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Lawyers

Rafaël Jafferali

Rafaël Jafferali

Simont Braun, Belgium

Work Department

Commercial and contract law, civil law, procedural law and private international law, Dispute resolution

Position

Rafaël Jafferali specialises in dispute resolution (including arbitration and proceedings before the Belgian Supreme Court), contract law, tort law and private international law.

He primarily handles significant judicial proceedings and arbitration cases, offering expert advice on complex matters. His practice includes both domestic and international arbitration, where he serves as both counsel and arbitrator.

He is a member of the two groups of experts appointed by the Belgian Minister of Justice to recodify the law of obligations (which entered into force on 1 January 2023) and special contracts (which was filed as a bill on 16 April 2024). He was invited by the Parliament to testify as expert on the new law of torts (in force on 1 January 2025).

Rafaël Jafferali is a Professor for the Chair of Law of Obligations at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and Affiliated Senior Researcher at the KU Leuven.

He is the author of numerous publications in the areas of contract law, tort law and private international law, including a PhD thesis on the theme of retrospectivity in contract law. His publications can be downloaded on the website DI-Fusion of the ULB.

Rafaël Jafferali is a member of the editorial committee of Journal des Tribunaux, of Revue de droit commercial, of Revue générale de droit civil, and of Répertoire pratique de droit belge. He is a member of CEPANI (Belgian Centre for Arbitration and Mediation), the European Law Institute and of the Belgian group of Association Henri Capitant.

He received the Paul Foriers Prize (2001), the René Marcq Prize (2003), the Medal of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (2003), the Jean-Jacques Boels Prize (2008), Joseph Helsen Prize (2014), the Lucien Campion Prize (2014) and the prize awarded by Revue critique de jurisprudence belge (2015).

Rafaël Jafferali is ranked Band 3 by Chambers & Partners in Dispute Resolution: Litigation, as a Thought Leader in Litigation and Arbitration by Who’s Who Legal, and as a Next Generation Partner by The Legal 500 in Dispute Resolution. He is recognised as a specialist in private international law and in contract law  and accredited as a third party decider by the French-speaking Brussels bar.

Career

Languages

French, English, Dutch and German.

Memberships

He is a member of the editorial committee of the Journal des Tribunaux, the Revue de droit commercial and of the Revue générale de droit civil, as well as CEPANI40 and the Belgian group of the Association Henri Capitant. He coordinates the private law chronicle published every six months by the Journal des Tribunaux. He is a member of the group of experts appointed by the Minister of Justice to recodify the law of obligations. He received the "Prix Paul Foriers" (2001), the "Prix René Marcq" (2003), the Medal of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (2003), the "Prix Jean-Jacques Boels" (2008), "Prix Joseph Helsen" (2014) , the "Prix Lucien Campion" (2014) and the "Prix quinquennal de la Revue critique de jurisprudence belge" (2015)

Education

Université Libre de Bruxelles (Law, 2003). He is a lecturer in private international law at the ULB. He received the "Prix Paul Foriers" (2001), the "Prix René Marcq" (2003), the Medal of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (2003) and the "Prix Jean-Jacques Boels" (2008).

Mentions

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