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Practical, skills-based training for arbitration practitioners
FACULTY FOR THE WAWA WRITING AWARDS COURSE 2025
Please meet the seasoned arbitrators composing the international faculty for the WAWA course on writing awards and the experienced tribunal secretaries and practitioners composing the faculty for the tribunal secretary add-on module:
From left to right and top to bottom, we are honoured to have Niuscha Bassiri (chair), Michael W. Bühler, Nadine Debbas Achkar, Dr. Bernd Ehle, Lindsay Gastrell, Prof. Benjamin Hughes, Dyalá Jiménez, James Morrison, Promod Nair, Prof. Emilia Onyema, Dr. Michele Potestà, Klaus Reichert. Their short bios are set out below.
For more than two decades, Ms. Niuscha Bassiri has acted as arbitrator and counsel in numerous international arbitrations under the major arbitral institutions and arbitration rules (CEPANI, DIFC-LCIA, DIS, ICC, LCIA, NAI, PCA, Swiss Rules, SCC, SIAC, UNCITRAL, VIAC) governed by various procedural and substantive laws, including ad hoc. In the past, Ms. Bassiri appeared as part of the counsel team representing the Russian Federation in an ECT case and the Republic of India in taxation and telecommunication cases in setting aside, revocation and enforcement proceedings before State Courts in Belgium and the Netherlands. As a mediator, Ms. Bassiri has successfully concluded an ICC mediation in an international post-M&A matter. Ms. Bassiri is a member of the faculty of the University of Miami White & Case International Arbitration LLM program. She is a lecturer in the Geneva LLM in International Dispute Settlement (MIDS) program on the New York Convention. She was also a Visiting Senior Fellow at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law. For 12 years, she co-lectured in the master’s program of the ICHEC Business and Management School in Brussels on International Commercial Law and Dispute. Since 2020, Ms. Bassiri has been a faculty member of the CIArb’s Virtual Diploma on International Commercial Arbitration program. In 2023-2024, she was sharing her expertise as the Co-Chair and faculty member of the ICC Advanced Arbitration Academy for Eastern Europe. Ms. Bassiri is also the Chair and faculty member of the Delos Dispute Resolution’s Writing Awards Course. As a member of the ICC Task Force Addressing Issues of Corruption in International Arbitration, she is a Coordinator of one of the tracks, focusing on the use of AI for detecting red flags. Ms. Bassiri regularly speaks at leading conferences and seminars on international arbitration. She publishes widely on topics such as efficiency in investment arbitration, EU consumer law and arbitration, enforcement of awards rendered in ODR, default arbitration proceedings, institutional rules’ nationality requirements, arbitrators and their online identity on social media and settlement facilitation in arbitrations. Ms. Bassiri is the co-editor and author of various landmark books, amongst them International Arbitration and the COVID-19 Revolution, as well as Arbitration in Belgium, the sole English-language commentary on the Belgian arbitration law. Ms. Bassiri is also a co-author in the leading German language commentary on the ICC and DIS Rules, now on its second edition. She has led the task force on the Young ICCA Guide on Arbitral Secretaries. Ms. Bassiri is listed in various panels and lists of arbitrators, including the Abu Dhabi International Arbitration Centre, ASA (Swiss Arbitration Association), BVI International Arbitration Centre, CEPANI (Belgian Center for Arbitration and Mediation), DIS (German Arbitration Institute), Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), India International Arbitration Centre, LCIA (London Court of International Arbitration), NAI (Netherlands Arbitration Institute), SIAC (Singapore International Arbitration Centre), and in many arbitration directories.
Michael has extensive experience in commercial and corporate disputes, mainly in the areas of oil & gas and energy, construction, and engineering industries. He started his career in 1985 as counsel at the ICC Court of Arbitration in Paris. From October 1988 to December 2023, Michael worked in large Anglo-Saxon law firms, doing initially both corporate and arbitration work, to eventually focus his practice on international dispute resolution through negotiation, mediation and arbitration, as well as for the purpose of injunctive relief and/or enforcement, also state court litigation. In January 2024, Michael became an independent practitioner by founding BÜHLER ARBITRATION, a law firm registered with the Paris Bar and organized as a French Selarl (LLC). His practice centers around three main activities: Providing clients strategic advice in international dispute resolution, by finding solutions to avoid and/or settle disputes efficiently and promptly; Acting as senior counsel in commercial and/or investment disputes, alongside international and/or local law firms; Acting as party-appointed or presiding arbitrator in commercial disputes, including as mock arbitrator for clients seeking to improve their real case performance, and/or as privilege master assisting arbitral tribunals with document disclosure issues. A former member of the ICC Court of International Arbitration and a former member of the ICC Commission on International Arbitration & ADR, he acted in 2016/2017 as the lead consultant of OHADA for the reform of the Ohada Uniform Arbitration Act and the Arbitration Rules of the CCJA and the adoption of a new Uniform Act on Mediation. Co-author of one of the leading books on ICC arbitration, the ICC Handbook of Arbitration, now in its 5th edition (2021). A new edition with his co-author T.H. Webster is in preparation by Sweet & Maxwell. Furthermore, the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the way arbitration is being practiced has become an area of special interest for Michael.
Nadine Debbas Achkar is a Chartered Arbitrator specializing in international arbitration. Currently, she serves primarily as arbitrator and has been appointed as Presiding Arbitrator, Sole Arbitrator or Co-Arbitrator in numerous arbitrations arising from a wide range of disputes (both institutional arbitrations as well as ad hoc proceedings under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules). Nadine is a Member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Court of Arbitration (2024-2027), a Co-Chair of the ICC Advanced Arbitration Academy – Middle East, and a Member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration & ADR and of the Working Group on Expedited Procedures. She is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb). In addition, in January 2022, Nadine was appointed by Royal Decree as a Judge on the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Bahrain. From 2008 until 2011, Nadine served as the General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Corporation PJSC, an industrial investment holding company mandated by the Abu Dhabi Government to be a key contributor to Abu Dhabi’s Economic Vision 2030. Nadine holds a Juris Doctor from Columbia University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Georgetown University. She is a member of the New York Bar and is a native speaker of Arabic, English, and French and is fluent in Spanish.
Bernd specialises in international arbitration, with extensive experience as both counsel and arbitrator in over 100 high-stakes disputes conducted under various arbitration rules and governed by civil and common law. His experience includes serving on dispute adjudication boards. Bernd advises and represents clients in complex disputes, with a focus on large-scale construction and infrastructure projects, intricate joint venture agreements, M&A transactions and sales and distribution contracts. He is committed to dispute resolution and related capacity building, in particular in Africa, to which a significant portion of his work is related. Recognised as a “leading light in the next generation of international arbitration practitioners in Switzerland”, Who’s Who Legal Global Leaders, Arbitration, 2022, Bernd also assists and represents clients in the enforcement of arbitral awards and other arbitration-related proceedings before state courts.
Lindsay is an independent arbitrator with Arbitration Chambers specializing in international dispute resolution, with experience spanning private practice, institutional service, and academia. Her cases have included complex investment treaty disputes and high-stakes commercial disputes, often exceeding USD 1 billion in value, as well as cases involving individuals and SMEs. She has experience with the major institutional rules, the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, and fully ad hoc arbitrations. Lindsay is dual qualified in New York and England & Wales and educated in both the civil law and the common law traditions. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and an accredited mediator. She is also recognized as a “Global Elite Though Leader” in Arbitration by Lexology’s Future Leader index, with commentators noting that she is a “great arbitrator” who is “sharp like a whip” and “knows the case inside out.” Before joining Arbitration Chambers, Lindsay represented clients in investor-State and commercial arbitrations at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in New York and London and then served as Legal Counsel at ICSID. For the last decade, Lindsay has taught arbitration and investment law as Adjunct Professor of Law at American University, Washington College of Law. Among her many roles in the arbitration community, Lindsay is the Practice Notes Editor of the ICSID Review and rapporteur of the ICCA Judiciary Committee. She is also on the Global Steering Committee of the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge and co-chair of Mute Off Thursdays.
Benjamin F. Hughes is an independent arbitrator at Fountain Court Chambers in Singapore, a member of the Court of Arbitration of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre and a member of the Investment Committee of Omni Bridgeway. Previously, he was associate professor at Seoul National University Law School, adjunct professor at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law and practiced in the field of international dispute resolution at major law firms in the US, Seoul and Singapore. Professor Hughes was educated in both the civil law and the common law traditions, having studied first at Seoul National University College of Law (MA, all coursework in Korean), and then at NYU School of Law (JD).
Dyalá Jiménez is a Costa Rican national who specializes in conflict resolution. She is frequently appointed as arbitrator in international contract-based and treaty-based disputes, both under institutional rules and ad hoc procedures. Dyalá is Vice President of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) Governing Board. She is a member of the ICSID panel of conciliators and arbitrators for Costa Rica and sits on the International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS). She is a former member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and former policy vice chair of Americas Initiative of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA). Dyalá obtained her law degree from the Universidad de Costa Rica and later became a Fulbright Scholar when she attended the Georgetown University Law Center (LLM ‘99); she has authored numerous publications in the field and has teaching experience, both in Costa Rica (Lead University, 2017) and in Chile (Universidad de Chile undergraduate and the Heidelberg/Universidad de Chile LLM Program, from 2004 to 2013).
James (Jim) Morrison is a specialist in international arbitration, acting as arbitrator and counsel, as well as having extensive experience working in multiple arbitral institutions. An Australian-qualified lawyer, Jim has worked at leading international law firms, representing leading companies in a wide variety of complex high-stakes commercial and investor-state disputes, including in the fields of construction, infrastructure, energy and resources, M&A, intellectual property, shipbuilding and joint ventures. Jim’s former roles include Counsel at the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris; and Counsel at the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration in Sydney, where he managed teams of lawyers responsible for the conduct of hundreds of international arbitrations taking place all over the world (but particularly in Asia). He holds a master's degree in international commercial arbitration law from the University of Stockholm. Jim has been named in WWL: Arbitration and Thought Leaders - Arbitration. He has participated in working groups to revise various institutional and ad hoc arbitration rules. He regularly speaks and lectures at arbitration conferences and universities. Jim is a former co-chair of Young ICCA, and a co-author of the first English-language textbook on Korean arbitration law; he regularly publishes articles on international dispute resolution.
Mr. Promod Nair is a highly esteemed Senior Advocate at the High Court of Karnataka, with over 30 years of experience in the legal profession. He is also a Solicitor-Advocate registered with the Law Society of England and Wales. After completing his Bachelor of Laws degree from Bangalore University, Mr. Nair went on to earn his Master of Laws from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. He began his legal career in 1991, practicing in civil and commercial litigation at various courts and tribunals across India. He has extensive experience in international arbitration and has served as a member of the LCIA Court between 2013 and 2018. Currently, he is a Council Member of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, where he serves on the Proceedings Committee. Additionally, he is a member of the Advisory Council of the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration and a Governing Council Member of the International Arbitration and Mediation Centre, Hyderabad. Promod Nair has also served as India’s correspondent for the UNCITRAL CLOUT project and is a member of the UNCITRAL Coordination Committee for India. He also coordinates the Permanent Court of Arbitration India Committee. In addition to his legal practice, Mr. Nair is actively involved in various professional organizations. He has served as the Secretary of the Bangalore Advocates Association and is a member of the International Bar Association and the Law Society of England and Wales. He has also contributed articles to legal publications and has been a speaker at various legal seminars and conferences.
Professor Emilia Onyema is a Professor of International Commercial Law at SOAS University of London. She holds a PhD in international commercial arbitration from Queen Mary University of London. She is qualified to practice law in Nigeria and as a Solicitor in England & Wales; and she is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. She accepts appointment as an independent arbitrator as well as an expert witness. She has long standing experience as presiding, co and sole arbitrator in international commercial arbitration cases. Her research and teaching focus on international commercial arbitration, international investment law, law and development, with regional focus on Africa.
Dr. Michele Potestà is a partner at Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler. He specializes in international commercial and investment arbitration, as well as public international law, acting as counsel, arbitrator and expert in complex investment and commercial matters. In the last decade, Michele participated in over 50 international investment and commercial arbitrations under all major arbitral rules (including ICC, ICSID, UNCITRAL, Swiss Arbitration Center, CAM, SIAC, DIAC, Danish Institute of Arbitration and CAS), and in disputes governed by a variety of procedural and substantive laws (including Swiss, Italian, French, Spanish, U.S., Danish, Panamanian, Venezuelan, U.A.E., Kazakhstani, Greek, Singaporean, Iranian and Egyptian). He has specific experience in disputes relating to energy and natural resources (oil, gas, mining and solar energy), real estate and construction, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, international sales, banking and finance, shareholders disputes, aviation, IT and agency contracts. He frequently acts in arbitrations involving states and state entities. Michele has advised sovereign states on their investment treaty programs and currently acts as expert advisor to the Swiss Government in the inter-State negotiations on the reform of investor-state dispute settlement (“ISDS”) in UNCITRAL’s Working Group III. He is a member of the ICSID Panels of Arbitrators and Conciliators, and was appointed by the European Commission on the EU list of arbitrators and trade and sustainable development (TSD) experts in bilateral disputes under the EU’s trade agreements with third countries. He is also a member of the panels of arbitrators at VIAC, LCIA, SIAC, AIAC, KCAB International, and Delos. In 2023, Michele was recognized by Global Arbitration Review (GAR) as one of the 45 leading international arbitration specialists worldwide under the age of 45. According to his peers and clients, he is “a leader in investment arbitration and an obvious choice for complex disputes” and “one of the real experts in investment disputes of his generation”. In 2020, Michele was named the most highly regarded individual in Europe by Who’s Who Legal Arbitration: Future Leaders (Non-Partners), described as a “super smart” and “simply outstanding” lawyer, and praised for his “great breadth and depth of learning on investment treaty arbitration”. He is part of the faculty at the Geneva LLM in International Dispute Settlement (MIDS) and at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, where he teaches international investment law, investment arbitration, and damages & compensation in international economic disputes. He has authored multiple publications on arbitration and public international law. Michele, an Italian national, is qualified to practice law in Italy and is registered with the Geneva bar (foreign lawyers’ section). He holds a Ph.D., bachelor and master’s degree from the University of Milan.
Klaus Reichert SC specialises in international arbitration with substantial experience in dealing with international disputes across a broad spectrum of complex subject matters, industries and governing laws (both common law and civil law) involving sovereigns and commercial parties from all over the World. He has particular experience as an arbitrator arising from cases administered by ICSID, ICC, LCIA, ICDR and the PCA. He has sat in arbitrations on three-member tribunals on multiple occasions in Paris, London, New York, Geneva, The Hague, Singapore and Washington DC. He has a significant focus on commercial cases located in the United States and is one of the few non-Americans admitted as a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators (USA). He is a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport and was an arbitrator with the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal for many years. He is Vice-Chair of the Executive of the Institute of Transnational Arbitration (Dallas). He was called to the Inner Bar of Ireland (Senior Counsel) in 2010 having been involved as counsel in a large number of leading cases in the field of private international law before the Irish Courts. During the Academic Year 2023-24 he was the Scholar in Residence at New York University School of Law Center for Transnational Litigation, Arbitration, and Commercial Law. In 2020 he was designated by the Government of Ireland to the ICSID panel of conciliators.
FACULTY FOR THE TRIBUNAL SECRETARY ADD-ON MODULE
Felipe Aragón is an economist and lawyer and acts as arbitrator and secretary to arbitral tribunals in international and domestic arbitration proceedings, both ad hoc and administered, involving commercial and investment disputes. The cases in which he participates are administered by ICSID, ICC, PCA, as well as Spanish and Latin American arbitral institutions. As to the ad hoc arbitrations, most of them are subject to the UNCITRAL Rules.
Felipe administers proceedings under different applicable laws, related to the energy sector, mineral and other natural resources, commercial contracts, M&A, public concessions and EPC contracts.
He is an Associate Professor in the Masters’ Degree on International Arbitration of Universidad Internacional de la Rioja UNIR.
Felipe holds a Double Degree in Law and Economics from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, a Master’s Degree in Legal Practice from UDIMA and an Advance Certificate on Arbitration from Universidad CEU San Pablo and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
Tarunima Vijra is Senior Counsel at van den Berg Arbitration.
She sits as arbitrator, tribunal secretary and assistant to the tribunal in international commercial and investment arbitrations as well as in domestic India-seated arbitrations. She also acts as counsel in international arbitrations and in court litigation related to setting aside and enforcement of arbitral awards. Tarunima has significant experience practising under a variety of institutional rules (CEPANI, DIFC-LCIA, ICC, ICSID, LCIA, MCIA, NAI, SCC, SIAC) and in ad hoc arbitrations, including under the UNCITRAL Rules. Her experience covers a range of industry sectors, including aviation, banking, broadcasting, construction and infrastructure, energy, food and beverage, luxury and leisure, mining, oil and gas, payment cards, retail, steel, telecommunications and third-party funding.
As counsel, recent instructions include representing the Republic of India in setting aside, revocation and enforcement proceedings concerning investment treaty awards issued in the satellite telecommunications and technology sector before the state courts in Belgium and the Netherlands. She also represented India in setting aside proceedings leading to the successful annulment of an investment award following the discovery of tax fraud by the claimants in India.
Tarunima regularly writes and teaches on issues related to international commercial and investment arbitration. Amongst others, she has authored the Kluwer Practical Insights module on “Joinder and Consolidation in Arbitral Proceedings”. She lectures in credit and diploma courses on international commercial and investment arbitration at the National Law University, Delhi (India). She is a faculty member of the Delos Dispute Resolution’s Writing Awards Course, offering the training module for tribunal secretaries. She is a member and rapporteur of the IBA Task Force on the “Nationality of the Arbitrator as a Proxy for Independence and Impartiality”.
Previously, Tarunima was with Hanotiau & van den Berg in Brussels and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas in New Delhi. Tarunima graduated with a Bachelors of Arts and of Laws (B.A.LL.B (Hons.)) from the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata, India. She received an LL.M in International Dispute Settlement (MIDS) from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and the University of Geneva. She is admitted to practice with the Bar Council of New Delhi and is registered with the Brussels Bar (B-list). She is a native speaker of English and Hindi.
