Categoria: Speakers 2023

Pedro Arcoverde is a Managing Counsel at the Secretariat of the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris, where he oversees the work of 12 case management teams. Before that, he was Counsel of the Swiss-Italian team. Pedro joined the ICC as Deputy Counsel in 2015 after having trained with two major international law firms and an energy company, and also spent two and a half years in the Secretariat’s office in New York. Pedro is admitted to practice law in Paris and in Brazil, teaches Dispute Resolution at Sciences Po Law School, and is fluent in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

Michael Polkinghorne is a Franco-Australian dual-qualified lawyer, resident in Paris where he heads White & Case’s Paris arbitration group and is co-leader of the Firm’s pro bono practice. He has served as counsel and arbitrator in arbitrations conducted under most major institutional rules and is the former Australian member of the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC. He is a council member of the ICC Institute and was a member of the ICC Task Force on arbitrations involving state entities. He has covered disputes involving over thirty countries, and has in recent years been involved in a number of mediations, notably in the industrial gas sector. Michael has also served in over two dozen cases as arbitrator (sole, party-appointed or chair), predominantly in the energy sector, under the ICC, LCIA, SCC, Bahrain CDR, FAI, Thai MoJ and UNCITRAL rules. He has also testified as expert witness on international best energy practices.
 
Michael is a member of numerous panels of arbitrators and has recently been included on the Global Arbitrators and Counsel Lists of the Office of the Ombudsman for United Nations Funds and Programmes.

Toby Landau KC is a barrister, advocate and arbitrator, and a member of the Bars of England & Wales, Singapore, New York, the BVI and Northern Ireland, and registered in the DIFC. He practises in London as a sole practitioner and in Singapore from Duxton Hill Chambers (Singapore Group Practice). As Counsel, he has argued hundreds of major international commercial, investor-State and inter-state arbitrations, as well as ground-breaking cases in the highest courts of England, Singapore, Hong Kong, Pakistan and the Caribbean. Since April 2012 he has been a member of the Panel of Advisors to the Attorney-General of Singapore. As Arbitrator, he has extensive experience in commercial and investor-State disputes under most of the world’s leading ad hoc and institutional rules. He is Visiting Professor at Kings College London; a Vice President of the SIAC Court of Arbitration; Member of the Governing Board of ICCA; Fellow of the CIArb and Chartered Arbitrator; Vice-Chairman of the Saudi Centre for Commercial Arbitration; UK delegate to the UNCITRAL Working Group on Arbitration (1994-2013); a draftsman of the English Arbitration Act 1996. He holds a first-class law degree and a first class BCL from Oxford University (Eldon Scholar), and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School (Kennedy Scholar).

Founding Partner & Head of International Arbitration, Construction and Energy, Zulficar & Partners, Egypt; Professor of International Arbitration, Private International Law and English Contract Law, Cairo University; Member of the Governing Board (ICCA); Vice-Chair of the ICC Governing Body for Dispute Resolution Services; Vice President Global of the CIArb; President Elect of the CIArb (2025); Dean of the Africa Arbitration Academy; Chair of the International Expert Committee of the Permanent Forum for China Construction Law; Member of the International Commercial Expert Committee of the China International Commercial Court; Co- Chair, IBA Arab Regional Forum; Vice-Chair of the Advisory Committee of the CRCICA; Member of the Advisory Board of the MIAC; Member of the LACIAC Court of Arbitration; Member of the ITA Academic Council; Member of the Court (PCA); and Member of the Board of Trustees (CIArb).

He served as ‘Arbitrator’, ‘Counsel’ and ‘Legal Expert’ in more than 255 cases, involving parties from the Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. His expertise in cross border multi-jurisdictional and highly complex transactions and disputes is extensive and broad. He is listed as a prominent international arbitrator and practitioner in all major directories including WWL: Arbitration & Global Elite Thought Leaders; WWL Thought Leaders International Arbitration; WWL Thought Leaders: Construction; Chambers & Partners Global; The Legal 500; Client Choice Awards; The Legal 500 Africa Power List and others.

Luca Radicati di Brozolo is the founding partner of the successful arbitration and litigation boutique ArbLit – Radicati di Brozolo Sabatini Benedettelli based in Milan, Italy, a door tenant at Fountain Court Chambers in London and a leading academic in the fields of private international law and arbitration law. His practice focuses on commercial and investor-State arbitration. As counsel, he has a vast experience in commercial and investor-State cases. He is highly sought-after as presiding and party-appointed arbitrator in high profile commercial cases across all industry fields under the most important arbitral rules and governing laws in a variety of seats, as well as in investor-State, including ICSID, arbitrations. He frequently appears as a legal expert before domestic courts and commercial and investor-State arbitral tribunals. He is the author of five books and approximately 200 scholarly articles on different topics on arbitration, public and private international law, European Union and antitrust law, and is a co-editor of the leading Italian arbitration law commentary and a frequent speaker and lecturer. In 2018 he gave the General Course on Private International Law at the Hague Academy of International Law, due to be published shortly, on “The legal regime of international commercial transactions”. He is a Vice-President of the LCIA and a former member of the ICC Court and former co-rapporteur of the International Law Association’s Commercial Arbitration Committee, including of the Report on “Confidentiality in International Commercial Arbitration”. He is ranked as a leading lawyer by all key legal rankings globally.

Herbert Kronke is Emeritus Professor of Law at Heidelberg University (Germany) and Judge at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague (The Netherlands). Frequently sitting in international commercial and, occasionally, investment arbitrations, his – past and present – institutional functions include serving on the Arbitral Council of the Milan Chamber of Arbitration, the ICC Commission on Arbitration, as well as serving as President of the German Arbitration Institute – DIS – (2016 – 2021). From 1998 to 2008, he served as Secretary-General of UNIDROIT in Rome.

Erica Stein is an independent arbitrator sitting in international commercial and investment matters.  With over 20 years of experience in the field of international arbitration, she acts as chair, sole arbitrator and co-arbitrator in proceedings conducted under all major arbitration rules.  She is the Vice President of the Arbitration Council of the German Arbitration Institute (DIS) and Co-Chair of the IBA Arbitration Guidelines and Rules Subcommittee.  In this latter capacity, she co-chairs the IBA Task Force for the Revision of the 2014 Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest, as well as the IBA Task Force on Privilege in International Arbitration.  Erica lectures on law at the National University of Singapore and the MIDS (Geneva LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement), and contributes to the work of several arbitral institutions in an academic capacity.  Before establishing herself as an independent arbitrator, Erica was an international arbitration partner with Dechert.  

Emilia Onyema is an independent arbitrator and a Professor of International Commercial Law at SOAS University of London where she teaches international commercial arbitration, international investment law and commercial law in a global context. She is qualified to practice law in Nigeria, as a Solicitor in England & Wales, and Fellow of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. She is a Board member of the Africa Arbitration Association, and court member of several arbitration institutions. She convenes the SOAS Arbitration in Africa conference series and leads the SOAS Arbitration in Africa biennial survey research project; she co-authored the African Promise and founded the Arbitration Fund for African Students (AFAS) a registered charitable organisation in England to support students with interest in arbitration. Her research interests focus on the development of international arbitration in Africa and the engagement of Africans in international arbitration. She has experience as presiding, co and sole arbitrator, and acts as legal expert witness in international arbitration. She actively publishes and speaks on topics relevant to her research interests.

Michael Mcilwrath is Chair of ICC’s Governing Body for Dispute Resolution Services. He lives in Florence, Italy, where for over two decades he was the head of litigation at General Electric’s Oil & Gas division and, most recently, Vice President of Litigation for Baker Hughes Company. In 2021, he founded MDisputes Srl (www.mdisputes.com), a company that provides in-house counsel support for international disputes. He is also an adjunct professor at Bocconi Law School in Milan, and has been recognized by Arbitral Women as a Champion of Change.

Dr. Yas Banifatemi is a founding partner of Gaillard Banifatemi Disputes. Prior to that, she was co-Head of the International Arbitration group of Shearman & Sterling, alongside late Professor Emmanuel Gaillard.

She acts as counsel, arbitrator and expert, in both commercial and investment arbitration. She also advises and represents clients on public international law and State-to-State disputes. She is ranked in Band 1 of the Global Market Leaders by Chambers & Partners.

Dr. Banifatemi is a member of the SIAC Court of Arbitration, a former Vice-President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and a former member of the LCIA Court. She is listed on the ICSID panel of arbitrators, appointed by the Chairman of ICSID’s Administrative Council.

She is the President of the International Arbitration Institute (IAI).

Dr. Banifatemi has authored numerous publications on international arbitration and public international law. She teaches at Harvard Law School, Yale Law School and Panthéon-Sorbonne University. In 2019, she gave a course at The Hague Academy of International Law on the powers of the arbitrators. She co-founded and was the first Secretary-General of the Arbitration Academy.