Paolo Michele Patocchi (Dr. iur.; LL.M.) is one of the founding partners of Patocchi & Marzolini, Geneva, a law firm specialising in international arbitration and litigation. Prior to 2014, Michele has led the arbitration practice group of Lenz & Staehelin in Geneva (1997-2013). He has also worked as a foreign associate with Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in London (1989-1991) and Pestalozzi Gmür & Patry in Zurich (1992-1994). Michele acts as counsel and sits as an arbitrator in cases conducted in English, French, German, Italian or Spanish. Michele has been involved in more than 240 arbitrations to date chiefly relating to JV and R&D agreements, EPC contracts, licensing (especially in the pharmaceutical and the fashion industries), disputes involving States (State contracts, privatisation and expropriation), price reviews in long-term GSAs, banking and finance disputes, sports and sponsoring disputes.
Aside from Swiss law and international law, Michele has had practical experience in number of other systems of law, including those of Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Egypt, England and Wales, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Latvia, the Netherlands, Palestine, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, the UAE, the U.S.A. and Venezuela. Michele has been a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of Geneva (1989-2006) and at the Geneva School for Translators and Interpreters (ETI; 1990-1993) and he has been teaching international commercial arbitration at the Faculty of Law of İ. D. Bilkent University (Ankara) since 2013.
Michele has published extensively on international arbitration and litigation.
Michele has been listed amongst the Arbitration Thought Leaders by Who’s Who Legal (since 2017) and amongst “Most In Demand Arbitrators” and “Arbitration Counsel” by Chambers and Partners (since 2016).