advocates in the proceedings at the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea relating to the maritime boundary between Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. Mr. Tsikata has taught at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ghana for nearly three decades and is on the editorial board of Resources Policy, an international journal of minerals policy and economics.

Mr. Baiju Vasani

Mr. Vasani is a partner at Jones Day focusing exclusively on international arbitration, based in London and Washington DC. He has served as counsel and arbitrator in international arbitrations, including in mining, energy, oil and gas, construction and other large-scale project disputes across the world. He has advised States on the negotiation and drafting of treaties and is working with the Government of Somalia to assist it in acceding to the New York Convention and in drafting a new arbitration law. He is Co-Head of the Legal Task Force set up to create an international arbitration center for the Horn of Africa under the auspices of the Djibouti Chamber of Commerce and Intergovernmental Development Authority.

Mr. V.V. (Johnny) Veeder QC

Mr. Veeder is a barrister at Essex Court Chambers in London and practices as an arbitrator and advocate, specialising in commercial law and international trade, including foreign investment, banking, financial services, commodity transactions, international arbitration, oil & gas, maritime and sports laws. He has extensive experience both as counsel and arbitrator under the aegis of international arbitration rules and ad hoc arbitrations. Among his many positions held in various professional organizations, Mr. Veeder is a member of the Council of the ICC Institute of World Business Law and the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, an advisory member of the ICCA Governing Body and a former Vice-President of the LCIA Arbitration Court. He is also a Visiting Professor on Investment Arbitration at King's College, University of London.