Wednesday, 27 November 2019, Paris, France

Nadia Darwazeh is a Partner and Head of Arbitration of Clyde & Co's Paris office. Nadia has extensive experience acting as counsel and sitting as arbitrator in commercial and investor-state arbitrations. Before joining Clyde & Co, Nadia practiced for two decades in the International Arbitration Groups of leading international law firms in Paris, Shanghai, Frankfurt and London and as Counsel at the ICC, where she headed up the MENA team.

Nadia is dual-qualified in England & Wales (Solicitor-Advocate) and Germany (Rechtsanwältin). She earned her LLM in International Public Law from the University of Cambridge and her LLB from the University of Warwick. She conducts arbitrations in French, German and English and speaks Dutch and Mandarin Chinese.

Alexander G. Fessas is the Secretary General of the ICC International Court of Arbitration.

As Secretary General, he is responsible for the operational management and coordination of the ICC Court’s Secretariat and other dispute resolution services in Paris, Hong Kong, New York, Sao Paolo and Singapore.

He joined the Secretariat in late 2011 and held consecutive positions in three case management teams, of which two as counsel. Prior to his appointment as Secretary General, he was the Secretariat’s Managing Counsel over a three-year term.

He read law at the University of Athens, Greece having specialized in international commercial transactions and conflict of laws.

Prior to joining the ICC Court, he practised as counsel out of Athens where he established a sole practice in 2008. He was previously an associate at an Athens-based law firm. During the same period, he was also the editor-in-chief of the Revue hellénique de droit international.

He is admitted to the Athens Bar and speaks English, French and Greek.

Dr Jacomijn van Haersolte-van Hof has been the Director General of the LCIA since 2014; having previously last practised as counsel and arbitrator in the Netherlands at her GAR 100 boutique, HaersolteHof. She has arbitrated cases under the ICSID, ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL and NAI Rules and has, in particular, experience in commodities, transport and maritime arbitration. She sits on the ICSID roster of arbitrators. She is a member of GAR’s editorial board and member of the Advisory Council for the Pledge on Equal Representation in Arbitration. 

Mr Hennessee is SVP Litigation, Investigations & Regulatory Affairs at Airbus, where he leads the Group’s global activities in these areas.  Separately, he occasionally sits as arbitrator.  Until July, 2019, he also served as Chairman of the Governing Body of the ICC Court of International Arbitration.  In a three year hiatus from Airbus, Mr. Hennessee was VP Public Law & Technology of Halliburton (2013-2016).  He gives guest lectures in law and public policy at Oxford, Cambridge, Paris Assas, Sciences Po, and University of Toulouse Capitole.  Mr Hennessee has previously practiced law in Germany and in the United States on behalf of institutions including the German Government and private law firms. Educated at the University of Göttingen, Germany, the London School of Economics and SMU Law School, he holds degrees in history, economics/econometrics, and law.  He is a trustee of Houston Grand Opera, a cancer survivor-mentor, Fellow of the Robert Bosch Foundation and Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Hennessee is the winner of the ILO Award for Litigation “Individual of the Year” for 2009 and the 2018 winner of the Golden Quill award from the Business and Legal Forum for published article of the year. He has published over 100 articles on various legal subjects and is a frequent speaker on law, technology and public policy. 

Yasmin Mohammad is the Head of International Arbitration at Vannin Capital. She advises clients on third party funding options internationally and manages Vannin Capital's team of Managing Directors specialised in International Arbitration across the globe. She has particular expertise in disputes involving telecommunications, food and beverages, oil and gas and infrastructure industries based in the USA, Europe, Africa, China or the Middle East. Yasmin is also the founding member of the Organisation Committee of the Paris Arbitration Week.

Thierry Tomasi is a partner in the International Arbitration team at Herbert Smith Freehills in Paris. He has extensive experience advising French and international clients in complex arbitrations, particularly relating to aerospace, defence, rail, infrastructure and engineering. Thierry's practice is strongly linked with Africa and Brazil. Thierry also sits as an arbitrator on a regular basis, and represents clients in arbitration-related proceedings before French courts.