Speakers

 SPEAKER PROFILES

 Anne Marie Whitesell (Dechert LLP)

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Anne Marie Whitesell is an Of Counsel at Dechert LLP. Before joining Dechert, Anne Marie Whitesell was Secretary General of the ICC International Court of Arbitration from 2001 to 2007. She previously taught at the Université de Paris I and the Institut de Droit Comparé. Ms. Whitesell has practiced with law firms in both the United States and in France, and has acted in numerous international arbitration cases. She serves as a member of various boards, associations and committees related to dispute resolution such as the ICC Commission on Arbitration, ICC Arbitration Rules Revision Task Force, IBA working party for UNCITRAL Working Group II (Arbitration Rules Revision), International Bar Association and of the IBA Arbitration Committee, Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA), International Club of Arbitrators, London Court of International Arbitration among others. Ms. Whitesell is admitted to the New York State Bar, the District of Columbia Bar and the US District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

Author and/or co-author of numerous articles on International Arbitration, Ms. Whitesell is regularly speaker on programs concerning international arbitration. She has lectured in many training programs for government officials, judges, lawyers as well as at universities.

Ms. Whitesell received her J.D. from the University Of Virginia School Of Law and her Doctorate in Law from the Université de Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne.

George A. Bermann (Columbia Law School)

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Professor George A. Bermann is the Jean Monnet Professor of European Union Law (a chair conferred by the Commission of the European Communities), Walter Gellhorn Professor of Law, and Director of the European Legal Studies Center at Columbia University School of Law. Professor Bermann has been a faculty member at Columbia Law School since 1975, teaching courses in European Union law, international trade contracts, administrative law, and WTO and transnational dispute resolution. He is also a member of the teaching faculty of the College d'Europe in Bruges, Belgium, and regularly gives courses at the Universities of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and Paris II (Panthéon-Assas), as well as the Institut des Sciences Politiques in Paris. He has published several books and articles on international litigation and arbitration, WTO law, and EU law, including Transnational Litigation and International Commercial Arbitration.

Professor Bermann currently serves as Chief Reporter of the ALI Restatement of the US Law of International Commercial Arbitration; director of the American Arbitration Association; member of the panel of ICDR arbitrators and CPR neutrals; member of the Academic Council of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration; and President of the International Academy of Comparative Law. He is a former President of the American Society of Comparative Law, and a Court- and attorney-appointed foreign law expert on French, German, Swiss and EU Law.

He holds a B.A. from Yale College, degrees in law (JD, Yale Law School and LL.M., Columbia Law School), and a doctorate honoris causa (University of Fribourg, Switzerland). 

Christian P. Alberti (ICDR, NY)

 

Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler (Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler)

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Professor Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler is an attorney in good standing who is at the forefront of international commercial, investment and sports arbitration. She is founder and partner of Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler, a Geneva-based firm specializing in international arbitration. Regularly ranked among the top ten arbitrators worldwide, Professor Kaufmann-Kohler has handled over 160 international arbitrations, mainly as arbitrator. She has published numerous articles and books on international dispute resolution, including International Arbitration in Switzerland – A Handbook for Practitioners and Arbitrage international: Droit et pratique à la lumière de la LDIP. Professor Kaufmann-Kohler has been a faculty member at Geneva University Law School since 1993, where she teaches classes in international arbitration, mediation, and private international law.

Professor Kaufmann-Kohler currently serves as President of the Foundation for International Arbitration Advocacy (FIAA); Honorary President of the Swiss Arbitration Association (President from 2001 to 2005); member of numerous institutional arbitration panels, including the ICC, ICSID and AAA; and member of the ICCA, LCIA, AAA Boards and the HKIAC Advisory Board. She chaired the Court of Arbitration for Sports at the ad hoc Division at the Olympic Games from 1996 to 2000.

She holds academic degrees in law (Bachelor of Law, University of Basle; LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement (MIDS), University of Geneva; Doctorate, University of Basle).

Hon. Gerard E. Lynch (U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit)

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Judge Gerard E. Lynch is a federal judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is also the Paul J. Kellner Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, where he has been a faculty member since 1977, serving as Vice Dean from 1992-1997 and teaching courses in criminal law and procedure, sentencing, and professional responsibility. Judge Lynch has published various academic and popular articles about criminal law and procedure, constitutional law, and legal ethics, most notably an influential book-length study of criminal RICO. He has also taught as a visiting professor or lecturer at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem; Tokyo University; and the Universities of Leiden, Amsterdam and Buenos Aires.  

Judge Lynch is a member of the Council of the American Law Institute, and has served on numerous committees of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the New York State Bar Association, and the New York Council of Defense Lawyers. He has served as Chief Appellate Attorney, and Chief of the Criminal Division for the Southern District of New York, and has been appointed counsel to city, state, and federal commissions on a part-time or consulting basis.

In 2009, he received the Edward Weinfeld Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Administration of Justice from the New York County Lawyers’ Association, and in 2008, Columbia awarded him its annual Wien Prize for Social Responsibility.

Judge Lynch earned his BA from Columbia College in 1972 and his JD from Columbia Law School in 1975.

Rob H. Smit (Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett LLP)

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Robert H. Smit is a Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in the Firm’s Litigation Department.  He represents clients in a wide range of complex commercial litigations and arbitrations, concentrating in the areas of international commercial arbitration, bilateral investment treaty, joint venture, agency and distributorship matters, fraud, securities, banking and insurance disputes. 

Mr. Smit’s experience includes representation of clients throughout the world in billion dollar arbitrations such as Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) in one of the largest-ever ICC arbitrations, based in Geneva, Switzerland, in which Andersen Consulting achieved its alimony-free divorce from the global Andersen organization; and DHL in ICC arbitration in Paris concerning the transfer of a centi-million share interest in DHL under a shareholder’s agreement.  Mr. Smit has also regularly served as arbitrator in significant international arbitrations, and is listed as one of the leading international arbitration lawyers in the world by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers, Euromoney, Law Business Research, Legal Media Group Expert Guides, and PLC Global Counsel Handbooks.

Mr. Smit is Adjunct Professor of International Arbitration at Columbia Law School; Co-Editor-in-Chief of the American Review of International Arbitration; Member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration; and Adviser to the American Law Institute’s Restatement (Third) of the U.S. Law of International Arbitration.  He is also former U.S. Member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration; Chair of the New York City Bar Association’s International Commercial Disputes Committee; Chair of the CPR Arbitration Committee; and Vice-Chair of the IBA’s International Arbitration and ADR Committee.

He received his B.A. from Cornell University in 1981 and his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law in 1986.  Mr. Smit also has a graduate law degree (Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies), in private international law and international arbitration from the Sorbonne in Paris, and taught U.S. Commercial Law at the Sorbonne.  He is a frequent speaker at conferences on international arbitration and litigation, has written and published extensively in the field.

 Marco Schnabl (Skadden Aarps) 

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Marco Schnabl is a partner at Skadden, Aarps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom LLP. Mr. Schnabl has handled a wide range of international and domestic litigations and arbitrations. He has represented or advised the Bank of New Zealand in litigation seeking to enforce foreign judgments in the United States, defending claims brought in the United States by overseas borrowers, and in contract disputes arising out of foreign loan transactions; a Hungarian airline in contract litigation with a U.S. aircraft engine manufacturer in a Hungarian court and in related U.S. proceedings; and a publicly traded Italian company in the defense of securities class actions, among others. Mr. Schnabl has also represented clients in litigation stemming from U.S. and international mergers, acquisitions and changes in corporate control. For example, he represented Blue Arrow PLC in its acquisition of Manpower Inc., Anglo Group PLC in its efforts to acquire B.A.T> Industries PLC and the Grow Group, Inc. in takeover litigation arising from competing acquisition efforts by The Sherwin Williams COmpany and Imperial Chemical Industries PLC. Mr. Schnabl has also worked on securities class actions both for U.S. and foreign clients, contested proceedings before administrative agencies, SEC investigations and contract disputes and other commercial litigations. Mr. Schnabl retains a keen interest in Latin American issuers in debt and equity offerings in the industrial, telecommunications, banking and energy sectors, including Mexican cement manufacturer Cemex S.A. in a global equity offering which raised in excess of $600 million. He also advised a Spanish airline in the restructuring of its investment in a Latin American carrier and a U.S. gas company in the privitization of certain gas properties in Argentina. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Council of the Americas and speaks at seminars on issues of interest to prospective investors in Latin America or Latin American companies seeking access to the U.S. and international capital markets.

Marco Schnabl studied Economics at Universidad de Buenos Aires. He has a MS in Management from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a MPhil in Economics from the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and a JD from Columbia University School of Law.

 Pierre Mayer (Dechert LLP, Paris)

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 Pierre Mayer is a partner at Dechert LLP. Known for his skillful handling of the most complex issues, Mr. Mayer has specialized in arbitration for more than 25 years, both as counsel and as arbitrator in international trade, joint ventures and industrial cooperation, technology transfer, oil and gas and distribution, under the rules of ICSID, ICC and UNCITRAL. As counsel, chairman or co-arbitrator, Mr. Mayer has lent his expertise to a long list of arbitration cases in various industrial sectors and countries. Among them, some of his recent significant representations include counsel to an Asian state entity in connection with a US $2 billion dispute arising out of a military porcurement contract and the payment of illicit commissions, and Chairman in an UNCITRAL case between two major pharmaceutical companies regarding the joint development of a drug. Mr. Mayer is listed in The Legal 500 (Paris), Chambers and Décideurs Stratégie Finance Droit as one of the world's most respected legal scholars, particularly for his expertise in private international law, a subject he has taught since 1984 at the Sorbonne University in Paris. He is a member of the Paris Bar, President of the French Committee on International Private Law, and Associate member of Institut de Droit International.

Mr. Mayer is the author of numerous articles and several books, including a treatise on Private International Law, "Droit international privé", Montchrestien (first edition 1977, tenth edition in collaboration with Professor VIncent Heuzé, 2010), and the 2003 General course at the Hague Academy of International Law.

Mr. Mayer received a doctorate in Private Law from the University of Paris II. 

 W. Laurence Craig (Orrick)

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 Dr. Stavros Brekoulakis (University of London)

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 Joseph E. Neuhaus (Sullivan & Cromwell LLP) 

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Joseph E. Neuhaus joined Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in 1987 and became a partner in 1992. His practice is focused on international commerical litigation in both arbitral and court settings, with particular emphasis on Latin American matters. He is co-coordinator of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP's arbitration practice and has served as counsel and arbitrator in numerous arbitral proceedings, including ad hoc proceedings, arbitrations administered by the International Chamber of Commerce and the American Arbitration Association and arbitrations involving sovereign entities. He also has served as counsel in a variety of arbitration-related disputes in court, as well as other commercial litigation and regulatory investigations. Selected as a leading practiionter in international arbitration by The Global Guide to the Legal Profession, 1999-2000; Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business, 2001-2002, 2002-2003, 2003, 2004-05, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010; and Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, published by Chambers & Partners; also selected for inclusion in The International Who's Who of Commerical Arbitration 2007, 2008, and 2009, published by the Global Arbitration Review and in New York Super Lawyers 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 in Alternative Dispute Resolution. Mr. Neuhaus has several publications on international arbitration such as "Settlement and Release," in Commercial Contracts: Strategies for Drafting and Negotiating (2001) and Current Issues in the Enforcement of International Arbitration Awards," 34 University of Miami Inter-American Law Review 23 (2004).

Mr. Neuhaus got a B.A. from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.

 Bernard Hanotiau (Hanotiau & van Den Berg) 

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 Bernard Hanotiau is a partner at Hanotiau & Van den berg. Since 1978, Mr. Hanotiau has been actively involved in international commercial arbitration as party-appointed arbitrator, chairman, sole arbitrator, counsel and expert in various parts of the world. Amongst the parties engaged in these arbitrations have been states (including on the basis of BIT's) and state entities, high technology and telecommunications corporations , construction and real estate companies, oil, gas and mining companies, water and electricity suppliers, pharmaceutical companies, automobile manufacturers, distributors and manufacturers of various kinds of goods and equipments, manufacturers of military supplies, of satellites, airlines and railways, banks and investment companies, hotel management corporations. He is a member of the Brussels and Paris Bar and a Professor at the law school of the University of Louvain. He serves as a member of various boards, associations and committees related to dispute resolution such as the International Council for Commercial Arbitrations (ICCA), the Sanctions Board of the World Bank Group, the International Arbitration Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris (ICC), the Council of the ICC Institute of World Trade Law, the INstitute of Transnational Arbitration (Dallas, Texas), among others. Mr. Haontiau has published several books and numerous articles in the field of international arbitration and international contracts. 

Bernard Hanotiau received his law degrees from Catholic University of Louvain (Docteur en droit), (JD 1970), Columbia University in the City of New York (LLM 1973), and Catholic University of Louvain (Agrégé de l'enseignement supérieur), (PhD 1979).

 Nigel Blackaby (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer)

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 Mr. Nigel Blackaby is a partner and head of the US and Latin America international arbitration groups at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in New York and Washington, D.C. Recently named as a star practitioner of international arbitration by Chambers Latin America, he has acted as counsel and arbitrator in over 90 ad hoc and institutional arbitrations, with a focus on Latin America. Mr. Blackaby has represented both states and foreign investors in arbitrations, both in English and Spanish. He is currently counsel in twelve treaty arbitrations involving Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay and Venezuela. 

Mr. Blackaby is the co-author of Redfern & Hunter on International Arbitration (5th edition, Oxford University Press, 2009), A Guide to ICSID Arbitration (2nd edition, Kluwer International, 2010) and International Arbitration in Latin America (Kluwer International, 2003). He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the American University in Washington, D.C. where he teaches Investment Treaty Arbitration.

Mr. Blackaby is the President of the IBA Subcommittee on Investment Arbitration, a council member of the LCIA Latin America Users' Committee and a member of the Editorial Board of Arbitration International.

He holds law degrees from the University of Exeter, United Kingdom, and the Université d' Aix-Marseille III, France.

 Louis B. Kimmelman (Allen & Overy, New York)

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 Mr. Louis B. Kimmelman is a partner in the International Arbitration group of Allen & Overy's New York office and is responsible for their international arbitration practice in the Americas. His work focuses on the arbitration and litigation of a broad range of complex commercial, investment treaty and construction disputes. He regularly represents U.S. and foreign parties, along with sovereign entities, in international disputes before arbitral tribunals and state and federal courts. Benno arbitrates cases before the leading international arbitration institutions and serves as an arbitrator in international disputes. He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, where he teaches International Commercial Arbitration and International Litigation.

Benno is Chair of the International Commercial Disputes Committee of the New York City Bar and Adviser to the American Law Institute project on the U.S. Law of International Commercial Arbitration as well as a member of both the ICC Commission on Arbitration and the ICC Latin America Arbitration Group.

Benno holds a B.A. from Yale College, and a J.D. from Yale Law School. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Leonard I. Garth of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

 Horatia Muir-Watt (Sciences Po, Paris)

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Horatia Muir Watt is a Professor of Law at Sciences Po in Paris, France, where she is also the Director of Global Business Law and Governance, the Director of Global Business Law, and the Director of Accountability and Social Innovation.  After the agrégation, in 1986, she was appointed to the University of Tours, then the University of Paris XI, before joining the University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) in 1996, where she remained until 2009.  She was elected to Sciences Po in the fall 2009.  For the Spring Semester 2011, she is a James S. Carpentier Visiting Professor of Law at Columbia University Law School, teaching the course in Transnational Litigation and Arbitration.

Horatia Muir Watt is editor in chief of the Revue Critique de Droit International Privé and on the editorial board of various international law reviews or journals (Journal of Private International Law, European Review of Contract Law, Transnational Legal Theory).

Her publications include Aspects Économiques de Droit International Privé; Common Law et Tradition Civiliste, a pocket comparative study with Duncan Fairgrieve; Droit International Privé, a treatise in two volumes with Dominique Bureau, with whom she has also written a Que sais-je on the same subject, published in 2009.  She co-edited The Making of European Private Law: Regulatory Strategies and Governance, with Fabrizio Cafaggi (Sellier 2008, 2009, 2 volumes).

Horatia Muir Watt obtained her Doctorate in private international law from the University of Paris 2 in 1985, and was admitted to the agrégation in 1986. 

 Edward G. Kehoe (King & Spalding, New York)

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Edward Kehoe is head of King & Spalding's New York Business LItigation Group and co-head of the firm's International Arbitration Practice. Mr. Kehoe has more than 19 years experience in business arbitration and litigation, with a focus on energy, professional services liability, construction, joint venture, environmental, finance/banking, real estate and insurance. Clients also rely upon Mr. Kehoe to provide strategic advice for effective and efficient resolution at early stages of a dispute, and to conduct internal investigations when necessary.

Mr. Kehoe is recognized in Chambers USA: Guide to America's Leading Lawyers in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 as one of the top lawyers in teh United States for international arbitration. He also is ranked in the Legal 500 for international arbitration where commenters expressed "a great deal of respect" for his legal skills. Mr. Kehoe was selected by his peers as a New York Super Lawyer in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, and honored in the Corporate Counsel magazine as one of the "Nation's Top Litigators" in Business Litigation.

He is a Fellow of the LItigation Counsel of America, Trial Lawyer Honorary Society. In addition to serving as counsel, Mr. Kehoe sits as an arbitrators and is listed as an arbitrator on the Panel of Neutrals for the International Centre for Dispute Resolution. He is a frequent writer and lecturer on international arbitration issues, and is a member of the Board of Editors of Global Arbitration Review and on the Advisory Board of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration.

Mr. Kehoe received his  bachelors degree in accounting in 1987 from Lehigh University, where he was also a nationally ranked track runner. Mr. Kehoe received his J.D. in 1990, cum laude, from St. John's Law School and was a member of the St. John's Law Review. Before joining King & Spalding in 1993, Mr. Kehoe was with the firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in New York. 

 Laurence Shore (Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, New York - Sao Paolo)

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Larry Shore is a dual U.S./U.K. qualified partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and co-chairs the firm's international arbitration practice. Mr. Shore has been the lead advocate in a large number of arbitration cases under, for example, the ICC, LCIA, AAA, UNCITRAL and SWISS Rules. He also has sat as an arbitrator in cases under the ICC, ICDR, Cairo Regional Centre, and LCIA Rules. In addition to his work as an arbitration practitioner, Mr. Shore has tried cases in the United States' courts and in England's High Court. Chambers Global (2009) and Chambers Europe (2008) rank Mr. Shore as a leading individual for Dispute Resolution: International Arbitration. Mr. Shore is a co-author (with C. McLachlan and M. Weiniger) of International Investment Arbitration: Substantive Principles (Oxford University Press, 2007). He also serves on the Editorial Board of International Arbitration Law Review, and holds the appointment of Visiting Professor in the School of International Arbitration, Queen Mary University of London. He is a co-editor of World Arbitration Reporter (Juris Publ. 2010). Mr Shore is admitted to the Bars of New York, District of Columbia, and Virginia and is a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England & Wales, where he has rights of audience as a solicitor-advocate (Higher Courts, Civil). Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Mr. Shore practiced with the law firm of Herbert Smith LLP in its London office, where he served as global head of the international arbitration practice, and as Attorney-Adviser International, Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State. Mr. Shore earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1989 from Emory University School of Law, where we was Editor-in-Chief of the Emory Law Journal (1988-1989). He previously earned Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in History from Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Shore received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.