"Tribunal dynamics and arbitral deliberations" in "The award in international investment arbitration" edited by Katia Fach Gómez et Catharine Titi, Oxford University Press, 2024
Biography
| NATIONALITY: | French |
| LANGUAGES: | French, English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese |
| ADMISSION: | Paris |
| OFFICE: | Paris |
Yves Derains, founding partner of Derains & Gharavi, is presented by Who’swho Legal 2023 as “one of the most active, responsive and senior arbitrators in the world.” Ranked as “Most in demand arbitrators” in the 2023 editions of Chambers Europe, Chambers Latin America and Chambers Global Market Leaders, he is also praised for his appearance as counsel: “Yves Derains employs his experience acting as both counsel and arbitrator to provide highly valued insight” into cross-border disputes (Chambers Latin America 2020). Market sources comment that he “is a god in the arbitration space,” with renowned experience in commercial and investment arbitration, besides being “completely dedicated to his arbitration practice” (Who’swho Legal 2023).
Yves Derains, who is a former secretary general of the ICC Court, is also honorary Chairman of the ICC Institute of World Business Law, which he chaired between 2010 and 2020. He is also the former president of the Arbitration Court of the Jerusalem Arbitration Centre (JAC) that was created by both Israeli and Palestinian ICC national committees. He was Vice-President of the Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil-Canada (CAM-CCBC).
He has over 40 years’ experience in arbitration. In 1985, he founded Derains Gélinas & Associés, one of the first arbitration firms, which name would change into Derains & Associés in 1994 and eventually become Derains & Gharavi in 2009.
Yves Derains has acted as counsel or arbitrator in more than 500 arbitrations under the rules of all major arbitration institutions such as ICC, ICSID, PCA, LCIA, DIAC, SCC, ICDR, CRCICA, Swiss Arbitration Centre, CIAC, CEPANI, AAA, Vienna Arbitral Chamber, Milan Arbitral Chamber, SCR and European Court of Arbitration and in ad hoc arbitrations.
Yves Derains has not ceased to devote himself to the development of international arbitration. He successfully led the revision of the ICC Rules of Arbitration adopted in 1998 and participated in the revision of the Rules of 2012. Yves Derains offers clients a double perspective through his long-standing experience as arbitrator and counsel. His skills are particularly highly regarded in Latin America, where he regularly conducts arbitrations in Spanish and Portuguese.
As former Chairman of the Comité Français de l’Arbitrage, Yves Derains is on the arbitrators’ lists of numerous arbitration institutions and speaks at conferences all over the world. He is co-author of the celebrated work, A Guide to the ICC Rules of Arbitration, 2nd Edition, with Eric Schwartz, Kluwer Law International, 2005, which has become a seminal text on the application and interpretation of the ICC Rules of Arbitration.
EXPERIENCE AS COUNSEL
- Representing a major French construction company in several ICC arbitrations against a Central American public entity in relation to the construction of a bridge
- Representing a Spanish bank in an NAI arbitration case relating to the closing of a joint venture.
- Representing an American company in an ICC arbitration against a French company in regard to the execution of a joint-venture contract (amount in dispute undetermined).
- Representing a Spanish consortium against an Algerian public entity, in a UNCITRAL arbitration in regard to a gas exploration and production contract (amount in dispute, several billion USD).
- Representing a Mediterranean state against an oil company, in an ad hoc arbitration in regard to an oil sales contract (amount in dispute: more than 900 million USD).
- Representing a European consortium in an ICC arbitration against a Latin American state public entity, in regard to a dam construction contract (amount in dispute: 1 billion USD).
- Representing a European company in an annulment proceeding against an arbitral award in the amount of 20 million USD in favor of an American company (proceedings before the French Courts).
- Representing a Central American State in an ICC arbitration against a Spanish group (amount in dispute: 100 million EUR).
- Representing an American company in an ICC arbitration against several Brazilian companies (amount in dispute undetermined).
EXPERIENCE AS ARBITRATOR
- Chairman or member of Arbitral Tribunals in more than 350 commercial or investment arbitrations.
- As such, he has applied numerous different civil and common law legal systems.
- Experience in the construction, energy, commercial, corporate, agency, financial (in particular securitization), industrial property, competition, joint venture and investments sectors.
- Member of various Panels of Arbitrators: ICC, ICSID, LCIA, AAA, ASA, CEPANI, Cairo and Kuala Lumpur Regional Centres for Commercial Arbitration, Abu Dhabi International Arbitration Centre, Asian African Legal Consultative Committee, Indian Council of Arbitration, British Columbia International Commercial Arbitration, World Arbitration Institute, Arbitral Centre of Vienna, Greek Arbitration Association, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, Arbitration Court of the Polish Chamber of Commerce, Arbitration Court of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce, Arbitration Court of the Czech Republic, Spanish Arbitration Club, Foreign Trade Court of Arbitration of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, International Center of Arbitration of the American Chamber of Commerce of Peru, Shenzen Court of International Arbitration, Centro de Arbitraje de la Cámara Boliviana de Hidrocarburos y Energía (CEAR-CBHE).
- Appointed by the Government of Albania on the ICSID Panel of Conciliators and of Arbitrators
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
| Since 2009 | Founding Partner, Derains & Gharavi |
| 1994 – 2008 | Founding Partner, Derains & Associés |
| 1985 – 1994 | Founding Partner, Derains-Gélinas & Associés |
| 1982 – 1984 | Partner, Philips & Vineberg Paris |
| 1977 – 1981 | Secretary General of the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC and Director of the Legal Department of the ICC |
| 1973 – 1977 | Secretary of the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC and Director of the Legal Department of the ICC. Secretary of various ICC Commissions including the International Commission on Banking Technique and Practice. |
| 1971 – 1973 | Attaché to the International Court of Arbitration and to the Legal Department of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). |
ACADEMIC POSITION
- Honorary Professor of the Law Faculty of the San Ignacio de Loyola University, Lima, Peru
- Honorary Professor of the Universidad del Pacífico, Lima, Peru
- Honorary Professor of the Universidad de Lima, Lima, Peru
EDUCATION
| 1970 | D.E.S. in Private Law (Paris University) |
| 1968 | License in Private Law (Paris University |
MEMBERSHIP
- Honorary Chairman of the ICC Institute of World Business Law
- Co-Chairman of the ICC Working Group on the reduction of costs and time in international arbitration
- Member of the bureau of the Comité Français de l’Arbitrage
- Honorary member of the Sociedad Cubana de Derecho Económico y Financiero y la Sociedad Cubana de Derecho Mercantil de la Unión Nacional de Juristas de Cuba
- President of the Arbitration Court of the Jerusalem Arbitration Centre (JAC), created by both Israeli and Palestinian ICC national committees (2014-2016)
- Chairman of the Working Party on the Revision of the ICC Rules of Arbitration (1995 – 1997)
- Chairman of the Commission on International Commercial Practices of the French National Committee of the ICC (1983 – 1994)
- Chairman of the ICC Working Party on Arbitration and Construction Contracts (1980 – 1982)
- Former President of the French Branch of the Club Español del Arbitraje
- Member of the French Committee on Private International Law (since 1979)
- Member of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration
- Member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration
- Member of the ICC Commission on International Arbitration
- Member of the IBA
Publications
“O Profissionalismo do Árbitro” in A Função do Árbitro no Brasil (eds B Guandalini, C E Stefen Elias) Lisboa, Almedina (2022) (with Y Derains)
“Propos conclusifs” - colloque CFA « L’arbitrage en France, dix ans après la réforme », Revue de l’Arbitrage, 2022 n°1
“Une nouvelle approche de la procédure arbitrale internationale”, Revue de l’Arbitrage, 2021 n°3
“Le professionnalisme des arbitres internationaux”, Revue de l’Arbitrage, 2019 n°3