Arbitration Experience

International Commercial Arbitration

With thirty years of practice in international commercial arbitration, Christophe Dugué has acted as lead counsel or served as arbitrator in over one hundred institutional or ad hoc commercial arbitration proceedings.

As chairman, sole arbitrator or co arbitrator, Christophe Dugué was appointed by the parties or directly appointed by major institutions (ICC, e.g. https://iccwbo.org/dispute-resolution-services/arbitration/icc-arbitral-tribunals/dugue-christophe/, AFA), in ad hoc (under the rules of the UNCITRAL) and institutional arbitrations cases (in particular ICC, PCA, Swiss Arbitration Centre-formerly SCAI, AFA) with a variety of seats (mostly Geneva, Zurich, Paris, Singapore).

He has acted, as counsel or arbitrator, in cases involving all kinds of parties: individuals, mid-sized companies as well as Government-owned entities, States and major international corporations, from Europe, North Africa, West Africa, South Africa, North America, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.

With almost four decades of experience, Christophe Dugué started his career with major international banking institutions for seven years (Banque Nationale de Paris, Banque Indosuez) before joining a premier US law firm (Shearman & Sterling) for seventeen years (including ten years as a Partner), where he made Partner in the International Arbitration group led by Emmanuel Gaillard.

Arbitration Experience - Industries

Christophe Dugué has acted as counsel or as arbitrator in disputes related to various industries such as construction and civil engineering (including FIDIC), distribution, infrastructures, mining (gold, diamond, bauxite), joint ventures as well as banking, private equity, chemicals industry, electronic components, defence, wind energy, oil & gas and M & A.

Christophe Dugué also has the experience of blockchain and cryptocurrencies dispute resolution.

Arbitration Experience - Substantive Laws / Seats

Theses cases were argued under a variety of substantive laws including the Lex Mercatoria and General Principles of Law (UNIDROIT Principles) and the substantive laws of many jurisdictions, including: Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Belgium, Bulgaria, England, France, Germany, Guinea (Conakry), Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, Moldova, Oman, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, USA (New York), Venezuela.

As for the seats of the arbitration, Christophe Dugué has the experience of the principal places of arbitration in Europe (notably France, Switzerland, Austria, UK), Asia (Singapore), and the Middle-East (Jeddah).

Arbitration Experience - Languages

English or French The language of the arbitration proceedings (or the language in which written evidence and witness testimony could be submitted without a translation) was either English or French.

Representative recent cases

Christophe Dugué has been involved in a significant number of cases, with parties from all over the world, in disputes ranging from a few thousand USD to several hundred million USD.

Whatever the amount at stake, any dispute is important to the parties and requires the same quality of work. What matters most is the personal involvement to be convincing on the proper application of the law to the facts of the case.

Christophe Dugué's dedication is the same and he strives at being as convincing and cost and time efficient in any of the cases in which he is involved.

Recent cases as arbitrator and as counsel include:

Cases as Sole Arbitrator

Sole Arbitrator, (appointed by the Arbitration Committee of the Association For Arbitration) in a distribution dispute between a Maritime South East Asian claimant and a French Respondent, AFA arbitration with a seat in Paris, French law, French language.
Sole arbitrator, (appointed by the ICC), in a blockchain/crypto dispute about the automatic liquidation of a portfolio of cryptocurrencies between a European claimant and three entities (based in Europe and the West-Indies) of a global leading cryptocurrency centralized exchange, ICC Expedited Procedure arbitration (then regular proceedings) with a seat in Zurich, Swiss law, English language
Sole arbitrator, upon joint appointment by the parties, in a dispute about a share purchase agreement between an East European claimant and a West European respondent; SCAI/Swiss Arbitration Centre with a seat in Zurich, Romanian law, English language
Sole arbitrator, upon joint appointment by the parties, in a dispute about aerospace consultancy services agreements between a West European claimant and a Maritime Southeast Asian respondent; ICC arbitration with a seat in Paris, French law, English language
Sole arbitrator (appointed by the ICC), in construction consultancy services agreement dispute between a West European claimant and a Middle East respondent (FIDIC Rules, with an existing DAB decision); ICC Expedited Procedure arbitration with a seat in Paris, Omani law, English language
Sole arbitrator (appointed by the ICC), in a distribution dispute between a West Asian claimant and an East Asian respondent; ICC arbitration with a seat in Singapore, Iranian law, English language
Sole arbitrator (appointed by the ICC) in a dispute between European parties in connection with the liquidation of wind-power investments in an Eastern-Europe country; ICC arbitration with a seat in Paris, Bulgarian law, English language
Sole arbitrator, (appointed by the Arbitration Committee of the Association For Arbitration) in a shareholders’ dispute between French parties, AFA arbitration with a seat in Paris, French law, French language.

Cases as President of the Arbitral Tribunal

President of the arbitral tribunal, (appointed by the Arbitration Committee of the Association For Arbitration) in a private equity partner’s dispute between French parties, AFA arbitration with a seat in Paris, French law, French language
President of the arbitral tribunal, upon joint appointment by the co-arbitrators, in an ad-hoc UNCITRAL arbitration administered by the PCA, in a construction dispute (FIDIC Rules, with an existing DAB decision) between a Romanian contractor and a Moldovan State entity, with a seat in Paris, Moldova law, English language https://pca-cpa.org/fr/cases/225/
President of the arbitral tribunal (appointed by the ICC) in a construction dispute (FIDIC, with an existing DAB decision) between a JV (Spanish/Italian) contractor claimant and the Republic of Romania; ICC arbitration with a seat in Geneva, Romanian law, English language
President of the arbitral tribunal upon joint appointment by the co-arbitrators, in a distribution dispute between a Nordic claimant and a French respondent, ad hoc arbitration with a seat in Paris, English language, French law

Case as Co-arbitrator

Party appointed arbitrator in a dispute between a West Indies claimant and North African respondents in a private equity dispute regarding investment agreements in the sector of professional training; ICC arbitration with a seat in Paris, French law, English/French language
Party appointed arbitrator in a construction dispute between the North African subsidiary of a Middle East company and its North African contractor regarding a real estate project in Morocco; ICC arbitration with a seat in Paris Moroccan law, French language
Party appointed arbitrator in a construction dispute between ten Middle East claimants and one French respondent regarding oil and gas drilling activities in Algeria; ICC arbitration with a seat in Paris, French law, English language

Cases as Counsel

Counsel for a South African party and its West Indies subsidiary in a dispute against multiple West Asian respondents regarding gold mining investments in Western Asia; ICC arbitration with a seat in Paris, Lex Mercatoria and General Principle of Law apply together with Armenian law on mining law issues, English language
Counsel for a European company against a West African respondent in connection with commodities trading contracts; CAIP arbitration with a seat in Paris, French law, French language
Counsel for a Balkan State-owned respondent against a Balkan construction company in a dispute arising from the construction of an interstate electricity line transmission and corresponding DAB decision under FIDIC rules; ICC arbitration with a seat in Vienna, Albanian law, English language
Counsel for a South East Asian contractor against a North African State-owned entity in a dispute arising from a construction of a housing project in North Africa; ICC arbitration with a seat in Paris, Moroccan law, French language
Counsel for a Middle Eastern subcontractor of a Saudi affiliate of an East Asian construction company, in a construction dispute arising from the construction of a large energy research centre in the Middle East; ICC arbitration with a seat in Jeddah, Saudi Arabian law, English language