Events
CIArb’s Young Members Group, along with Eversheds Sutherland, is delighted to invite you to participate in an online event on arbitration and mediation in Africa on Friday 10 July 2020, at 2.00pm BST (3.00pm Paris time).
This event will explore the hot button topics in a region that is experiencing a boom in the use of alternative dispute resolution methods. For example, it is often said that mediation, as a more informal form of alternative dispute resolution, is ingrained in the legal culture of many African states. Is that true? How do parties in Africa resolve their disputes today and how will they do so tomorrow? How will the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area affect dispute resolution? Are there any particular issues that arise when States are parties to international disputes? How have African States responded to the Singapore Convention on mediated settlements?
Join a panel of brilliant speakers, who will discuss these questions, and join in the debate as to how mediation can be a credible alternative or complement arbitration in Africa.
Cost: Attendance to this event is free of charge but pre-registration is a must.
Panelists:
Omonigho Oyoma Brown ACIArb - Contract Manager, Julius Berger
Julius Nkafu FCIArb - Barrister, Arbitrator and Mediator, Great James Street Chambers
Francisco Abriani - Legal Counsel, ICSID
Pacôme Ziegler - Partner, Delaloa
Moderators:
Athina Fouchard Papaefstratiou MCIArb - Counsel, Eversheds Sutherland
Alexander Leventhal ACIArb - Senior Associate, Quinn Emanuel
Event Speakers
Omonigho Oyoma Brown (Mrs) is an in-house Lawyer working as a Regional Contract Manager in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, a leading company in the construction industry in Nigeria, where She advises on the legal and business aspects of major infrastructural development projects undertaken by the company for its public and private clients. She oversees, negotiates, manages and administers all contracts and agreements (including supply chain contracts, agreements with host communities to mention a few) in relation to the projects; and She advises and acts as company representative in the resolution of disputes arising in the course of project execution.
Omonigho has garnered over 11 years of multinational legal experience spanning the Financial Services, Oil & Gas, and Construction Industries in Nigeria and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining her current employer, she worked as a Legal Counsel in Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and thereafter as a Senior Contracts Analyst in Schlumberger where She handled big ticket services contracts for oilfield development projects for international, national, independent and indigenous companies operating in the upstream sector of the oil & gas industry in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and South Africa respectively. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators UK, the Nigerian Bar Association, the Association of Young Arbitrators (AYA) and the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria. She is also a certified Six Sigma Yellow Belt Professional, a Certified Lean Project Manager, and she is Scrum Fundamental Certified.
Julius Nkafu, an expert in arbitration and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a member of International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA). Julius is also a mediator and a Barrister called to both the Bars of England and Wales and Cameroon. Julius is an approved trainer with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He is a member of the panels of Arbitrators with the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration (CCJA) OHADA, the Kigali Centre for International Arbitration (KIAC) and the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA), a member of the Sanctions and Appeals Board (SAB) of the African Development Bank Group and has over 20 years’ legal experience working in the City of London.
Julius is a member of Great James Street Chambers www.greatjames.co.uk and the founding consultant at Nkafu Arbitration Services (NAS) www.nas-africa.com with main offices in Yaounde, Cameroon and London, United Kingdom.
Francisco is Legal Counsel at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), where he acts as secretary of arbitral tribunals and conciliation commissions in investor-state proceedings organized under the auspices of the Centre.
Before joining ICSID, Francisco worked eight years in the international arbitration and public international law groups of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Paris and New York. He acted as counsel for private companies and states in investor-state and commercial arbitrations, as well as in proceedings before the International Court of Justice.
Francisco is qualified in Argentina and France. He holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Universidad Católica Argentina and a master’s degree in economic law from the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris.
Pacôme has over a decade of experience in representing States and private entities in a broad range of commercial and investment disputes. After an initial focus on South America, his practice has pivoted towards Lusophone Africa.
Pacôme worked at Dechert (Paris) LLP and PLMJ Advogados in Lisbon, which he left in May 2020 to set up Delaloa, an arbitration boutique with a particular focus on Lusophone countries.
Pacôme has been recognised in the 2020 edition of Best Lawyers in Portugal for his work in arbitration and mediation and has been ranked as a Future Leader in Arbitration by Who’s Who Legal since 2018.
Pacôme is a native French speaker and speaks fluently Portuguese, English and Spanish.
Athina Fouchard Papaefstratiou, counsel at Eversheds Sutherland, has acted as counsel or arbitrator for over thirteen years in commercial and investment arbitrations in various sectors, such as energy, telecommunications, mining, international sale of goods and construction. She has significant experience in Africa-related arbitration, and has worked in arbitrations under the ICC, ICSID, UNCITRAL, LCIA, ACIC, CRCICA, and CCJA arbitration rules.
Athina is the Chair of the Steering Committee of CIArb Young Members Group, the Co-Chair of AfricArb, a member of the Board of Management of CIArb, a member of the ICC Arbitration Commission and a Board member of the Arbitration Committee of ICC Greece.
She is registered with the Bar in Paris and in Athens and works in English, French, and Greek.
Alexander Leventhal is a senior associate in Quinn Emanuel’s Paris office. He has extensive experience in international commercial and investment arbitration, touching upon multiple sectors, with a particular focus on the energy sector. Alexander is a CIArb member sits on CIArb YMG’s Steering Committee.