Faculty

Keynote Speaker:

Catherine Amirfar is Co-Chair of Debevoise & Plimpton’s International Dispute Resolution Group and the Public International Law Group, and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Her practice focuses on public international law, international commercial and treaty arbitration, and complex international commercial litigation. Ms. Amirfar currently serves as President of the American Society of International Law (ASIL), for which she has been co-hosting a podcast called “International Law Behind the Headlines.” ASIL is one of the most prestigious organizations within the field of international law, with 4,000 members from more than 100 nations.

Panel I:

Luli Hemmingsen, Partner, King & Spalding, New York. Luli is dual-qualified in civil law and common law (Buenos Aires and New York) and her practice focuses on commercial international arbitration, investor-state arbitration and public international law matters, with a particular emphasis in Latin America. In her almost two decades of practice, she has handled disputes conducted in English, Spanish and Portuguese, under most key arbitration rules and governed by various substantive laws.  Her experience runs a broad gamut of industries, including infrastructure and construction, renewable energy, mining, oil & gas, finance and investments, M&A, real estate and international trade. Luli also sits as an arbitrator in international disputes.

Dr. Tiago Duarte-Silva is a testifying expert with more than 20 years of experience who has advised investors in investment banking and provided written and oral testimony or expert advice in over 140 disputes.  At Charles River Associates, he has provided expert opinions and testified at trials, hearings, and depositions in domestic and international arbitrations, both commercial and treaty (e.g., ICSID, PCA, ICC, LCIA, HKIAC, JAMS, AAA, UNCITRAL), in US litigation (federal and state courts), in foreign litigation (Brazil and Australia), and before the US Department of Commerce.  He has testified in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.  He is also an Adjunct Professor at Boston College, where he teaches valuation to graduate and MBA students.  

María Inés Corrá is co-head of the International Arbitration, Administrative Law and Economic Regulation areas at Bomchil, Argentina. She has almost 20-year experience in the arbitral practice, representing multinational companies both in investments and commercial international conflicts under the main rules of International Arbitration (such as ICSID, ICC, ICDR, UNCITRAL and other rules). She also acts as international arbitrator. María Inés is the President of the Arbitration Commission of ICC Argentina, member of the Board and Secretary of the Latin American Arbitration Association (ALArb), co-founder of Women Way in Arbitration LatAm and member of the Arbitration Committee of the IBA, among other roles and memberships. María Inés was recognized in 2013 as one of the inspiring women in law in Latin America by Latin Lawyer and is currently recognized as leading practitioner in Dispute Resolution and International Arbitration by the most distinguished publications, such as Chambers, Legal 500, GAR and Who’s Who Legal. María Inés is Professor of Arbitration and Mediation at the School of Law of the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella and regularly gives lectures at several international postgraduate courses.    

Eric Franco, lawyer, arbitrator and lecturer. He has worked on construction and engineering projects and disputes in Latin America, Europe and Asia, as in-house counsel for owners and for an international contractor, as well as external counsel, arbitrator and legal expert. Eric currently works as disputes global expert at the Engie Group and is general counsel of Engie in Peru. Sits regularly as arbitrator and acts as legal expert. Lecturer on construction law and dispute resolution in Peru and visiting lecturer at Kings College London, Universidad de los Andes, Chile and Universidad Austral, Argentina. Holds an Msc in Construction Law and Dispute Resolution, Kings College London. Member of the ICC Latin American Group. Regularly speaks at local and international conferences and publishes articles on law and other topics. Founder of the Peruvian Society of Construction Law. Co-leader of one of the working groups of ICC’s task force on “Arbitration and ADR”. Member of ICC’s task force on "Arbitration of Climate Change Related Disputes".

Ricardo Ampuero is an independent counsel and law professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) and Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC). He served as President of the Special Commission that represents the Republic of Peru in International Investment Disputes. This Commission is in charge of coordinating the legal defense of the State in all stages of investor-State disputes that arise from international investment agreements and investment contracts. Previously, he has served as Legal Advisor and Technical Secretary of the Special Commission. He holds a Law degree from UPC and a Master in Law (LL.M.) degree from Columbia University, New York.

Panel II:

Craig Miles, Partner, King & Spalding, Houston.  Craig has more than 25 years of experience representing foreign investors in disputes with host governments, primarily before the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), and private parties in commercial disputes before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the American Arbitration Association (AAA), and other domestic and international arbitral institutions.  Mr. Miles has first- or second-chaired dozens of arbitral hearings involving disputes throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, with particularly strong experience in bilateral investment treaty (BIT) disputes in the energy/infrastructure sectors and in Latin America.  

Miguel A. Nakhle, Senior Vice President, Compass Lexecon, Houston.  Miguel has more than 15 years of experience in economic and financial consulting. He has provided written and oral testimony or expert advice in over 40 treaty and commercial cases under ICSID, UNCITRAL, ICC, ICDR, LCIA, and other venues, as well as US litigation proceedings.  He  has conducted damages assessments in more than 20 countries, as well as economic, financial and regulatory analysis related to assets in oil & gas, power generation, telecommunications, utilities, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, air transportation, railways, hospitality and mining, with an emphasis in developing countries.

Ina C. Popova, Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton, New York.  Ina is a partner in the firm’s International Dispute Resolution Group, and her practice focuses on international arbitration, international litigation and public international law. She is admitted to practice in Paris and New York and holds advanced degrees in English law.  She sits as arbitrator and serves as counsel in a broad range of international matters and has particular experience in the energy, mining, and technology, media and telecommunications sectors. Fluent in several languages, Ina leads matters in English, Spanish and French, and she regularly handles complex disputes arising out of Latin America and Africa.

Christina Beharry is Counsel in Foley Hoag’s International Litigation and Arbitration Department in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining Foley Hoag, she practiced in the Trade Law Bureau of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade where she represented the Government of Canada in investment disputes brought under NAFTA Chapter 11 and assisted in the negotiation of bilateral investment treaties. Ms. Beharry repeatedly assumes responsibility for damages arguments in high-stakes disputes with multi-million dollar claims. In addition, Ms. Beharry publishes regularly on compensation and valuation topics and has edited a book titled “Contemporary and Emerging Issues on the Law of Damages and Valuation in International Investment Arbitration” (Brill Nijhoff, 2018).

Mark Kantor, Independent Arbitrator, Washington, DC.  Until he retired from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP at the end of 1999, Mark  was a partner in the Corporate and Project Finance Groups of the Firm.  He currently serves as an arbitrator and mediator and teaches as an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.  Kantor is a member of the World Bank Group Sanctions Board.  He serves as Editor-in-Chief of Transnational Dispute Resolution, the online journal.  Among his notable publications is "Valuation for Arbitration: Compensation Standards, Valuations Methods and Expert Evidence" (Kluwer Law International 2008).

Panel III:

Thierry Sénéchal, Managing Director, Finance for Impact. He is an expert in corporate governance and finance, audit and oversight, as well as dispute system design. From 1997 to 2001, at the United Nations Security Council, he supervised the valuation and verification of claims brought against Iraq by Kuwaiti corporations and financial institutions. Over the past years, he has acted in international commercial arbitrations in various venues, including ICC, ICSID, LCIA, and has attended international conferences for presenting non-market valuation methodologies, especially in the fields of mass claims mechanism in the context of war and environmental damage assessment.

Irmgard Marboe, Professor of International Law, University of Vienna, Austria. She has widely published on the issue of compensation and damages in international investment law. Her book ‘Calculation of Compensation and Damages in International Investment Law’ (Oxford University Press, 1st edn 2009, 2nd edn 2017) is frequently quoted in investor-state arbitration cases. She is Co-Editor-in-Chief of “The Journal of Damages in International Arbitration” and a member of the panel of arbitrators for space-related disputes at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague. Other research interests include international space law and Islamic law.

Herfried Wöss, Partner, Wöss & Partners, Mexico City, Mexico. He is an international arbitrator highly specialized in complex arbitrations with respect to damages, infrastructure and energy projects, and has extensive experience in international commercial and investment arbitration under the ICC, UNCITRAL, ICSID, NAFTA and various local arbitration rules as arbitrator, party counsel and expert adjudicator. He is currently acting as president of different arbitral tribunals including a complex gas pipeline dispute while also representing one of the largest European energy companies in the first energy tariff arbitration in Mexico. Herfried published more than 40 publications in leading law reviews and editorials from arbitration to WTO law

Roula Harfouche, Partner, HKW. She is a Chartered Accountant with more than 20 years of experience across multiple industries. She has testified in both English and French and has worked on matters before the UK High Court, the UK Family Division, the Patents Court, the French Commercial Court and the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC), and in mediation. Her vast international arbitration experience spans numerous forums including the LCIA, ICC, SCC, HKIAC, PCA, Cairo Regional Centre For International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA), SCIA, and ICSID, and under the UNCITRAL rules. She is experienced in matters involving breaches of contract, investment treaty claims, transaction-related disputes and intellectual property infringements.

Panel IV:

James Searby is an independent expert witness specialising in the assessment of quantum issues in contentious matters, in both litigations in national courts and international arbitrations.  James’s primary expertise is in the field of valuation, whether of businesses, contracts, damages, intellectual property or financial assets.  From 2011 to 2019, he led FTI Consulting’s International Arbitration practice in Singapore and, subsequently, in Washington DC. James has a broad range of experience in the assessment of complex damages in high-value international arbitration and litigation cases in matters involving, inter alia, alleged expropriation, breach of contract, patent infringement and shareholder disputes.  He has a strong interest in the technical aspects of valuation, such as the appropriate treatment of beta calculations, country risks, marketability restrictions, trading block size or currency risks and is an Editor-in-Chief of Juris’s Journal for Damages in International Arbitration.

Brian A. Vaca is an Associate in Allen & Overy's Washington, DC office. Brian's practice focuses on advising foreign sovereigns and corporate clients in investment and commercial disputes. Brian's experience includes investment arbitrations before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and under the UNCITRAL Rules, as well as in commercial arbitrations before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). These cases have spanned various substantive areas, including energy, infrastructure, sovereign debt, telecommunications, banking and trademark disputes, among others.  A native of the US and Ecuador, and has been recognized as a “Future Leader” in arbitration for 2022 in the peer ranked Who’s Who Legal, and has made the “Ones to Watch” list by Best Lawyers in 2021 and 2022.

Katie Hyman is widely experienced in international dispute resolution, including multijurisdictional, offshore, and investor-state matters. In addition, she is a data protection, privacy and cybersecurity specialist. She is dual-qualified as an English solicitor and New York attorney and is admitted as a special legal consultant in the District of Columbia.  Katie represents a variety of clients, including in the energy and telecoms industries, in high-value, complex international commercial arbitration proceedings under the major arbitral rules all over the world, as well as in investor-state arbitrations. She is also a member of Victoria Associates, an elite international arbitration practice group comprised of international arbitration specialists from around the globe, which enhances her practice and ability to serve clients with transnational disputes. Katie is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is a CEDR accredited commercial mediator. She accepts arbitrator and mediator appointments in addition to her practice as counsel.

Chris Osborne is the founder of Osborne Partners, an economic and financial consultancy specialising in damages analysis in international arbitration and legal disputes.  An expert witness with over 35 years’ experience, Chris has been involved in over 200 cases across multiple industries.  He has given oral evidence on over 40 occasions -  in the UK’s domestic courts, as well as in London, Paris, Stockholm, Geneva, Singapore and Melbourne in ICC, UNCITRAL and ICSID arbitrations. He has also given evidence in the US Tax Courts, in the US-Iran Tribunal, before the Competition Appeals Tribunal, in the then Restrictive Trades Practices Court and in front of the then Monopolies and Mergers Commission.  He forms part of Who’s Who Legal’s ‘Global Elite Thought Leaders’ group as an ‘Arbitration Expert Witness’ and has consistently been identified as a leading expert witness since the listings’ inception in 2011.

Katarina Chovancova is a Senior Research Fellow in international law at the Institute of State and Law of the Slovak Academy of Science and Associate Professor in international law at the Pan-European University in Bratislava. Katarina is a 1998 graduate from the Faculty of Law of the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia and the 2011 graduate from the University of London, where she graduated with the PG LLM in IDR and the PG Certificate in International Business Law in 2017. As a former banker, she served as an arbitrator with the Permanent Arbitration Court of the Slovak Banking Association and is currently listed as an international arbitrator in the Israeli Chamber of Arbitrators. She is the member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the Congress of Fellows of the Center for International Legal Studies in Salzburg (Austria) and the member of the Czech Society of International Law. She has already published several monographs and numerous studies on international investment law, international commercial and investment arbitration in Slovakia and abroad.