Originally from Investment Treaty Arbitration and International Law - Volume 3

MR. LAIRD: Our next panel is here and ready to talk about some very current issues in the overall discussion concerning moral damages. I just want to introduce our moderator for this panel, Alex Wilbraham from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, here in the District of Columbia.

MR. WILBRAHAM: Thank you very much. I would like to welcome our panelists and our authors here who have come as far as Paris, in the case of Hamid; from Washington D.C., in the case of Mark Kantor, Borzu and myself. And a special welcome to those who come from as far as New York, which I think is the rest of the panel. Without further ado, let me first introduce our panelists and then I’ll introduce our authors.

We have, first of all, Borzu Sabahi who is Adjunct Professor of law at Georgetown University and also works at Fulbright & Jaworski. Borzu, among other things, is the author of many articles on the subject of damages, and has written a doctoral thesis on the subject. To his left is Mark Kantor, who is an arbitrator and mediator; teaches courses in international business transactions and international arbitration; is Adjunct Professor of Georgetown University Law Center; also a renowned author on many legal subjects including, of course, damages. He is former Partner of Milbank & Tweed, a member of the American Arbitration Association, commercial and international panels, as well as a large complex case roster; and he’s Vice Chair of the D.C. Bar International Dispute Resolution Committee, and many other professional organizations. To his left is Hamid Gharavi, founding Partner of Derains Gharavi & Lazareff in Paris, and former Partner of the Paris office of Salans. Mr. Gharavi advises states and multi-national companies on public international law matters, including accession to and denunciation of international treaties, boundary disputes, succession of states, compliance with national, regional and international sanctions, boycott and anti-boycott regulations, as well as laws and conventions on corruption. He has been appointed to the LCIA, the Commission Arbitration of the ICC and the Panel of ICSID Arbitrators. And he also has, and I hope he’ll be able to share with us today, some inside knowledge on one of the leading cases of moral damages, Desert Line Project vs. Yemen. And finally on the left is Tim Nelson, Partner in the New York office of Skadden Arps. He has represented investors and sovereigns before international arbitration tribunals and international courts. He has handled numerous ICSID, BIT cases, including Kardassopoulos vs. Georgia where he successfully argued jurisdictional and provisional application under the ECT; is widely published and frequently quoted by the media on BIT, NAFTA and sovereign bond controversies.