LÉVY KAUFMANN-KOHLER - Key Persons
A DIS arbitration between EU companies regarding a dispute arising out of a share purchase agreement (secretary to the arbitral tribunal)
Antonio Rigozzi serves as counsel and arbitrator. His main areas of practice are international commercial and sports arbitration.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate, Head of KM
Erika Hasler has participated in numerous international arbitration proceedings under various sets of rules, including the ICC, UNCITRAL and Swiss Rules, the rules of the Milan Chamber of Arbitration and the CAS Code.
Erika's experience includes disputes relating to the fashion, watch-making, tourism, oil and gas and aeronautics industries, as well as disciplinary matters in equestrian sports, boxing and cycling.
Prior to joining Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler, she worked for several years in the international arbitration team at a leading Swiss law firm in Geneva and in the commercial property department of a top-tier regional firm in Cambridge, UK.
Erika heads the firm's knowledge management team.
Job Titles:
- Immediate past President
- Partner
- Founder, Former Director
Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler is the immediate past President and now Honorary President of ICCA, the International Council for Commercial Arbitration. She practices international commercial, investment and sports arbitration and has acted in over 220 international arbitrations, mainly as arbitrator. Gabrielle appears on numerous institutional arbitration panels (including ICC, ICSID, AAA, LCIA, SIAC, CIETAC) and conducts arbitrations under the rules of all major institutions. She is regularly ranked among the top ten arbitrators worldwide; a study of investment arbitration released in 2016 concluded that she was the "most influential arbitrator in the world". In 2021, she received Who's Who Legal Switzerland‘s Award for Arbitration Lawyer of the Year, and the Chambers Europe Outstanding Contribution Award.
A Professor Emerita at Geneva University Law School, Gabrielle is also the founder, former director and a current faculty member of the Geneva LLM in International Dispute Settlement (MIDS), a joint program of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and Geneva Law School. She is also a visiting professor at National University of Singapore, Tsinghua University in Beijing, and Georgetown University and the President of the Council of the Center for International Dispute Settlement (CIDS). Gabrielle teaches courses on international commercial and investment arbitration and heads research projects in the area of arbitration.
She is Honorary President of the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA) and was ASA President from 2001 to 2005. Gabrielle is also a founder of the FIAA (Foundation for International Arbitration Advocacy) and the President of its Advisory Board, as well as a former member of the ICC Court, LCIA Court, and AAA Board. She was and is a member of the Swiss delegation to UNCITRAL, including within Working Group II on transparency (until 2014), and presently Working Group III on the reform of investor-state arbitration, for which she has co-authored two CIDS reports.
Formerly, Gabrielle was a professor (international arbitration, 1997-2018) and assistant professor (private international law, 1993-1997) at the University of Geneva Law School; partner of Schellenberg Wittmer (1996-2007), and partner (1985-1995) and associate (1981-1985) of Baker & McKenzie, in Geneva and New York. After studies at the University of Geneva (law degree 1974) and a doctorate from the University of Basel (1979), she was admitted to the Geneva Bar (1976) and New York State Bar (1982).
Gabrielle has authored numerous publications in her areas of specialization.
Ksenia was also a researcher for the International and Comparative Law Research Center (ICLRC) in Moscow, where she prepared reports on the proposals for reforming the ISDS system discussed within UNCITRAL Working Group III.
Laurent Lévy has extensive experience in corporate disputes, mainly in the areas of oil, gas, air & space and finance industries.
He is a Council member of the ICC Institute of World Business Law, a member of the Association Suisse de l'Arbitrage and a former member of the Milan Club of Arbitrators. He currently serves as the President of the Court of Arbitration of the Casablanca International Mediation and Arbitration Centre (CIMAC), and is a former Vice-President of the ICC Court of International Arbitration and a former member and Vice-President of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA).
Since 2007 he has been a visiting professor at the School of Law, Queen Mary, University of London.
He has handled more than 250 arbitration proceedings, mostly as an arbitrator, under various rules such as the ICC, ICSID and LCIA Rules, in numerous jurisdictions worldwide.
Lukas Montoya specializes in international arbitration, public international law, and comparative administrative and constitutional law. Lukas has been a member of the counsel team representing parties in both commercial and investment disputes, and has acted as assistant or secretary to arbitral tribunals in proceedings conducted under the ICSID, ICC, SCC, LCIA and DIFC-LCIA arbitration rules. His practice focuses on disputes regarding the infrastructure, energy, utilities, mining, and hydrocarbon industry sectors.
Before joining Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler, Lukas was part of the international arbitration team of Latham & Watkins LLP in Paris, where he acted in various commercial and investment disputes. Prior to that, during his practice in Colombia, Lukas was a special adviser at the Ministry of Justice, and an adviser to the former Chief Justice of Colombia's Constitutional Court. He also practiced in local firms and public interest litigation institutions, where he was directly involved in multiple public law and public procurement issues.
Job Titles:
- Counsel
- Research Assistant at the Graduate Institute
Magnus Jesko was a teaching and research assistant at the Graduate Institute in the fields of international law-making, international law enforcement, international dispute settlement, and international environmental law. His Ph.D. thesis analyzes the impact of international environmental law on State sovereignty and, more generally, the structure of international law.
Experience and list of cases
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Partner at Lévy Kaufmann - Kohler
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.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- the Legal Coordinator of the Swiss Esports Federation
Patrick Pithon is a Swiss qualified attorney specialising in international commercial and sports arbitration. He advises athletes, clubs and sports federations in a wide range of matters, particularly in proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Additionally, he acts as counsel or secretary to the arbitral tribunal in commercial arbitration proceedings under various rules, including the ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL, and Swiss Rules. He also advises clients in arbitration-related court proceedings in Switzerland, including actions to set aside Swiss arbitral awards or to recognise and enforce foreign arbitral awards.
Patrick is the Legal Coordinator of the Swiss Esports Federation and serves as Co-Chair of the Swiss VYAP (Very Young Arbitration Practitioners).
Prior to joining LKK, he worked as an associate in the sports and arbitration department of an international law firm in Geneva. He also gained experience as a junior associate in the litigation and arbitration department of a top-tier law firm in Geneva and in the International Cooperation team of the Enforcement Division of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).
Patrick holds a law degree from the University of Lausanne (summa cum laude) and is admitted to the Geneva Bar, where he ranked first in his class.
Job Titles:
- Counsel
- Member of the Swiss Arbitration Centre Marketing Committee
Silja currently is a member of the Swiss Arbitration Centre Marketing Committee.
Prior to joining Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler, Silja worked with Julian D M Lew QC at 20 Essex Street Chambers in London, United Kingdom, assisting him in all aspects of his work as international arbitrator and academic. She also held various research and teaching positions in the fields of private international law and international arbitration at the law faculty of the University of Geneva, the School of International Arbitration at Queen Mary, University of London, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
A German national, Silja has dual common law and civil law training, being admitted to the Geneva and New York Bars. She holds a Ph.D. from Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Geneva, an LL.M. from Columbia University, as well a law degree and a post-graduate degree in advanced legal studies from the University of Geneva. Silja is fluent in German, English and French.
Experience and list of cases
Sébastien Besson represents parties in arbitral and court proceedings, and serves as arbitrator.
He has acted as counsel, arbitrator and legal expert in numerous international arbitrations under a variety of arbitration rules, and in different jurisdictions. The scope of Sebastien's practice includes joint ventures and industrial cooperation, agency and distribution, sales contracts, licensing, construction, energy, M&A, finance and sports-related disputes.
He has published extensively on international arbitration and sport disputes. Notably he has co-authored (with Professor Jean-François Poudret) the well-known treatise Comparative Law of International Arbitration (Sweet & Maxwell, London, 2007).
Sébastien is a part-time professor at the University of Neuch tel and has taught several courses on arbitration and the settlement of commercial disputes, including in the Geneva Master in International Dispute Settlement programme (www.mids.ch).
Laura Zinnerman specializes in international investment and commercial arbitration. She has been a member of the counsel team representing parties in both investment and commercial disputes in proceedings conducted under the ICC, ICSID, ICSID (Additional Facility) and UNCITRAL arbitration rules. Her practice focuses on disputes relating to the energy, natural resources and telecommunications sectors.
Before joining Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler, Laura worked as an associate at an international arbitration boutique law firm in Buenos Aires, Argentina representing clients in investment and commercial arbitrations, with a particular emphasis on Latin America. Prior to that, she was part of the team of a leading Argentine law firm, where she was involved in several capital markets and financial transactions, and advised clients on diverse contractual and corporate matters.
Laura is admitted to the Buenos Aires Bar and holds an LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement (MIDS), for which she was awarded the MIDS-Young ICCA Scholarship. She graduated from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, where she specialized in international law, and coached the teams that won the Concours d'Arbitrage International de Paris in 2018 and 2020.
Blurred Lines in International Arbitration: The Parties' Waiver of the Right to Set Aside an Award
Young Arbitration Review 2019, pp.