9:30 – 10:00 am    REGISTRATION AND BREAKFAST

10:00 – 10:15 am    UNIVERSITY & DEPARTMENT WELCOMES
CESARE CAVALLINI Bocconi University

OPENING & INTRODUCTION TO KEYNOTE
CATHERINE ROGERS Bocconi University

10:15 – 10:45 am    KEYNOTE ADDRESS
TOBY LANDAU KC Duxton Hill Chambers | Essex Court Chambers

10:45 am  –  12:30 pm    OPENING ROUNDTABLE: ETHICAL SELF-REGULATION IN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION
As the “invisible college” of early arbitration pioneers gives way to a fragmented global marketplace, the community faces a critical choice between developing its own robust regulatory mechanisms or ceding control to ill-equipped national authorities. This discussion examines how transforming informal professional norms into explicit, endogenous rules can resolve the current “ethical no-man's land” and safeguard the system's legitimacy against external intervention. By treating self-regulation not as a static ideal but as a dynamic necessity, participants will explore practical frameworks for enforcing conduct standards that transcend conflicting national legal cultures.

MODERATORS 
MONIQUE SASSON DeliSasson
GIORGIO SACERDOTI Bocconi University

PANELISTS 
DANIEL SCHIMMEL FoleyHoag
DIEGO FERNANDEZ ARROYO Sciences Po Law School
JOÃO ILHÃO MOREIRA University of Macao
NDANGA KAMAU Ndaga Kamau Law
VICTORIA SAHANI Boston University School of Law
 

2:00 – 2:15 pm    PANEL PROLOGUE: COUNSEL ETHICS RULES AND REGULATION
CATHERINE ROGERS Bocconi University
 
2:15 – 3:45 pm    COUNSEL ETHICS RULES AND REGULATION 
International arbitration has made significant strides in replacing vague cultural assumptions about counsel conduct with meaningful international standards. However, critical ambiguities persist where forceful advocacy intersects with procedural fairness and where divergent national traditions still clash over issues like witness preparation and disclosure. This session moves beyond foundational debates to tackle nuanced questions regarding the shared enforcement authority among arbitral institutions, tribunals, and national bar associations.

MODERATORS 
YAS BANIFATEMI GBS Disputes
ANNA BIASIOLO Bonelli Erede

PANELISTS
JOACHIM KNOLL Lalive
MARIA IRENE PERRUCCIO WeBuild 
MICHELE POTESTÀ Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler
PATRICIA SHAUGHNESSY Stockholm University

3:45 – 4:00 pm    COFFEE BREAK
 

4:00 – 6:00 pm    A MOCK SUPREME COURT APPEAL 
This simulated appellate hearing brings ethical regulation out of the abstract and into the life of a case by asking what should happen when alleged misconduct is said to taint the award itself. The exercise tests the proper relationship between arbitral self-regulation and judicial review, especially when courts are asked to intervene after ethics failures in the underlying proceedings. Framed as live appellate argument, the session sharpens questions about integrity, finality, and institutional competence.

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW 
ANNA CHIARA AMATO Bocconi University
LYRA ÇELA Bocconi University

MOCK SUPREME COURT
HASSAN JALLOW Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Gambia
MARIA FILOMENA D. SINGH Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
REMZIJE ISTREFI-PECI Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Kosovo

APPELLANT’S COUNSEL [TBD]

APPELLEE’S COUNSEL [TBD]
 

10:00 – 10:30 AM    A KEYNOTE CONVERSATION 
This conversation draws on the experience of the immediate past President of CIArb and promient arbitrator to explore how international arbitrators are developing a shared professional identity capable of addressing increasingly complex ethical challenges. The focus is on legitimacy grounded not in inherited prestige or informal understandings, but in transparent and consistently applied professional standards.
MOHAMED S. ABDEL WAHAB Immediate Past President, CIArb & Arbitrator

MODERATOR
CATHERINE ROGERS Bocconi University

10:30 – 10:45 AM    PRESIDENTIAL REFLECTIONS: ARBITRAOR ACOUNTABILITY
CESAR PEREIRA Current President, CIArb & Arbitrator
Cesar Pereira takes up institutional dimensions  about how arbitraotrs can be held accountable. Drawing on CIArb’s experience, he examines how a multi-tiered disciplinary mechanism facilitates how investigation, review, and sanction can be structured to promote accountability while preserving fairness and guarding against opportunistic or reputationally damaging complaints. 
 

10:45 – 11:00AM    COFFEE BREAK
 

11:00 am  – 12:45 pm    PANEL DISCUSSION: ARBITRATORS’ ETHICS RULES & REGULATION 
Arbitrator regulation has developed further than most other areas of international arbitration, but persistent ambiguities about impartiality, issue conflicts, and the role of party-appointed arbitrators continue to test confidence in the process. Those concerns are sharpened by the tension between the asymmtries in the appointments market, a proliferation of sources that define arbitrators’ duties, and expanding aribtrators powers to adjudicate issues implicating public interests and policies. The discussion will focus on the arbitrator’s role in implementing and complying recent reforms to uphold the legitimacy of international arbitration.

MODERATOR 
CHIARA GIORGETTI University of Richmond School of Law

PANELISTS
CHIANN BAO ArbBoutique
GARTH SHOFIELD Permanent Court of Arbitration 
JAMES CASTELLO Arbitration Chambers
PAOLO BUSCO Twenty Essex Court
SAADIA BHATTY Gide

12:45 – 1:15 pm    REPORT ON ISDS WORKSHOP WITH STATE REPRESENTATIVES 
FAHIRA BRODLIJA International University of Sarajevo & GIZ
 

2:30 – 4:00 pm EMERGING ETHICS: EXPERT WITNESSES, TRIBUNAL SECRETARIES, FUNDERS, AND INSTITUTIONAL ACTORS

The rapid expansion of international arbitration has introduced new actors—such as third-party funders and tribunal secretaries—who operate in largely uncharted ethical territory yet wield significant influence over case outcomes. Extending the logic of self-regulation beyond counsel and arbitrators, this session tackles the unique conflicts of interest and transparency deficits inherent in these emerging roles. This panel will examine how ethical rules and regulation of these newer actors fit within a comprehensive and cohesive ethical framework, preventing regulatory blind spots from becoming systemic vulnerabilities.

MODERATOR  
CELINE LANGE National University of Singapore

PANELISTS
CATHARINE TITI French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)
DIEGO AGULLÓ Universidad Pontifica Comillas / Yale Law School
MICHAEL MCILWRATH MDisputes
NIKOLAUS PITKOWITZ Pitkowitz & Partners
NIKOS LAVRANOS International Federation for Investment Law and Arbitration (IFILA)

4:00 – 4:15 pm    CONFERENCE SYNTHESIS AND CLOSING REFLECTIONS
BARRY LEON FCIArb, Independent Arbitrator, 33 Bedford Row Chambers

4:15 – 4:30 pm    FAREWELL
CATHERINE ROGERS and the Organizing Committee
 

In the university area, numerous accommodation options are available. Below, you will find some choices within walking distance from the university:

• Hotel dei Cavalieri Milano Duomo - Piazza Giuseppe Missori, 1, 20123 Milan (1,7 km walking/2,5 km by car)
• UNAHOTELS Mediterraneo Milano - Via L. Muratori, 14 – 20135 Milan (1,4 km walking)
• Hotel Uptown Palace - Via Santa Sofia, 10 - 20122 Milan (1,3 km walking)
• The Square Milano Duomo - Via Alberico Albricci, 24 - 20122 Milan (1,7 km walking/2,9 by car)
• Grand Visconti Palace - Viale Isonzo, 14 - 20135 Milan (1,4 km walking)
• Hotel Crivi's - Corso di Porta Vigentina 46 - 20122, Milan (1 km walking)
• Hotel Mozart - Piazza Gerusalemme, 6 - 20154, Milan (6 km by car)

We recommend contacting the hotels directly for the most accurate and up-to-date information on availability and bookings.

Bocconi University is well-connected by Milan’s public transportation network, making it easy to reach from anywhere in the city. Whether you’re arriving by metro, tram, bus, or train, there are several convenient options.

Tram

• Line 15: Porta Lodovica station, a short walk from the university.
• Line 9: Bligny Lodovica station, near the campus.
• Line 24: Ripamonti Sabotino station, within walking distance.

Bus

• Lines 90 and 91: Frequent service with stops near Bocconi University.

Metro

• M3 (Yellow Line): Porta Romana station (15-minute walk), connects to Centrale Railway Station for national and international trains.
• M2 (Green Line): Porta Genova station (20-minute walk), connects to Garibaldi Railway Station and regional train services.
• M4 (Blue Line): Santa Sofia station (10-minute walk), offers a direct link to Linate Airport.

Train

• Milano Tibaldi Università Bocconi Station: Served by the S9 suburban railway, providing easy access from other parts of the city and beyond.

A standard ATM ticket costs €2.20, valid for 90 minutes on all suburbant railways, trams, buses, and metro lines.

For more information on public transport can visit the ATM webpage - Azienda Trasporti Milanesi

Bocconi University is easily accessible by car, from the highways, take the Tangenziale Ovest Milano, exit at Viale Liguria.

Parking Near the University

Quick Parking offers several parking options close to campus:

• Bocconi “B” – Via Röntgen 1
• Bocconi “C” – Via Bocconi 8
• Bocconi “D” – Via Castiglioni 8

For rates, payment methods and access details, you can visit Quick Parking Bocconi.

Diego Agulló is an Assistant Professor and holds a PhD in Law from Universidad Pontificia Comillas, where he received major awards for the best doctoral thesis in law. During his academic and research career, he has been a Max Planck Scholar in Luxembourg, a Graduate Research Trainee at McGill University, a Postdoctoral Researcher in Hamburg, and a Visiting Scholar at Columbia Law School in New York. 

His research interests include international procedural law, class actions, foreign investment law, and international arbitration. He is the Academic Sponsor of the Comillas Alumni International Arbitration Club, a member of the Spanish and Ibero-American Arbitration Club, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and is admitted to practice law in Spain. 

Prof. Yas Banifatemi is a founding partner of Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes and is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading specialists in international arbitration and public international law. Before co-founding the firm, she served alongside Prof. Emmanuel Gaillard as Global International Arbitration Practice Group Leader and Public International Law Team Leader at Shearman & Sterling. 

She acts as counsel, arbitrator, and expert under all major international arbitration rules, advising and representing States, State entities, and private companies in complex disputes. Among the best-known achievements of her career is the USD 50 billion award rendered in favor of the majority shareholders of former Yukos Oil Company, the largest investment award in history. She has held senior roles in major arbitral institutions, including Vice-President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, member of the SIAC Court of Arbitration, and member of the LCIA Court. She currently serves on the HKIAC Council and the KCAB Advisory Board, and is also active in academia as Adjunct Professor at Panthéon-Sorbonne University and Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. 

Chiann Bao is a Chartered Arbitrator and CEDR-accredited mediator with more than twenty years of experience gained in London, New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Qualified in New York, Hong Kong, and England and Wales, she has served as arbitrator in nearly one hundred ad hoc and institutional arbitrations, involving disputes with an aggregate value of over USD 40 billion. 

Her experience spans a wide range of sectors, including joint ventures, private equity, intellectual property, pharmaceuticals, technology, construction, energy, telecommunications, and crypto-related disputes. She currently serves as Co-Chair of the IBA International Arbitration Committee and is a member of the ICCA Governing Board. A former Vice President of the ICC Court of Arbitration, she also teaches at NUS Faculty of Law and Sciences Po, and is consistently ranked by Chambers and Who’s Who Legal among the most in-demand arbitrators globally. 

Saadia Bhatty is a Partner and Co-Head of Gide’s International Dispute Resolution team in London, where she specializes in international arbitration and public international law. She has more than fifteen years of experience, gained in Paris, New York, and London, advising private and State entities in cross-border disputes, including both commercial and investment arbitration. 

Her practice includes proceedings under the rules of major arbitral institutions such as ICC, ICSID, LCIA, PCA, SCC, HKIAC, VIAC, CAS, and OHADA, as well as UNCITRAL ad hoc arbitrations, with a particular focus on the energy, oil and gas, and construction sectors in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. She sits on several arbitration panels, teaches international arbitration at universities around the world, and graduated from Harvard, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, and the École Normale Supérieure. She is admitted to the bars of New York and Paris. 

Anna Biasolo focuses on international arbitration and litigation, with particular experience in infrastructure procurement, commercial contracts, and the energy sector, including oil and gas. She is a member of the International Arbitration Focus Team and the Infrastructure, Energy and Ecological Transition team. 

She joined BonelliErede in 2012 and has built her career in both Italian and international settings. Before that, she worked at a leading Italian law firm and at Hanotiau & Van den Berg in Brussels. In 2016, she completed a secondment at Procter & Gamble in Geneva, further expanding her international and in-house experience. Her practice spans a number of industries, including energy, oil and gas joint ventures, luxury goods, and real estate. She also served as Co-Chair of AA40, the Italian association of young arbitration practitioners, and works regularly in Italian, English, and French. 

Fahira Brodlija is the Rule of Law Advisor for a regional GIZ legal reform project focusing on investment protection and investor-State dispute settlement reform in the Western Balkans. She also teaches as an adjunct lecturer at the International University of Sarajevo and frequently speaks and writes on investment law, ISDS reform, and international dispute resolution more broadly. 

She is a tutor in the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators diploma programme and a guest lecturer at universities across Africa, Europe, and the United States. A former Vis Moot participant, she has coached teams from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the wider region since 2016. She is also a member of Association ARBITRI and the founder of the GEM diversity and mentorship programme, which supports young academics and practitioners in the field of international arbitration. 

Paolo Busco practises in the fields of public international law and international dispute settlement, with a particular interest in matters concerning the interaction between international law and diplomacy. He is qualified both as an avvocato in Italy and as a barrister in England and Wales, and is experienced in appearing before courts and tribunals in both civil law and common law systems. He has also advised senior government officials, including ministers, in Italy and the Middle East. 

He has acted as counsel in matters before the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the Court of Justice of the European Union, ICSID tribunals, UNCLOS Annex VII tribunals, and domestic courts. Before qualifying as a barrister, he worked in several international law roles, including as senior legal consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Riyadh and as Assistant Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. He studied at Luiss University, the University of Cambridge, the University of Paris 1 Sorbonne, and the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, and in 2024 he was made an Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. 

James Castello has been a member of Arbitration Chambers since 2024, following a long career in leading international law firms in Paris, Vienna, and Washington, including King & Spalding, Freshfields, and Shearman & Sterling. His practice focuses particularly on international arbitration, energy disputes, construction law, and investment disputes, in which he has advised clients in complex matters across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. 

Over the course of his career, he has acted both as counsel and arbitrator in ICC, ICSID, LCIA, UNCITRAL, and Vienna Rules proceedings involving refineries, energy plants, major infrastructure projects, joint ventures, and international sales contracts. He has an outstanding academic background, with degrees from Yale and Berkeley in history, economics, and law, and is widely recognized for his experience in high-value transnational disputes in the energy, construction, and investment sectors. 

Born in Argentina, Diego P. Fernández Arroyo has been a Professor at Sciences Po since 2010, where he teaches international litigation, arbitration, comparative law, and private and public international law. He is Director of the LLM in Transnational Arbitration & Dispute Settlement and has played a central role in the development of major academic and research initiatives, including PILAGG and the Concours d’Arbitrage International de Paris. 

He has held numerous prominent academic and institutional positions worldwide, including President of the Curatorium of the Hague Academy of International Law and President of the Arbitration Academy in Paris. He is also a member of the Institute of International Law. Before joining Sciences Po, he taught at universities in Spain and Argentina and served as visiting scholar and visiting professor at many institutions in Europe, Latin America, North America, and Asia. He is frequently appointed as arbitrator and expert in ICC, ICSID, and PCA proceedings, has participated in the work of UNCITRAL and other international organizations, and is the author or editor of more than twenty-five books and numerous articles. 

Chiara Giorgetti is Professor of Law at Richmond Law School and Senior Fellow at the International Claims and Reparations Project at Columbia Law School. In November 2023, she was elected to the Board of the Register of Damage for Ukraine, where she serves as Vice-Chair, confirming her international standing in the fields of inter-State dispute resolution, reparations, and State responsibility. 

An expert in international dispute resolution, she has acted as counsel, expert, and adjudicator in numerous inter-State disputes and has represented sovereign States before ICSID tribunals, the UN Compensation Commission, and the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims and Boundary Commissions. She teaches and writes extensively on international law, international arbitration, international courts, and tribunals, and has authored or edited ten books and more than sixty articles and chapters. Before joining Richmond, she worked at White & Case, Lalive, the United Nations, and the International Court of Justice. 

Hassan Bubacar Jallow is currently the Chief Justice of The Gambia and has had a distinguished career in international law, international criminal justice, and public institutions. He served as Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda from 2013 to 2015, and previously as Prosecutor of the United Nations Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations from 2012 to 2016. 

Earlier in his career, he served as Attorney General and Minister of Justice of The Gambia, Justice of the Gambian Supreme Court, Judge of the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Judge Ad Litem of the ICTY, and Judge of the Commonwealth Arbitral Tribunal. Throughout his career, he has advised the United Nations, the Organisation of African Unity, the African Union, and the Commonwealth on governance, human rights, public law, international law, and international criminal justice. He is also the author of several books and publications, including Journey for Justice and Prosecuting International Crimes: Recollections and Reflections, Law, Justice and Governance. 

João Ilhão Moreira is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Macau, where he teaches civil procedure and arbitration. He is also Associate Director of the Centre for Studies on Jurisprudence and Legislation of China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries. His research and teaching focus on domestic and international dispute resolution, Macau civil and commercial law, and gaming law. 

Alongside his academic career, he has acted as a legal expert in domestic and international proceedings and as a consultant on legal projects. He holds a DPhil in Law and an MSt in Legal Research from the University of Oxford, as well as a Master in Law and an LLB from the University of Coimbra. Before joining the University of Macau, he worked as a lawyer at PLMJ, one of Portugal’s leading law firms, and also taught at Coimbra and Oxford. He is the author of more than forty academic publications, including books on arbitration and dispute resolution in Macau, and his work has appeared in major peer-reviewed international journals. 

Prof. Dr. Remzije Istrefi-Peci has served as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Kosovo since 2018. In the same year, she was promoted to Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Prishtina, where she has been teaching international law since 2002. 

She completed her legal studies in Prishtina, earned an LL.M. in International Human Rights at the University of Notre Dame, and obtained her PhD from the University of Prishtina with research on the responsibility of international organizations for human rights violations in Kosovo. She also completed postdoctoral studies at the University of Graz in transitional justice. Her academic and institutional work has a strong international dimension: she has lectured and conducted research at prestigious universities including Duke, Liverpool, Sorbonne, Paris Nanterre, the College of Europe, Oslo, and several U.S. institutions. In 2025 she received the Human Rights Defender Award from the Global Summit on Constitutionalism at the University of Texas and was named an Honorary Member in its Constitutional Studies Program. 

Ndanga Kamau is an independent arbitrator based in France, widely respected for the independence, impartiality, and rigour she brings to her work. She has sat as chair, sole arbitrator, and co-arbitrator in more than twenty-five arbitrations and has around twenty years of experience in disputes involving private entities, States, State entities, and international organizations. 

She has particular expertise in Africa-related disputes and in matters involving common law, civil law, and hybrid legal systems, as well as both public and private international law. Her work spans sectors such as energy, oil and gas, mining, finance, technology, and construction, including complex disputes involving multiple parties, contracts, and jurisdictions. Before establishing her independent practice, she worked in the international arbitration groups of two major law firms and served as registrar of an international arbitral institution. She has also held numerous leadership roles, including as a member of the ICCA Governing Board and as Vice President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration from 2018 to 2024. 

Joachim Knoll specializes in international arbitration, both commercial and investment treaty arbitration, and is widely recognized by peers and clients for his strategic and practical expertise. He has acted as counsel and arbitrator in more than eighty international arbitral proceedings, both ad hoc and under the rules of institutions such as ICC, ICSID, LCIA, SCC, DIS, DIAC, and AAA/ICDR. 

His experience covers disputes governed by a range of procedural and substantive laws, including Swiss, French, German, English, and international law. He works particularly on disputes involving foreign investment, infrastructure projects, engineering, mining, distribution, and the international sale of goods. Thanks to the breadth of his practice, he is especially well regarded in complex cases involving major commercial operations and large-scale transnational projects. 

Celine Lange leads the development of the International Dispute Resolution programme at CIL. She graduated with an LL.M. from the National University of Singapore, specializing in international arbitration and dispute resolution, and also holds a Master’s degree in law from Strasbourg University in international human rights law as well as a degree from Sciences Po Paris. 

Before joining CIL, she worked in private practice, at Arbitration Chambers Singapore, and at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. She also lived and worked in New York at Columbia Law School, where she assisted a professor of human and constitutional rights. In addition to her work on dispute resolution, she is involved in special projects within CIL’s Investment Law and Policy programme. 

Prof. Dr. Nikos Lavranos is the Secretary-General of the International Federation for Investment Law and Arbitration (IFILA), founder of NL-Investmentconsulting, and external legal advisor to numerous international law firms. He is also a Partner at HHP Chambers, Senior Advisor in Brussels, and Of Counsel in Vienna, with extensive expertise in international investment law, arbitration, EU law, WTO law, and public international law. 

He has advised in numerous disputes involving Dutch BITs, intra-EU BITs, and the Energy Charter Treaty under ICSID, UNCITRAL, and SCC rules, and is listed as arbitrator or mediator by several international institutions. He teaches international arbitration as Visiting Professor at Leiden University and at other universities in Europe and Japan. Earlier in his career, he served as Chief Negotiator for Dutch BITs at the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and later at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is also co-editor of leading publications in the field and a frequent contributor to specialist arbitration platforms. 

The Honourable Barry Leon, FCIArb, is a Canadian independent arbitrator and mediator with broad experience in corporate, commercial, contractual, shareholder, energy, technology, insurance, and construction disputes. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, an IMI Certified Mediator, and a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and is also active as an independent consultant in institutional and governance matters. 

From 2015 to 2018, he served as Presiding Judge of the Commercial Division of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the British Virgin Islands, where he presided over high-stakes international commercial disputes. Before his judicial appointment, he practised for more than thirty-five years as counsel in Canada, acting in major litigation, arbitration, and mediation matters across a wide range of industries. He continues to play a leading role in the international arbitration community through numerous institutional appointments, advisory roles, publications, teaching engagements, and training initiatives in Canada, the Caribbean, and beyond. 

Michael McIlwrath has conducted mediations and arbitrations around the world under the rules of leading international and regional institutions, as well as in domestic and international ad hoc proceedings. His professional experience has been shaped in large industrial organizations, where he led dispute resolution teams in matters of significant complexity and commercial importance. 

He spent twenty-two years as in-house counsel, most recently as Vice-President of Litigation at Baker Hughes, an energy technology company. Prior to that, he served as Global Chief Litigation Counsel for GE Oil & Gas and as General Electric’s lead litigation lawyer for Europe. His experience covers disputes in sectors such as oil and gas, renewable energy, transportation infrastructure, environmental matters, healthcare, M&A, and intellectual property. 

Roger O’Keefe is Professor of International Law at Bocconi University. Previously he was Professor of Public International Law at University College London, before which he taught for fifteen years at the University of Cambridge, where was Senior Lecturer in Law, Deputy Director of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, and Fellow of Magdalene College. He is joint General Editor of the Oxford University Press series Oxford Monographs in International Law. Professor O’Keefe’s many published works include the monograph The Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict (Cambridge University Press, 2006), the treatise International Criminal Law (Oxford University Press, 2015), and the co-edited volume The United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property: A Commentary (Oxford University Press, 2013).   

Cesar Pereira is a Partner at Justen, Pereira, Oliveira & Talamini, a Brazilian law firm widely recognized for its strength in public procurement and government contracts. He became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in 2013 and a Chartered Arbitrator in 2022. In 2019, he helped found the Ciarb Brazil Branch and served as its first Chair until 2022. 

As counsel, arbitrator, and legal expert, his work has focused largely on government contracts, concessions, and public-private partnerships in regulated industries across Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Asia, under a broad range of institutional rules. He holds an LL.M. in tax law and a PhD in administrative law, and has been a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University, the University of Nottingham, and George Washington University. He is currently President of the Court of Arbitration at the Lusaka International Arbitration Centre in Zambia and is also deeply involved in supporting the Vis Moot and related initiatives. 

Maria Irene Perruccio Lourie is a dual-qualified lawyer in Milan and Paris and serves as in-house counsel for International Affairs of Europe and the Americas at Webuild S.p.A. (formerly Salini Impregilo S.p.A.). Earlier in her career, she worked at the ICC International Court of Arbitration and at White & Case in Paris, specializing in international arbitration and litigation in the energy and construction sectors. 

She also lectures at Paris I and the University of Turin. She holds a law degree from Bocconi University, a master’s degree from Universidad Internacional de La Rioja, and additional certifications from Paris XII and the École de Droit International Comparé. She is highly active in the international arbitration community as a member of ICC YAF, ASA, Young ICCA, and PVYAP, and as co-founder of YPCP and AIA-ArbIt-below40. She also contributes to the Willem C. Vis Moot as both coach and arbitrator. 

Dr. Nikolaus Pitkowitz is the founding partner of Pitkowitz & Partners and heads the firm’s dispute resolution practice. He is internationally recognized as one of the leading arbitration practitioners of his generation, having acted as counsel and arbitrator in more than 140 international disputes seated across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. 

In addition to arbitration, he regularly represents parties in high-stakes and complex litigation, including proceedings of significant public importance and cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union. His industry experience spans energy, automotive, telecommunications, arts and cultural assets, post-M&A disputes, real estate, and construction. A former President of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre, he also serves as Court Member of CIMAC Casablanca and Co-Chair of the ILA Committee on Conflict-of-Laws Issues in International Arbitration. He has authored more than seventy publications and is a frequent speaker and lecturer on international dispute resolution. 

Michele Potestà is a partner at Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler and specializes in international commercial arbitration, investment arbitration, and public international law. He acts as counsel, arbitrator, and expert in complex commercial and investor-State disputes. 

Over the past decade, he has participated in more than fifty international arbitrations under all major arbitral rules, including ICC, ICSID, UNCITRAL, Swiss Arbitration Center, CAM, SIAC, and DIAC. His work covers a broad range of industries, including energy and natural resources, construction, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, banking and finance, aviation, IT, and agency agreements. He also advises sovereign States on investment treaty programmes and currently serves as expert advisor to the Swiss Government in the inter-State negotiations on ISDS reform at UNCITRAL Working Group III. He teaches at MIDS in Geneva and the Graduate Institute, and is the author of numerous publications on arbitration and public international law. 

Law Graduate cum laude, University of Milan (1965). Master of Comparative Law, Columbia Law School, New York (1967), PhD (libero docente) 1971. Admitted to the Bar (Milan, 1969, and Supreme Court of Italy, 1978).   

Bocconi University emeritus professor since 2016. Formerly tenured professor of International Law and European Law (Jean Monnet Chair, 2004) at Bocconi University (1994-2013), specializing in international economic law (trade and investment), dispute settlement, arbitration.  

International fellow, Aspen Institute. Visiting professor at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales, University of Paris, and in universities in various countries. Course holder at the Academy of International Law of The Hague (1994). Initiator of the Bocconi PhD program in International Law and Economics. Member of the Board of editors of the Italian Yearbook of International law, and of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of World Investment & Trade.   
Vice-president of the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions (1995-2001). Member of the Appellate Body of the WTO 2001-2009 (Chairman 2006/2007). Arbitrator in international commercial, trade and investment disputes; member, ICSID (World Bank) Roster of arbitrators.  

F. Braudel Senior Fellow at the European University Institute (2012); Distinguished Fellow, Hebrew University, Jerusalem Law School (2024). President of Fondazione CDEC  (Italian Jewish Contemporary Documentation Centre), Milan. Member of the Italian Government Advisory Commission on Religious Freedom.  

Latest of prof. Sacerdoti’s more than 200 academic publications: International Trade and Investment Dispute Settlement. From Rise to Crisis and Reform (Routledge, 2025, with Niall Moran). 

Monique Sasson has more than thirty years of experience in the analysis and handling of international disputes. Before obtaining her PhD in international law from the University of Cambridge, she worked at two major law firms in London and Rome. She is qualified as an avvocato in Italy, a solicitor in England, and an attorney in New York. 

Formerly Of Counsel at Macchi di Cellere Gangemi, she is now one of the founding partners of DeliSasson. Her practice includes acting as counsel as well as serving as arbitrator and mediator. She has also acted as expert witness on international law in Central European Aluminium Company (CEAC) v. Montenegro (ICSID Case No. ARB/14/8), where she testified orally before a distinguished investment treaty tribunal. She is the author of the second edition of Substantive Law in Investment Arbitration (Kluwer, 2017) and is included on Arbitra’s list of arbitrators. 

Garth Schofield is Deputy Secretary-General and Principal Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where he has worked since 2009. Over the course of his career at the PCA, he has held progressively senior positions, including Assistant Legal Counsel and Senior Legal Counsel, following earlier experience with international organizations and U.S. public institutions. 

Before joining the PCA, he worked with the United Nations Mission in Sudan, the Brennan Center for Justice, the Yale National Security & Civil Liberties Clinic, the U.S. Mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the National Democratic Institute. His academic background includes a BA from Williams College, Russian language studies at Middlebury College, an MA from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and a JD from Yale Law School, reflecting a highly interdisciplinary profile combining law, diplomacy, and international affairs. 

Daniel Schimmel is Chair of Foley Hoag’s International Commercial Arbitration Practice Group and leads the firm’s International Litigation & Arbitration practice in New York. He is widely regarded as a leading practitioner in the field of international commercial arbitration in the United States. 

He has served as Chair, Sole Arbitrator, Co-Arbitrator, Emergency Arbitrator, Appellate Arbitrator, and counsel in more than one hundred international and domestic arbitrations. He has also co-drafted awards that were later confirmed or enforced by courts in the United States, France, the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, and the Swiss Federal Tribunal. In addition to his casework, he is active in professional leadership and currently serves as Chair (elect) of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, New York Branch. 

Patricia Shaughnessy is a tenured Associate Professor at the Department of Law of Stockholm University, where for around thirty years she has taught and conducted research in procedural and commercial law, with a particular specialization in arbitration and dispute resolution. 

Before entering academia, she practised law in the United States for approximately ten years, focusing on civil litigation and commercial law. This combination of academic and professional experience enables her to approach arbitration from both theoretical and practical perspectives. In addition to teaching and research, she acts as an expert, arbitrator, and consultant in legal development projects, contributes to training programmes, and regularly lectures at other universities and institutions. She is widely regarded as an important figure in arbitration education in the Nordic and international arenas. 

Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh has served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines since 18 May 2022. She earned her Juris Doctor with Second Honors from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law and later obtained an LL.M. in International Legal Studies from the American University in Washington, D.C. 

She began her judicial career in 2002 as Presiding Judge of the Metropolitan Trial Court in Quezon City and went on to hold increasingly senior judicial positions, including appointment to the Court of Appeals in 2014. Throughout her career, she has combined judicial service with academic work, teaching in several Philippine law schools and contributing to judicial and legal education. Today she is one of the most influential figures in the reform of the Philippine justice system, having led initiatives on gender justice, judicial ethics, procedural reform, digitalization, access to justice, and victim protection. In 2025, she was elected President Elect of the International Association of Women Judges, underscoring her commitment to women’s rights and more inclusive justice. 

Catharine Titi is a tenured Research Associate Professor at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) – CERSA, Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas. Her specialist research areas include public international law, the settlement of international disputes, international investment law, international arbitration, and cultural heritage law. 

She earned her PhD from the University of Siegen in Germany with highest honours and received the Rolf H. Brunswig PhD Prize. She has also worked as a consultant for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. In 2016, she was awarded the prestigious Smit-Lowenfeld Prize of the International Arbitration Club of New York. Alongside her academic and research activity, she is known for a broad intellectual profile that also includes creative interests such as writing and painting. 

Victoria Shannon Sahani is Professor of Law at Boston University School of Law and previously served as Associate Provost for Community and Inclusion at Boston University. Before joining BU, she was Associate Dean of Faculty Development / Special Projects and Professor of Law at Arizona State University, where she also directed the FIRST Initiative, a university-wide project focused on inclusion and institutional transformation. 

She is an internationally recognized scholar in arbitration law and third-party litigation funding law, as well as an award-winning teacher. She has eighteen years of experience in international arbitration and more than sixteen years of expertise in third-party funding, and also serves as an independent arbitrator, consultant, and expert witness. She is co-author of Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration (Wolters Kluwer, 2nd ed. 2017), widely regarded as the first book published on the subject. Before entering academia, she worked at the ICC International Court of Arbitration and at USCIB, and she remains active in numerous leading institutions in arbitration and international law.