Wednesday, 26 June 2019, One Bishops Square, London, E1 6AD, United Kingdom

Christine is an independent arbitrator, Resident at The Arbitration Chambers (Singapore) and Door Tenant of Fountain Court Chambers (London and Singapore). A dual-qualified lawyer, she is educated in both the civil law and the common law traditions, and she is admitted to the Paris Bar and as a solicitor in England and Wales. Christine’s experience spans a broad range of commercial disputes, and she has served as arbitrator in arbitrations under the rules of the ICC, SIAC and KCAB, as well as in ad hoc arbitrations.  She has also acted as sole arbitrator in expedited proceedings.

Prior to launching her career as independent arbitrator, Christine practised arbitration at Shearman & Sterling and thereafter joined the LCIA where she oversaw the administration of over 200 arbitrations.  In 2014, Christine moved to Singapore where she joined The Arbitration Chambers and was appointed Tribunal Secretary to over 80 arbitral tribunals. Christine also teaches at the University of Toulouse 1, and regularly lectures at other leading institutions. Who’s Who Legal Arbitration – Future Leaders 2019 – described Christine as “THE rising star in Singapore among arbitrators” for her expertise in cases involving both common and civil law traditions as well as in commercial disputes across a range of industries.”

Duncan is a partner specialising in international arbitration and litigation, with particular experience in the energy sector, disputes arising from joint ventures and in Africa. Duncan is highly experienced in large and international disputes in arbitration and litigation proceedings. He has acted in matters relating to the upstream oil and gas industry, electricity generation and supply, and renewable energy projects. He also has particular experience in dealing with disputes arising from joint ventures in the property development, hospitality and tourism industries. Most of Duncan's cases have involved international disputes. Many of them have concerned contracts for projects in Africa and the Middle East. Duncan has appeared before arbitration tribunals under the LCIA, ICC, LCIA-DIFC and other rules, and before all courts of England and Wales, including the Supreme Court. Duncan is a barrister and often acts as an advocate in hearings, and well as providing wider strategic advice.

Andrew has extensive experience of advising states, state-owned entities and major companies on all aspects of public international law. He has acted in ad hoc and institutional arbitrations across multiple jurisdictions and under a range of governing laws. He has also acted in high profile litigation cases before a range of international and domestic judicial bodies, including the European Court of Justice and General Court, the UK Supreme Court, House of Lords and Court of Appeal.  

José is a partner in the International Dispute Resolution Practice Group of the firm based in our Paris office. He represents private and public entities in commercial and investment arbitration proceedings. He also sits as arbitrator in commercial ad-hoc and institutional arbitration proceedings.

Thierry Ngoga Gakuba (ArbP) is a lawyer specialised in international arbitration, commercial litigation, business advisory, risk and compliance. He acted as counsel and has been appointed as co-arbitrator, sole arbitrator and chairman in KIAC, ICC and ad hoc arbitration under Rwandan, English, Nigerian and Swiss law with seats in Kigali, London and Paris. Over the past 16 years he has held senior positions including serving as first registrar for the Kigali International Arbitration Centre (KIAC) where he participated in the business development strategy and co-administered the KIAC’s arbitration proceedings (appointing tribunals, advising tribunals and sharing best practice with parties), serving as CEO of the Rwanda Bar Association and as in-house lawyer at the Rwandan Ministry of Justice.

Rachael O'Grady is a senior associate in the international arbitration practice at Mayer Brown International LLP. A solicitor advocate, she focuses on international commercial and bilateral investment treaty arbitration and public international law. Rachael has acted as counsel and advocate for claimants and respondents in both investment treaty and commercial arbitrations across a wide range of industries, including the satellite, telecommunications, taxation, mining, oil and retail sectors. She has particular experience in large-scale investment disputes in Africa and the Middle East. Rachael has conducted arbitrations under the ICSID, ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL, LMAA, CAS and ad hoc rules. As well as advising on complex international and domestic legal issues in such disputes, she has been commended by clients and peers for her "rock-solid case management".

Carmen is a partner in the London office of Three Crowns. She has appeared as advocate in numerous investment treaty and commercial arbitrations, both under the rules of the major arbitral institutions and ad hoc, and involving a variety of jurisdictions, with a particular focus on Latin America and Spain. Her most recent experience includes the representation of an energy company in an investment dispute against the Republic of Colombia, a consortium of oil & gas companies in a tax stabilization dispute against a Latin American State, an energy company in a shareholders’ dispute relating to a joint venture gas marketing company, a mining junior in its investment dispute against the Kingdom of Spain, and a private equity investor in its investment dispute against the Kingdom of Spain.

Trained in both civil and common law, Sebastiano is an experienced lawyer specialising in commercial and investment treaty cases with Schellenberg Wittmer in Geneva.  Sebastiano’s clients and cases have spanned most continents, including Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. Sebastiano, who is also sitting as an arbitrator himself, is currently ICC YAF Representative for Europe & Russia, and a Member of the Global Steering Committee of the young arbitration practitioners groups of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb YMG). He also had the privilege to teach commercial and investment arbitration at the University of Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne and Sciences Po Law School in Paris during the period 2013–2017. WWL says that Sebastiano Nessi “a rising star of the Swiss arbitration community” and “a strong academic with great advocacy skills”.

Tilman Niedermaier is a partner in the dispute resolution team of CMS Germany in Munich, where he represents and advises clients in complex commercial and investment disputes. He acts as counsel in international arbitration proceedings, both ad hoc and under institutional rules, and also serves as arbitrator.

Before joining CMS in 2010, Tilman Niedermaier was a research fellow at the Institute of International Law of the University of Munich. He is a lecturer in international procedural and arbitration law at the University of Halle-Wittenberg and a member of the advisory board of the IP Dispute Resolution Forum of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition.

Dharshini practices in the International Arbitration Group of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP where she focuses on complex multi-jurisdictional disputes. She has advised States, State entities and multi-national corporations on commercial, investment and public international law issues and has represented clients in institutional and ad hoc arbitrations, including under the ICC, SIAC, LCIA, and UNCITRAL rules. She has experience in a number of industries, including oil and gas, mining, pharmaceuticals, private equity and technology licensing. Prior to joining Wilmer, Dharshini practiced international arbitration and litigation at a leading firm in Singapore and worked at the UN International Law Commission in Geneva. Apart from her work as counsel, Dharshini contributes to industry publications and has taught at New York University (Paris) and at the Austrian, SIAC and London School of Economics arbitration academies.

Charis specialises in commercial and investment treaty arbitration and public international law. She is admitted in three jurisdictions (Singapore, England and Wales and New York), and has represented States and multinational companies in numerous investor-State and commercial arbitrations under the rules of major arbitration institutions, including ICSID, ICC, SIAC and SCC, as well as ad hoc proceedings under UNCITRAL Rules. Charis is appointed as Counsel and she also sits as an Arbitrator. Charis has also represented States in high profile State-to-State disputes before the International Court of Justice. Charis has been named a Future Leader in arbitration by Who’s Who Legal, recommended by Asia Pacific Legal 500 and received the Asia Pacific FT Innovative Lawyers award. She is co-editor of the first and only book on Investment Protection in Southeast Asia, A Country-by-Country Guide on Arbitration Laws and Bilateral Investment Treaties (Brill, 2017).