Counts by sector as listed by the arbitrator, who describes the list as partial. Confidential appointments are not itemised; a case may appear under two sectors.

Roles

Chair, sole arbitrator and co-arbitrator in investment and international commercial proceedings; also counsel and expert

Positions

Board of Directors, Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration
ICSID Panels of Arbitrators and of Conciliators
Member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration (two terms)
Chairman, Banking Commission of ICC France
ICCA Judiciary Committee; ACICA Practice & Procedures Board
Fellow of CIArb and ACICA; Des Voeux Chambers List of Neutrals (Hong Kong)

Languages

Arabic, English, French

Institutions

ICC, ICSID, LCIA, PCA, SIAC, HKIAC, DIAC, SCC, VIAC, CRCICA, AAA-ICDR, SCCA, CIETAC, KCAB, JCAA, WIPO, BCDR-AAA, P.R.I.M.E. Finance

Seats

Paris, London, Geneva, Zurich, The Hague, Stockholm, Milan, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Doha, Manama, Beirut, Cairo, Singapore, Hong Kong

Sectors

Construction and projects, Investment treaty, Energy, Banking and finance, Telecommunications, Transportation, Defence procurement, Commodity trading, Joint ventures, Distribution

Named cases

ICSID Case No. ARB/20/47, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. v. Kingdom of Spain
ICSID Case No. ARB/16/16, Global Telecom Holding S.A.E. v. Canada
PCA Case No. 2023-13
PCA Case No. AA695 (UNCITRAL Rules)

Based in

Paris, Fujairah, Hong Kong (Des Voeux Chambers)

Curriculum vitae

Career

• Founding Partner, AFFAKI, Paris — Avocat à la Cour (Paris Court of Appeal)
• Thirty years of corporate and private practice, including as managing director heading the international legal department of a leading financial institution
• Justice of the Qatar International Court
• Member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration for two terms (second term from 1 July 2018)
• Foreign Trade Counselor of France, appointed by decree of 18 January 2019 and renewed since

Academic

• Professor of Law, University of Paris (Professor Dr. habil.)
• Lecturer in Islamic finance, Université Paris Dauphine
• Author or editor of several books and over 80 articles and case notes on international arbitration and litigation, economic sanctions, banking and finance, Islamic finance and cross-border insolvency

Institutional roles

• Board of Directors, Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration (SCCA)
• Panels of Arbitrators and of Conciliators, ICSID
• Chairman, Banking Commission of ICC France; founder and chair of the Legal Committee of the ICC Banking Commission
• Member, ICCA Judiciary Committee; Policy and Procedures Board and Fellow, ACICA
• Member, UNCITRAL Working Group VI; founding member, ICC Financial Crime Risk and Policy Group
• Board of Governors, UNIDROIT Foundation; International Financial Legal Experts body, Shanghai High People's Court
• Consultant to the IFC (Morocco secured transactions reform), the World Bank FIAS (OHADA Uniform Act on Secured Transactions) and the International Trade Centre (WTO/UNCTAD)
• Rapporteur, ILA Resolution No. 3/2012; chaired the revision of the P.R.I.M.E. Finance Arbitration Rules
• Editorial boards of Banque et Droit and the Banking and Finance Law Review (Canada)

Panels

• Chartered Arbitrator and Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Presidential Panel)
• Empanelled with some thirty arbitral institutions, including ICC, ICSID, LCIA, SIAC, HKIAC, CIETAC, ADGM, SCCA and TRAC; List of Neutrals, Des Voeux Chambers, Hong Kong

Honours

• Chambers and Partners — "Most in Demand Arbitrators" (Global, Europe, France)
• Euromoney — Guide to the World's Leading Experts in Commercial Arbitration
• European Prize for Interdisciplinary Research (2002)
• Starr Foundation and Calouste Gulbenkian scholarships (1991–1995)

Selected publications

• Guide to ICC Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees, 2nd ed. (with Sir Roy Goode), ICC Publishing, 2024
• Overriding Mandatory Rules and Compliance in International Arbitration (ed., with Vladimir Khvalei), ICC Publishing
• Jurisdictional Choices (ed., with Horacio Grigera Naón), ICC Publishing
• Cross-border Insolvency and Conflict of Jurisdictions (ed.), Bruylant, 2007
• "Arbitrating climate change finance disputes", Stockholm Arbitration Yearbook, 2021
• "Arbitration in Banking and Financial Disputes Deconstructed", Festschrift für Herbert Kronke, 2020
• "L'arbitrage en matière bancaire et financière", Paris Journal of International Arbitration, 2014
• "A banker's approach to arbitration", ASA Bulletin, 2003

Expertise

The legal issues and sectors decided most often in the published awards. Each links to the cases in the database.

bifurcation 2Canada–USSR BIT 2Canada–Moldova BIT 2most-favoured-nation clause 2definition of investment 2Salini criteria 2aircraft seizure 2sanctions 2air transportation 2importing substantive protections 1standing of lessee 1ratione personae 1ratione materiae 1UNCITRAL Rules 1976 Article 21(4) 1Volga-Dnepr 1jurisdictional objections 1Singapore seat 1jurisdiction ratione personae 1jurisdiction ratione materiae 1lessee standing 1leased aircraft 1OFAC 1Article 21(4) UNCITRAL Rules 1976 1confidentiality and transparency 1