Delos and PT-VYAP’s joint event on “Portugal as a Seat for International Arbitration” took place on Wednesday 13 October. The event featured Filipa Cansado Carvalho, Joana Granadeiro and Hafez Virjee as speakers, their short bios can be found below. The recording is available here. 

ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS:

Filipa Cansado-Carvalho is a Regional Editor of the GAP. She is an independent practitioner with over 20 years of experience in international dispute resolution. Filipa has worked in more than 50 arbitrations (including ICC, LCIA, ICSID, OHADA, Corte de Arbitraje de Madrid and ad hoc), in Portuguese, English, Spanish and French involving jurisdictions in Europe, Africa and Latin America and parties of these regions as well as Asia. In 2020, she left a leading Portuguese law firm to embrace an independent project in dispute prevention and resolution (FCCARB), focused mainly on her work as arbitrator and mediator (Filipa is also a CEDR-accredited mediator). Filipa is a member of the board of the Arbitration Centre of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and of the Portuguese chapter of Club Español del Arbitration (CEA). She co-chairs the mentoring programme of CEA Mujeres, and is a member of the arbitration practice committee of the Portuguese Arbitration Association (APA).

Joana Granadeiro is an Associate at Morais Leitão, specializing in litigation and arbitration. She is dual-qualified in New York and Portugal. Prior to joining Morais Leitão, Joana clerked at Three Crowns LLP for a year, at the firm’s Paris offices. She also interned at King & Spalding, at the firm’s New York offices. Joana obtained her Law Degree (Licenciatura) and a Post-Graduate degree on Energy Law from the Catholic University of Portugal. She then obtained her LL.M. from New York University. Joana is fluent in English and French, in addition to Portuguese, her native language. Joana is the founder of the NYU Portuguese Alumni Association and a coach to the Catholic University of Portugal’s team in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot.

Hafez Virjee is the President and a co-Founder of Delos. Hafez also serves as an independent arbitrator at Virjee Arbitration. He previously acted mainly as counsel. His clients have spanned the range of listed companies, private equity firms, tech start-ups, industrial concerns, State entities and treaty organisations, in disputes across a wide range of sectors and relationships, including shareholder agreements, joint-ventures, agency, M&A, telecommunications, tech, energy, pharmaceutical, construction and defence. Hafez is a solicitor of England & Wales and also qualified in France. He was previously at Dechert in Paris (with a secondment to Dubai in 2015) and prior to that at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London. He co-edits the Delos Guide to Arbitration Places (GAP) and regularly writes and speaks on international arbitration and legal risk management. He holds degrees from the University of Cambridge (M.A.), the Université Paris II – Panthéon-Assas (Maîtrise) and the University of California – Berkeley (LL.M.). He is listed among the Future Leaders of Arbitration by Who’s Who Legal.