Arbitration in Challenging Times - Webinar

Speaker Profile

Prof. Dr Georges Affaki CCEF C.Arb FCIArb

Georges Affaki is a Justice of the Qatar International Court, a Chartered Arbitrator, a member of the ICSID Panels of Arbitrators and Mediators, and a Professor of law at the University of Paris. He has served for two terms as a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration. He is consistently listed by Chambers and Partners amongst the Most-in-Demand Arbitrators in France and globally.

He sits on the Board of Directors of the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration, was appointed to the International Financial Legal Experts body of the Shanghai High People’s Court and is a member of the ICCA Judiciary Committee. He practices in Paris and as a member of DesVoeux Chambers’ List of Neutrals in Hong Kong. Professor Affaki is a Governor of the UNIDROIT Foundation. He led or participated in several law reforms in transition economies. In 2019, he was appointed Foreign Trade Counselor of France by a Decree of the Prime Minister and was awarded the European Prize for Interdisciplinary Research. He holds trustee positions in a number of non-profit organisations and is actively engaged in community projects.

A list of Professor Affaki’s publications and representative appointments is available at www.affaki.fr.

Ahmed Abdel-Hakam

Ahmed is a partner at Volterra Fietta in London. He is a Solicitor-Advocate (Civil and Criminal Higher Rights of Audience) before the Higher Courts of England & Wales and a French Avocat (Avocat au Barreau de Paris). He currently sits on the Dispute Resolution Committee of the Law Society of England & Wales and is Co-Chair of the Dispute Resolution Section of the African Society of International Law. He is also a member of the International Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association. Ahmed is an international disputes specialist, and he also practices the full range of public international law, both in contentious and advisory work. Ahmed is one of the few lawyers in the world who genuinely practice before international courts and Tribunals. He has been involved in a number ofcases before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), and the European Court on Human Rights (ECHR). He has long been acting for both States and investors in investment treaty arbitrations, including BIT cases before ICSID and the PCA. His experience in commercial arbitration proceedings includes all the major arbitral institutions, such as the ICC and the LCIA. Ahmed also represented States and multinational companies before English, French, Swiss and Italian Courts in complex and high-profile cases.

Ahmed also has an extensive practice in non-contentious and advisory work for clients around the world. He advises States and autonomous regions on the legal consequences of secession and its impact on legal title to natural resources and public infrastructures.

Ahmed also regularly advises multinational companies on structuring and restructuring of investments and complex issues such as the consequences of civil war on a State’s rights and obligations towards foreign investors and legal issues arising from the existence of competing governments, and on specific issues such as pipeline transit and transportation regimes and related international law issues arising from State dislocation.