In this final ‘conversation’ of the year, Neil Kaplan and Chiann Bao hosted Prof. Nayla Comair-Obeid. The recording is available here.

Professor Dr. Nayla Comair-Obeid, the founding partner of Obeid Law Firm, heads the firm’s dispute resolution practice. Author of ‘The Law of Business Contracts in the Middle East’, Prof. Comair-Obeid is Professor at the Lebanese University, she publishes prolifically and is regularly invited to lecture at world-renowned academic institutions where her articles and scholarly publications are often cited as reference works.

Throughout her career, Prof. Comair-Obeid has held and continues to hold prominent positions in several major international arbitration institutions. Most recently, Prof. Comair-Obeid was elected as International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Executive Board Member. Prior to this, she was appointed as a member of China’s International Commercial Expert Committee of the Supreme People’s Court in August 2018. Prof. Comair-Obeid is also a Member of the LCIA Court, Trustee of the Cairo Regional Centre for International Arbitration, Council Member of the Institute of World Business Law of the ICC and a Member of the ICSID panel of arbitrators and conciliators. Prof. Comair-Obeid was also appointed in 2018 as Companion for the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb). She was elected President of the CIArb in 2017, after chairing its Board of Trustees in 2014. Prof. Comair-Obeid also served as Commissioner at the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva from 2002 to 2005.

A specialist in international business law and Islamic and Middle Eastern legislation, Prof. Comair-Obeid is admitted to the Beirut and Paris bar and she is an associate member of 3 Verulam Buildings (3VB). She regularly serves as counsel or arbitrator in complex international arbitrations conducted in Arabic, French, or English, both ad hoc and under a variety of international arbitration rules. Prof. Comair-Obeid is also often called upon as a legal expert on various aspects of Lebanese law and Middle Eastern legislation in foreign courts and arbitral proceedings. Prof. Comair-Obeid is referred to as “pre-eminent in her field” and a “leading authority in international arbitration” by international legal publications.

Find out more about Neil Kaplan, Chiann Bao and the In conversation with Neil series here, and browse past ‘conversations’ here.