Diana Akikol Partner at Walder Wyss, Geneva Diana Akikol is Partner at Walder Wyss. She has been practising exclusively in the field of international arbitration for over a decade. She represents parties to arbitration proceedings in Switzerland and abroad. She has also developed extensive experience as an arbitrator, having served as sole arbitrator, emergency arbitrator, co-arbitrator and presiding arbitrator in over 30 arbitration proceedings, including high value cases and disputes involving state entities. Both as counsel and arbitrator, she has been involved in ad hoc (including UNCITRAL) and administered arbitrations (under the Swiss, ICC, LCIA and DIS Rules) governed by various arbitration acts and substantive laws.
Dr. Martin Bernet Owner at Bernet Arbitration / Dispute Management, Zurich Martin Bernet is one of Switzerland's leading dispute resolution practitioners with more than 30 years of experience in international arbitration and litigation. Working in his own independent practice, he offers services as an arbitrator, as well as counsel or co-counsel in arbitration and litigation proceedings.
Silvia Dahlberg Partner at Vinge, Göteborg Silvia Dahlberg is a partner in the Vinge’s dispute resolution group and her practice covers both arbitration and complex civil litigations in Swedish courts of all levels. Silvia Dahlberg has extensive experience as counsel in arbitrations seated in various jurisdictions and under most major arbitration rules. She is also regularly appointed as arbitrator. Her practice covers a number of different industries, such as construction, the manufacturing industry, insurance, energy and financial services. Silvia Dahlberg also has experience of investor‑state arbitration (ISDS) and related court proceedings.
Prof. Dr. Felix Dasser ASA President and Partner at Homburger, Zurich Felix Dasser is ASA's president. He is partner and a senior member and former head of the Litigation | Arbitration practice team of Homburger. He advises and represents companies in international commercial and investment disputes in litigation and arbitration proceedings, as well as on white-collar crime and regulatory compliance. He also sits as an arbitrator and acts as an expert witness on Swiss law.
Hon. Judge Allan L. Gropper (Ret.) United States Bankruptcy Judge at Southern District of New York, New York Allan L. Gropper was appointed as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York on October 4, 2000. Judge Gropper graduated from Yale College, cum laude, in 1965 and from 1965-1966 was a Fulbright Tutor in English at Christ Church College, Kanpur, India. He graduated from Harvard Law School, cum laude, in 1969 and became an attorney in the Civil Appeals Unit of the New York City Legal Aid Society. In 1972 Judge Gropper joined the law firm of White & Case, becoming a partner in 1978. He was for many years head of the firm’s bankruptcy and reorganization practice group and was active in many of the nation’s largest Chapter 11 cases, including Manville Corporation, Texaco, LTV Corporation, Federated Department Stores/Allied Stores Corp, Maxwell Communications Corp., MGM, United States Lines, Pan American World Airways, and Waterman Steamship Corp. Judge Gropper was also active in international insolvencies and restructurings and was located in the White & Case Hong Kong office during the year 1999-2000. He has lectured in several foreign countries on insolvency matters and is a co-editor of a two-volume text entitled International Insolvency published in 2000. He is adjunct professor of law at Fordham Law School and teaches a course in International Insolvency Law.
Jennifer Kirby Counsel & Arbitrator at Kirby, Paris Jennifer Kirby is an internationally recognized arbitration expert, who acts as counsel and sits as arbitrator in a wide variety of arbitration matters. Her experience covers a range of disputes, including those concerning agency agreements, construction and engineering projects, distribution agreements, hotel management, mergers and acquisitions, sales of goods and shareholder agreements. She also has experience under most major institutional and ad hoc arbitral rules. Jennifer began her career with a multinational firm as a New York litigator, representing clients in both international arbitrations and complex commercial litigations, with a particular focus on securities, insurance, mergers and acquisitions and white-collar criminal cases. From there, Jennifer went to the ICC International Court of Arbitration, where she served as both Counsel and Deputy Secretary General before leaving to join a multinational law firm as a partner in their arbitration group. The cases Jennifer has worked on cover the full economic spectrum, from relatively straightforward sale of goods disputes to complex cases concerning state contracts for the development of significant infrastructure projects, and involve parties and arbitrators from around the world. In addition, as Deputy Secretary General, Jennifer read and critiqued hundreds of draft awards submitted by arbitral tribunals for scrutiny and approval by the ICC Court. While at the ICC, Global Arbitration Review named Jennifer one of the 45 top arbitration lawyers under the age of 45. Since then, Jennifer has been recognized by Chambers Global as “a true expert in ICC-related disputes” and by The Who’s Who of International Arbitration as a “very sharp” global player in the field. Jennifer regularly publishes in the field, speaks at international arbitration conferences in the Americas, Europe and Asia and sits on a variety of expert groups helping to shape the future of international arbitration. Jennifer studied History at Cambridge and Columbia Universities, and obtained her law degree at the University of Virginia School of Law. She is admitted to the New York Bar and speaks English and French.
Prof. Dr. Stefan Kröll Director of the Center for International Dispute Resolution at Bucerius Law School, Hamburg Prof. Dr. Stefan Kröll is an internationally operating arbitrator with experience of more than 85 arbitrations in all areas of national and international business law including the involvement of state parties. In the relevant rankings, he is regularly named as one of the leading German experts in the field of international arbitration. He combines his practice as an arbitrator with extensive academic activities as Professor for International Dispute Resolution at Bucerius Law School and Director of its Center for International Dispute Resolution. In addition, he regularly gives lectures and talks at other leading institutions in Germany and abroad and am a Visiting Professor at the School of International Arbitration, University of London. Since 2012 he is a Director of the Willem C. Vis Arbitration Moot in Vienna, the leading student competition in the fields of international commercial law and arbitration with more than 350 participating Universities. His publications include several internationally renowned monographs, treatises and commentaries, as well as a considerable number of articles in international journals. He is one of Germany’s national correspondents at UNCITRAL and have been retained by UNCITRAL as one of three experts to prepare the DIGEST on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration.
Debby Lim Director, Advocate & Solicitor of BlackOak, Singapore Debby has a broad commercial practice with overlapping strengths in banking and finance disputes, insolvency and restructuring, domestic and international arbitrations. She has also acted in construction and property-related disputes, shareholder disputes as well as matters involving fraud, asset recovery and investigations. She has acted in some of the most prominent and complex cross-border insolvency and restructuring matters in the Asia Pacific region. Many of these matters involve acting for public listed companies. Debby has recently appeared before the Singapore Court of Appeal (with a full bench of five Judges) in SK Engineering & Construction Co Ltd v Conchubar Aromatics Ltd and another appeal [2017] SGCA 51, Diablo Fortune Inc v Duncan, Cameron Lindsay and another [2018] SGCA 26 and AnAn Group (Singapore) Pte Ltd v VTB Bank (Public Joint Stock Company) [2020] SGCA 33, a trifecta of jurisprudentially significant insolvency-related appeals to confront the Singapore courts. These are precedent-setting matters which impact the way the industry handles similar matters moving forward. Debby was the first Recipient of the Christopher Bathurst Essay Prize in conjunction with the Singapore Academy of Law. As a result, she did an attachment at Fountain Court Chambers which gave her access to the experience and skills of one of London’s leading commercial barristers’ chambers. She is also one of the first three Singapore-qualified practitioners to be bestowed the prestigious fellowship from INSOL International.
Fernando Mantilla-Serrano Partner at Latham & Watkins, Paris Fernando Mantilla-Serrano is a partner in the Paris office of Latham & Watkins and the Global Co-Chair of the International Arbitration Practice. He is acclaimed for the depth of his knowledge and experience in international arbitration representing companies, states, and state-owned entities in highly complex commercial and investor-state disputes. Mr. Mantilla-Serrano has acted as lead counsel in arbitrations conducted under the main institutional arbitration rules (ICC, LCIA, SCC, ICDR), as well as ad hoc rules, in venues around the globe. He has in-depth experience in complex investor-state disputes, in particular under the aegis of ICSID. Mr. Mantilla-Serrano is member of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) Governing Board and of the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) Court of Arbitration, fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) and member of the International Law Association (ILA). Mr. Mantilla-Serrano regularly serves as tribunal chairman, sole arbitrator, and party-appointed arbitrator. He has also served as an expert before arbitral tribunals and state courts. He features as top-ranked lawyer in the Global-wide, Europe-wide, Latin America-wide, France, and Spain Chambers guides. Mr. Mantilla-Serrano is also featured in the Who's Who Legal 2017 as an arbitration expert.
Alexis Mourre Independent Arbitrator & President at the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris Alexis Mourre is president of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and past chair of the IBA arbitration committee. He has participated as counsel or arbitrator in more than 260 arbitration proceedings under most international arbitration rules, and on 1 May 2015 established his independent arbitrator practice. He is the author of several books and many articles on international arbitration and private international law. He is fluent in French, English, Spanish and Italian, and has good knowledge of Portuguese.
Patricia Nacimiento Partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, Frankfurt Patricia Nacimiento is an expert in litigation with a special focus on international and German arbitration and all forms of alternative dispute resolution, including mediation. She has extensive experience both as a party representative and as an arbitrator. She also has considerable expertise in cross-border litigation and arbitration-related litigation. Her main areas of practice are in energy, construction and post M&A disputes. Patricia has extensive experience in managing large strategic dispute resolution proceedings and leading cross-border teams including the fight against corruption and money laundering. She further focuses on investment arbitration and the law of nations, also in the field of business and human rights. As a party representative, Patricia has conducted over 140 arbitration proceedings under the rules of numerous arbitration institutions – including ICC, ICSID, SCC, CIETAC, DIS, LCIA, ICDR, Swiss Chamber of Commerce, Indian Council of Arbitration, and the Danish Institution of Arbitration as well as ad hoc proceedings. She is also regularly appointed as an arbitrator and has led numerous international ICC-, DIS- and ad hoc arbitration proceedings as a chairperson, sole arbitrator or party appointed arbitrator. The German government has appointed Patricia in 2007 as one of four arbitrators to the panel of arbitrators at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). She was recently reappointed to the panel of arbitrators following a competitive process organized by the competent German Ministry.
Dr. Georg Naegeli Partner at Homburger, Zurich Georg Naegeli is partner at Homburger AG. He is a member of Homburger’s Litigation / Arbitration practice team and the Restructuring / Insolvency working group. He knows how judges think because he served as one for ten years. He now represents clients in commercial disputes before state courts and in international arbitrations.
Sophie Nappert Lawyer and Arbitrator at 3 Verulam Buildings, London Sophie Nappert is an arbitrator in independent practice, based in London. She is dual-qualified as an Avocat of the Bar of Quebec, Canada and as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. Before becoming a full-time arbitrator, she pursued a career as an advocate and was Head of International Arbitration at a global law firm. Ms Nappert is trained and has practised in both civil law and common law jurisdictions. She holds degrees in both common law and civil law from McGill University and a Masters’ Degree in Law from King’s College London. She is the peer-nominated Moderator of OGEMID, the online discussion forum on current issues of international investment law, economic law and arbitration. She is ranked in Global Arbitration Review's Top 30 List of Female Arbitrators Worldwide and is commended as a “leading light” in the field by Who’s Who Legal. Ms Nappert is an award-winning lecturer and the first female recipient of the Global Arbitration Review Award for Best Speech in 2016 for her Inaugural EFILA Annual Lecture on International Investment Arbitration: Escaping from Freedom? The Dilemma of an Improved ISDS. She delivered the 2018 Proskauer Lecture on International Arbitration, Disruption Is The New Black, which was also shortlisted for Best Speech at the 2019 GAR Awards. Ms Nappert is the author of a Commentary on the 2010 UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. She is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars on issues of international arbitration, international investment law and dispute resolution. She is a guest lecturer at Columbia Law School, Harvard Law School and McGill University Faculty of Law. She created the Nappert Prize in International Arbitration, open to young scholars and practitioners worldwide, administered under the auspices of McGill University.
Noradèle Radjai Partner at LALIVE, Geneva Noradèle Radjai is a partner in the international arbitration team, specialising in commercial and investment arbitration in the energy (in particular oil and gas), telecommunications and construction sectors. She also advises clients from the Middle East or in relation to contracts or projects in the Middle East. Ms Radjai has acted as counsel, advocate and arbitrator in over 50 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 including Swiss, English, Lebanese, Kuwaiti, French, Russian, Cypriot, New York and Californian. Ms Radjai is highly recognised by the leading legal directories. She was ranked as one of the top 5 arbitration partners globally under the age of 45 in Who’s Who Legal: Future Leaders – Arbitration 2017 and is currently ranked in Who’s Who Legal’s global ranking for all arbitration practitioners. She is also included by Chambers Global and Europe in their Europe-wide and Switzerland rankings of leading arbitration counsel. Ms Radjai is an Officer of the IBA Arbitration Committee (as co-chair of the Corporate Counsel Subcommittee), a board member of ASA (Swiss Arbitration Association), a member of the Pledge Steering Committee and the CPR European Advisory Board. In addition, she is a member of the SCAI Marketing Committee and a member of several other professional associations, namely the LCIA, the BIICL, the American Bar Association and Arbitral Women. Prior to joining LALIVE, Ms Radjai worked in the international arbitration group of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in London, and with Simmons & Simmons in London. Noradèle Radjai is a Solicitor-Advocate of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. She holds a Diploma in Law, with distinction, from the College of Law, London, and an LL.B., with honours, from King’s College London (1999).