ARBITRATION: Excellence in international arbitration

International arbitration as a method of dispute resolution is constantly growing in complexity and sophistication, and has become a universally-respected mechanism globally, which requires excellent legal counsel.

Achieving excellence in dispute resolution is what has driven LALIVE, since its foundation over 50 years ago, to evolve into a truly international firm, with a group comprised of 36 practitioners exclusively practising international commercial and investment arbitration, who together speak more than a dozen languages, and whose legal expertise covers Switzerland and several key jurisdictions around the world. It is currently considered to be among the top ten arbitration practices worldwide.

Operating from its offices in Geneva, Zürich and Doha (LALIVE IN QATAR), the firm’s arbitration specialists are involved in arbitration proceedings conducted in all the major arbitration venues and under all the main international arbitration rules, covering disputes involving construction and infrastructure projects, resource concessions, investment agreements, procurement contracts, joint ventures, shareholders’ agreements, mergers and acquisitions, and sales and distribution agreements.

The firm is active as counsel and arbitrator in high-profile arbitrations in a variety of sectors, particularly in energy (including several high-value gas pricing and oil arbitrations), construction, telecommunications, life sciences and biotechnology, and is successfully defending claims in several investor-state disputes. The firm currently advises a number of states, multinationals and ultra-high-net-worth individuals worldwide in over 160 international disputes as counsel or arbitrator, including 13 investment treaty disputes, with a total amount at stake of over $40bn. Work highlights from the past 12 months include several new cases as counsel, with a total value of over $4bn. Examples include a $3.1bn International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration relating to the dissolution of a partnership and the division of jointly held assets, and representing a central European state in a £690m United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) arbitration initiated by a southern European investor relating to various real estate and construction projects.

The firm has a significant presence on the international arbitration scene given the active involvement of its 12 renowned partners in many of the major international arbitration associations, committees and working groups (including the ICC Arbitration Commission, Swiss Arbitration Association, UNCITRAL, London Court of International Arbitration Users’ Council, International Congress and Convention Association, American Arbitration Association and the International Bar Association Arbitration Committee) as well as their key executive positions in several arbitration institutions (Swiss Chambers’ Arbitration Institution, ICC International Court of Arbitration, International Centre for Dispute Resolution and the Dubai International Arbitration Centre).

LALIVE is consistently ranked as a leading firm worldwide in international arbitration by leading publications, including Global Arbitration Review, which recently ranked LALIVE among the top ten arbitration practitioners worldwide, Chambers Global and The Legal 500. Ten of the firm’s specialists are ranked in Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration (the highest for a firm based in a single jurisdiction) and ten are ranked for arbitration in Who’s Who Legal’s country report on Switzerland (the highest number in the country).