Peter & Kim
peterandkim.comLawyers
Hugo Barbier
- Phone+41 58 317 70 70
- Email[email protected]
Work Department
International Arbitration
Position
Professor Dr. Hugo Barbier is a partner based in the Geneva office of Peter & Kim. Prof. Barbier has over ten years of expertise acting as counsel, arbitrator and consultant in cross-jurisdictional commercial and investment disputes spanning the globe including Europe, Africa, South America, the Baltics and Central Asia. He regularly acts as counsel, legal expert, and arbitrator in international commercial and investment arbitrations (ICC, LCIA, SCC, HKIAC, SIAC, ad hoc arbitration).
He is a Professor of Law (professeur agrégé des facultés de droit) in France and is widely published. Among his various publications, Professor Barbier is a co-author, along with ICC Secretary-General Alexander Fessas, of the annual commentary on ICC awards published in the Journal du Droit International (Clunet). His most recent works concentrate on investment arbitration.
In addition to his expertise in arbitration, Prof. Barbier specializes in contract law. He is the co-author, along with the Professor Jacques Ghestin, of the “Treatise on Civil Law – General Introduction,” which is published in two volumes (volume 1 in 2018 and volume 2 in 2020). Since 2013, he has also been the author of the quarterly commentary on court decisions related to contract law in the Revue Trimestrielle de Droit Civil.
Prof. Barbier is fluent in French, English, and Russian.
Representative Cases
- Representing investors in a nephrite mining business against the Russian Federation in an ad hoc investment arbitration (UNCITRAL) based on the China-Russia 2006 investment treaty (proceedings in English)
- Representing a private Algerian company specializing in production of petroleum products against a Spanish company operating in the oil and gas sector in an ICC commercial arbitration (proceedings in English)
- Representing 73 cryptocurrency traders (crypto products: futures contracts and leveraged tokens) against a cryptocurrency exchange company in a HKIAC commercial arbitration (proceedings in English)
- Representing a cryptocurrency trader (crypto products: futures contracts) against a cryptocurrency exchange company in a HKIAC commercial arbitration (proceedings in English)
- Representing (co-counsel) a digital financial and commercial services platform in Togo against a French mobile phone operator in an ICC commercial arbitration (proceedings in French)
- Assisting a private equity fund incorporated in Luxembourg in a spin-off including the assignment of a claim in a SCC investment arbitration (negotiations in English)
- Tribunal member in an ICC investment arbitration based on a BIT between France and an African country (co-arbitrator, proceedings and award in French)
- Tribunal member in an ICC commercial arbitration on a lease agreement concluded to operate a port infrastructure in Africa (co-arbitrator, proceedings and award in French)
- Tribunal member in an ICC commercial arbitration on a consultant agreement between an aircraft manufacturer and an agent in South America (co-arbitrator, proceedings and award in English)
- Tribunal member in a SCC commercial arbitration on a lease agreement concluded to operate a heating system in a Baltic country (co-arbitrator, proceedings and award in English)
- Tribunal member in an ICC commercial arbitration on a subcontracting agreement in the construction of a sports complex (sole arbitrator, proceedings and award in Russian)
- Tribunal member in an ad hoc commercial arbitration on shareholders’ agreement between a French company and a Russian company (sole arbitrator, proceedings in Russian, case settled)
- Tribunal member in ad hoc domestic arbitrations including corporate disputes, distribution disputes, and other types of commercial disputes
- Advising in relation to investment arbitration, including:
- Advising the French Senate in the legislative implementation of the Agreement for the Termination of all Intra-EU Bilateral Investment Treaties
- Various arbitrations related to BITs between the Russian Federation and some East European States
- Various arbitrations related to BITs between African countries and France or other European States
- Advising in relation to arbitration of corporate disputes, including:
- Shareholders’ agreements across multiple business sectors
- Price and warranties in sales of shares
- Advising in relation to arbitration of other contractual disputes, including:
- Franchise and concession disputes
- Port concession disputes
- Assisting numerous investors in Interpol data processing, including:
- Requests for the deletion of a red notice
- Preemptive requests to prevent a future red notice
Career
Languages
French, English, Russian