Arbitration, in particular international arbitration, is a central focus of the activity of our firm which advises and represents both private and public companies, as well as States, in various sectors of activity.
With an experienced, multicultural and multilingual team, we do our best to adopt a successful strategy adapted to your needs. Flexibility, discipline and determination are the core principles of our daily work and file processing.
Thanks to our long experience in international arbitration, we have acquired a wide know-how in the resolution of complex and cross-disciplinary disputes, as well as a specific knowledge of Africa and Asia, which enables us to act as strategic partners for our clients, from the initiation of the dispute to its termination. We can assist you during all phases of a legal dispute: strategy development, preservation and collection of evidence, risk assessment and estimation of possible compensation payments, implementation of precautionary or enforcement proceedings.
Our expertise:
Commercial and investment arbitration
Our team has a wide experience in commercial and investment arbitration before the main international institutions, such as: ICC, ICSID, HKIAC, CCJA, DIS and CAS.
The complementary expertise of our lawyers allows us to act with precision and determination even in cases with high financial, political and industrial risk, regardless of the law and language applicable to the dispute, mainly thanks to cooperation with colleagues within our international network Pangea-Net.
One of our partners is also an arbitrator before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Pre-arbitration and post-arbitration litigation
Arbitration proceedings may give rise to substantial technical disputes to be decided by the State courts, either before or after the proceedings. In this context, our team acts with a strategical approach before and after any arbitration proceedings, e.g. in the context of appeals against a decision and enforcement actions.
Sectors:
- Public-private partnerships
- Construction projects and major infrastructure projects
- New technologies, defense and biometrics
- Energy, environment and mining activities
- Logistics and transport
- Sport
Recent track record:
Advising an African State against a company from the United Arab Emirates
Advising an African State against a company from the United Arab Emirates in an UNCITRAL arbitration initiated under the Agreement on the Promotion, Protection and Guarantee of Investments between Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC Agreement) relating to the refusal to renew a mining permit – final award in favor of the African State.
Amount in dispute: 200 million $
Place of arbitration: Paris
Languages: English/French
Advising an African State against a Portuguese company
Advising an African State against a Portuguese company in arbitration proceedings relating to the termination of a contract for the construction of a road financed by the European Development Fund – final award in favor of the African State.
Amount in dispute: 12 million €
Place of arbitration: Paris
Language: French
Advising a French defence and aerospace company against a Tunisian company
Advising a French defence and aerospace company against a Tunisian company in an ICC arbitration relating to a contract for the repair of a military vessel – final award in favor of the French company.
Amount in dispute: 3 million €
Place of arbitration: Paris
Language: French
Advising a Singaporean group and its Lebanese subsidiary against a Congolese company
Advising a Singaporean group and its Lebanese subsidiary against a Congolese company in an ICC arbitration relating to a transfer of shares – proceedings pending.
Amount in dispute: 10 million €
Place of arbitration: Paris
Languages: English/French
Advising an African State against a Spanish company
Advising an African State against a Spanish company in three ICC proceedings relating to road and sports infrastructure contracts – proceedings pending.
Amount in dispute: 170 million €
Place of arbitration: Paris
Language: French
Advising an African State against a Tunisian company
Advising an African State against a Tunisian company in an UNCITRAL arbitration initiated under the Agreement on the Promotion, Protection and Guarantee of Investments between Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC Agreement) in relation to infrastructure and social housing contracts.
Amount in dispute: 300 million €
Place of arbitration: Paris
Language: French
Advising an African State against a local company
Advising an African State against a local company in ICC proceedings concerning the enforcement of telecommunications contracts.
Amount in dispute: 50 million €
Place of arbitration: Paris
Language: French
Advising an African State against an association of companies
Advising an African State against an association of companies in ICC proceedings relating to the performance of a contract for the production of official civil status documents.
Amount in dispute: 45 million €
Place of arbitration: Paris
Language: French
Advising an African State against a Lebanese company
Advising an African State against a Lebanese company in ICC proceedings relating to the performance of contracts about environmental matters – proceedings pending.
Amount in dispute: 150 million €
Place of arbitration: Paris
Language: French
Appeal against an arbitral award in relation to a public-private partnership for real estate infrastructure
Appeal against an arbitral award in relation to a public-private partnership for real estate infrastructure, challenging the decision on lack of jurisdiction and breach of the adversarial system – final decision in favor of our client – Paris Court of Appeal.
Appeal against an arbitral award in relation to a construction contract for breach of the international public policy
Appeal against an arbitral award in relation to a construction contract for breach of the international public policy (breach of state sovereignty, procedural fraud and corruption) – proceedings pending – Paris Court of Appeal.
Appeal against an arbitral award in relation to several infrastructure contracts
Appeal against an arbitral award in relation to several infrastructure contracts (roads, bridges, military school) for breach of the international public policy (corruption) – proceedings pending – Paris Court of Appeal.
Representing the interests of an Indian company in pre-arbitration negotiations
Representing the interests of an Indian company in pre-arbitration negotiations in connection with the construction of power transmission lines in a West African State.
Representing the interests of an international group in pre-arbitration negotiations
Representing the interests of an international group in pre-arbitration negotiations in relation to environmental matters in a West African State.
Partners, Heads of Department
Georges Arama Partner
georges.arama@kleinwenner.eu
+33 (0)1 44 95 20 00
Martin Riedel Partner
martin.riedel@kleinwenner.eu
+33 (0)1 44 95 20 00
Sports arbitration
Since the early 1980s, the development of professional sports has led to an exponential growth of litigation cases in this area.
At the beginning of the ‘80s, in the absence of an independent body specialized in sports-related problems and empowered to issue binding decisions, the question of how to settle sports disputes arose, under the authority of the International Olympic Committee. Thus, the idea of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) was born. Juan Antonio Samaranch, at that time President of this institution, asked Kéba Mbaye, a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, to set up and lead a working group in charge of the drafting of this institution’s founding texts.
François Klein was appointed CAS arbitrator in 2003 on the basis of his experience, particularly with football clubs, and his capacity as legal counsel for the first and, at that time, only federation of all presidents of those football clubs. CAS arbitrators are appointed on the principle of “co-optation”.
The activity of an arbitrator within the CAS requires both experience in litigation, especially in arbitration proceedings, and knowledge of the specific area, but above all a great interest in sport.
The appointed arbitrator(s) is(are) assisted by a CAS advisor who handles the proceedings from beginning to end. In addition, thanks to the experience acquired by our firm, we can naturally offer François Klein the best framework for handling the different cases. He provides his legal services both in French and English.
Although football has become the focus of his activity in the last years, his scope has gradually expanded and includes nowadays many other sports.
With his vast experience gathered throughout the 35 years of his arbitration practice, François Klein has become an absolute leader in this sector.
François Klein is also arbitrator of the Chambre Arbitral du Sport (CAS), i.e. the Chamber of Arbitration for Sport, whose mission is to settle legal disputes with regard to sport or sport-related activities. This arbitration chamber is a body of the Comité Nationale Olympique et Sportif Français (CNOSF), i.e. the French National Olympic and Sports Committee, and deals mainly with purely French disputes, while the CAS also deals with international disputes.