New president for Swiss institute in milestone year

Transcription

1 Seite 1 von 10 New president for Swiss institute in milestone year Alison Ross 21 November 2016 Buy now Gabrielle Nater-Bass, the new president of the SCAI Arbitration Court The Swiss Chambers' Arbitration Institute has elected a new president and members for its court, as it marks 500 years of Swiss neutrality, 150 years of documented arbitration services by the Swiss chambers and the 1,000th case under the Swiss rules. Gabrielle Nater-Bass ( a member of the SCAI Arbitration Court since 2007,

2 Seite 2 von 10 took over as president of the court on 10 November, replacing Lalive partner Phillip Habegger. She will perform the role for the next three years. A partner at Homburger in Zurich, Nater-Bass has extensive experience as counsel, arbitrator and legal expert in international arbitration associations. Among her other roles internationally, she is vice president of ArbitralWomen and on the board of the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA). Nater-Bass will be supported by two vice presidents, the newly elected Domitille Baizeau ( partner at Lalive in Geneva, and Cesare Jermini, partner at Bär & Karrer in Lugano, who is serving a second term. Baizeau is admitted to practise in New Zealand, England and Wales, and Geneva and is a member of the board and executive committee of ASA. She is also an officer of the European Users Committee of the LCIA. She replaces Frank Spoorenberg of Tavernier Tschanz, who continues as a court member. Newly elected court members are Christopher Boog, partner and vice chair of the international arbitration practice at Schellenberg Wittmer in Zurich and the firm s managing partner in Singapore, and Homayoon Arfazadeh, partner at Python in Geneva and Tehran.

3 Seite 3 von 10 Asked to comment on the new leadership team, Philippe Pinsolle, partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in Paris, tells GAR: "I have know Gabrielle for many years and sat with her in a major case. She is an outstanding practitioner and a top arbitrator. I have also known Domitille for many years and seen her act as counsel. She deserves the same compliment. I believe that the SCAI is in good hands with both, offering a perfect combination of Swiss pragmatism and international flair. The court should also be praised for its dedication to diversity." Peter Rees QC, a British arbitrator at 39 Essex Chambers in London, says: "It is great to see the next generation of Swiss arbitrators being so well represented on the SCAI Court and, especially, a much greater female representation. Gabrielle and Domitille are two of the best Swiss arbitrators and fully deserve this recognition." And, Gary Born of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr calls the appointments excellent developments which create great promise for the future. The change in the leadership of the court comes as the SCAI celebrates milestones including 500 years of Swiss neutrality and 150 years of documented arbitration services by the Swiss Chambers.

4 Seite 4 von 10 Swiss neutrality began after the Swiss lost the Battle of Marignano against the French in 1516, signing a treaty in Fribourg that included an eternal peace clause and an arbitration provision. Since then, Switzerland has had to temporarily abandon its neutrality only once, when it had to defend itself against invasion by Napoleon in This conflict was resolved by the 1815 Congress of Vienna, in which European powers settled the boundaries of Europe and committed to guarantee the neutrality of Switzerland. Its neutrality has served Switzerland well when it comes to international arbitration. The country played host to the first formal international arbitration in diplomatic history, the Alabama case between the US and the UK, and is frequently a designated seat for commercial disputes involving countries that have tense relations with other western countries, such as Iran. It is also home to non-governmental dispute resolution organisations such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Chambers of commerce and industry were founded in Switzerland's different cantons in the mid-19th century and began administering the arbitration of disputes, with the Geneva Chamber of Commerce and Industry

5 Seite 5 von 10 successfully assisting a local shoemaker association and union of workers to resolve the first documented dispute 150 years ago, in Soon afterwards, the precursor of the Basel Chamber of Commerce published a set of arbitration rules, with other chambers following suit over the next century. The rules of the various chambers were unified in 2004 to form the Swiss rules, at the instigation of leading Swiss arbitrators Pierre Karrer and Wolfgang Peter ( and an arbitration court was created. Four years later, a single entity was created to oversee the administration of proceedings at all the chambers which became the SCAI. Since 2004, the arbitration court has been presided over by Paolo Michele Patocchi ( Franz Kellerhalls, Anne-Véronique Schlaepfer and Habegger, with Nater-Bass becoming the fifth president. Since that year, 1,000 cases have also been administered under the Swiss rules. The thousandth was an international arbitration filed at the end of October, featuring two parties from two different Western European countries in a dispute over an IP licensing contract in the sports industry.

6 Seite 6 von 10 The SCAI secretariat has also handled seven applications for emergency relief, permitted by the revised Swiss rules of And what of the future of Swiss arbitration? According to the SCAI's former legal counsel Shaheeza Lalani, a senior research fellow at University of Paris I Pantheon- Sorbonne, Switzerland may also become a forum for investment arbitration disputes. Writing in the SCAI's latest newsletter, Lalani says that despite the European Union's push for an international investment court to administer investment disputes in the future, speakers at a World Economic Forum and World Trade Institute roundtable in Geneva in May thought that in future investors will increasingly enter tailormade commercial contracts that allow for arbitration of their disputes by party-appointed arbitrators. Although the Swiss rules are not yet being chosen by parties to investment disputes, she writes that they could become rules of choice, noting that the SCAI already offers its services as appointing authority for UNCITRAL and other ad hoc arbitration proceedings. [W]ith its vast network of excellent arbitrators, as well as Switzerland s long history of state-to-state arbitration, there is nothing precluding SCAI s flexible rules from being used for more than the speedy resolution of commercial disputes, she says.

7 Seite 7 von 10 The SCAI Arbitration Institute Arbitration Court President Gabrielle Nater-Bass ( Homburger, Zurich Vice presidents Domitille Baizeau ( Lalive, Geneva Cesare Jermini, Bär & Karrer, Lugano Court members Homayoon Arfazadeh, Python, Geneva and Tehran Philippe Bärtsch, Schellenberg Wittmer, Geneva Bernard Berger, Kellerhals Carrard, Berne Sébastien Besson, Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler, Geneva François Bohnet, KGG & Associes, Neuchâtel and University of Neuchâtel Andrea Bonomi, University of Lausanne Christopher Boog, Schellenberg Wittmer, Zurich and Singapore

8 Seite 8 von 10 Jürgen Brönnimann, Bratschi Wiederkehr & Buob Attorneys, Berne Dieter Gränicher, Wenger Plattner, Basel Michael Kramer, Pestalozzi Law, Zurich Goran Mazzuchelli, Cattaneo & Postizzi, Lugano Andrea Meier, Wartmann & Merker, Zurich Christoph Müller, University of Neuchâtel Christian Oetiker, Vischer, Basel David Roney ( Sidley Austin, Geneva Fabio Soldati, Studio 1896, Lugano Frank Spoorenberg, Tavernier Tschanz, Zurich Urs Weber-Stecher, Wenger & Vieli, Zurich Sandra de Vito Bieri, Bratschi Wiederkehr & Buob Attorneys, Zurich Boris Vittoz, CPV Partners, Lausanne Founding members of the SCAI Geneva Chamber of Commerce Zurich Chamber of Commerce Lugano Chamber of Commerce (Ticino) Basel Chamber of Commerce Bern Chamber of Commerce Lausanne Chamber of Commerce (Vaud)

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