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Swiss Arbitration Centre: New Court members as of January 2023
The Swiss Arbitration Centre is delighted to announce that its Board of Directors has appointed Cinzia Catelli, Partner at Bär & Karrer Ltd in Zurich, Eliane Fischer, Founding Partner at rothorn legal AG in Zurich, Vanessa Liborio Garrido de Sousa, Partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in Geneva, Jean Marguerat, Partner at MLL Meyerlustenberger Lachenal Froriep Ltd in Geneva, and Carmen Núñez-Lagos, Founding Partner at Núñez-Lagos Arbitration in Paris as new members of the Arbitration Court as of 1 January 2023.
Cinzia Catelli represents clients in international arbitration and arbitration related court proceedings in commercial disputes, including in particular post M&A disputes, disputes arising out of shareholders’ agreements and JV-agreements. Cinzia works in all four languages of the Court – English, French, German, and Italian.
Eliane Fischer focuses on complex international construction and engineering cases, oil and gas disputes, sales, supply and distribution contracts, blockchain and crypto disputes as well as on joint venture and post M&A disputes. Eliane represents parties and acts as arbitrator in cases under various arbitration rules. Eliane speaks English and German.
Vanessa Liborio Garrido de Sousa is a multilingual arbitration lawyer focusing on complex, high-value disputes involving major construction and engineering projects, joint-ventures, sales, distribution and agency agreements and post M&A disputes in the Energy & Infrastructure, Tech & Innovation, and Finance sectors. Vanessa acts as counsel in international arbitration proceedings under the rules of several arbitration institutions. Vanessa speaks English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Jean Marguerat has experience across all areas of dispute resolution, with particular expertise in international arbitration and international litigation. His practice focuses on international arbitration, litigation and contract law and has experience as party counsel and as arbitrator in institutional and ad hoc international arbitrations involving sale of goods and commodities, distribution and agency, construction, marine works, joint ventures, corporate transactions and sport related matters. Jean is one of the authors of the Commentary on the Swiss Rules of International Arbitration. Jean works in English, French, and Spanish.
Carmen Núñez-Lagos acts as arbitrator in commercial and investment arbitration proceedings in a wide variety of sectors and is listed on the roster of arbitrators of the main arbitral institutions. Carmen also acts as counsel on behalf of both industrial groups and States, in particular in relation to infrastructure, energy and telecommunications disputes. Carmen is fluent in English, French, Italian, and Spanish.
At the same time, the Board of Directors of the Swiss Arbitration Centre extends its sincerest gratitude to Homayoon Arfazadeh of Python, Sandra De Vito of Bratschi in Zurich, Melanie Van Leeuwen of Derains & Gharavi in Paris, Boris Vittoz of Niederer Kraft & Frey in Geneva, and Clarisse Von Wunschheim of Altenburger in Zurich, whose terms as Court members have come to an end, for their highly valuable and much appreciated support over the past years.
Ulrike Gantenberg, Partner at Gantenberg Legal in Dusseldorf, was appointed as new member of the Court Special Committee. The Court Special Committee is composed of seven members of the Arbitration Court and decides on important issues concerning the administration of the proceedings, such as determination of the seat, consolidation, and challenges or removals of arbitrators.
The Arbitration Court currently comprises 27 leading arbitration practitioners. With the new appointments, the Board of Directors achieves gender parity within the Arbitration Court and increases international representation on the Court to reflect the growing international case load of the Swiss Arbitration Centre.
Xavier Favre-Bulle, President of the Arbitration Court comments that “It is always a pain that outstanding Court members reach the end of their terms. We will miss our leaving friends and remain indebted. The arbitration pool is however of such quality, in particular in Switzerland, that we are fortunate to be joined by new talents. Diversity (gender, generation, geographic) has been a driver for our appointments and we believe that we send a strong message in promoting a high number of female practitioners this year so as to reach gender parity at the Court level.”
Christopher Boog, Vice President of the Arbitration Court adds that “the Court ExCo is extremely pleased to have gained these excellent additions to the Court. Our new members add to the already diverse composition of the Court and will continue to ensure the smooth and efficient running of the ever-growing number of arbitrations administered by the Swiss Arbitration Centre under the Swiss Rules.”
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More information about the Swiss Arbitration Centre here.