On 26 September 2024, we discussed “Making your jurisdiction arbitration-friendly: an overview of this worldwide trend and the setbacks“, at an event jointly organised with Obeid & Partners at 2pm Beirut.

Over the past few years, more and more countries have taken considerable steps towards establishing their jurisdictions as arbitration friendly. National arbitration laws have been revamped, arbitration-specialized court divisions have been created, international courts have been established and institutional arbitration rules have been revived to keep up with all modern practices and standards. However, even those remarkable efforts (where any) are not always free from setbacks or remnants of the past. The webinar focuses on a comparative analysis of this worldwide trend from the perspective of various jurisdictions.

The speakers (short bios below) were Despina Apostolidou, Aya Sabra, and Oriana Saib, and the event was moderated by Giouli Katsarou.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Despina Apostolidou is a dispute resolution lawyer with extensive experience in international commercial arbitration and complex court litigation proceedings in a wide range of civil, commercial and corporate disputes. She has experience in private international law and international dispute resolution across a range of sectors, including construction, energy and natural resources, retail and consumer goods. Despina has acted as counsel in high-stake international commercial arbitrations (institutional and ad hoc) as well as in arbitration-related court proceedings, including proceedings for the annulment of arbitral awards. Her experience includes also negotiation, drafting and advising state-owned entities and private parties in the context of construction and complex commercial contracts before arbitral tribunals and in non-contentious matters. Despina holds a BA and an LLM in civil procedure law. She is a member of the Athens Bar Association and is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Greece. She is fluent in Greek and English and has a working knowledge of French.

Giouli Katsarou is a specialist disputes lawyer with extensive experience in international arbitration and construction-related matters, both on the contentious and non-contentious fronts. Her experience encompasses negotiation and management of construction contracts and construction-related agreements and transactions, risk assessment and advice, as well as dispute resolution of high-stakes and high-profile construction disputes. Her practice predominantly centers on complex and multi-partite construction projects (involving multinational corporations, government entities and banking institutions) in Middle East and Europe. Giouli has acted as counsel in several commercial and investment treaty cases under the auspices of various arbitral institutions (ICSID, ICC, LCIA, DIFC-LCIA, LMAA). She also possesses substantial experience in the enforcement of arbitral awards across diverse jurisdictions such as Greece, Switzerland, and France. Giouli holds a BA and an LLM on private international and comparative law from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and is a member of the Athens Bar Association. She is fluent in Greek and English and has a working knowledge of French. In 2022 and 2023, Giouli was recognized by Legal 500 EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) as “Key-Lawyer” in the areas of Dispute Resolution and Real Estate & Construction.

Aya Sabra is a trainee-lawyer at Obeid & Partners and works within the dispute resolution practice group, with a particular focus on arbitration and advisory. Aya has completed, with high distinction, the LL.B. in Lebanese and French business law at Université Saint-Joseph of Beirut (Lebanon), and a Master’s degree in International Private Law and International Trade Law at Université Paris 2 – Assas.  She has gained professional experience in conducting legal research and assisting in drafting submissions and arbitral awards related to institutional commercial arbitrations before major arbitral institutions (including ICC, DIFC-LCIA, DIAC, and LAMC). She has also participated in various enforcement and annulment of arbitral awards proceedings.  She has also participated in drafting the International Journal of Arab Arbitration.On the advisory side, her experience includes reviewing and drafting contracts as well as providing legal advices to clients in different sectors including pharmaceutical, commercial representation, employment, insolvency, under Lebanese, UAE and Saudi Arabian law. Aya is fluent in English, French, and Arabic, and is admitted to the Beirut Bar Association.

Oriana Saib is an Associate at Obeid & Partners. Her practice focuses on international commercial arbitration, investor-State arbitration, and arbitration-related proceedings before French courts and the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration of the Organization for the Harmonization in Africa of Business Law. Oriana has experience advising private companies, investors and sovereign States in international arbitration proceedings administered under the auspices of various arbitral institutions (ICC, LCIA, CRCICA, UNCITRAL, ICSID) and in arbitration-related proceedings. Oriana acquired experience in international arbitration, commercial litigation, and sport arbitration while working at leading law firms in Paris and at the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration in Egypt. Oriana graduated from a Master’s degree in Private International Law and International Trade Law of the University Paris II Panthéon-Assas. She is fluent in both French and English and has knowledge in Arabic.