Karel Daele

Dispute Resolution - International Arbitration

Karel is a partner and head of the International Arbitration practice. He started his career as a civil law litigator in Belgium, before moving to Tanzania where he devoted most of his time to representing African states and state-owned companies in a number of investor-state disputes under the ICSID and UNCITRAL Rules in the water and the energy sector. He has worked internationally, advising multinationals on investing in Africa's mining, infrastructure, telecom and energy sector.

Karel continues to focus on African investor-state disputes, although now acts more on the investor side, as exemplified by his work for BSGR in an ICSID arbitration against Guinea (a mining dispute involving allegations of corruption and one of the biggest claims in recent years). His other work in Africa includes chairing a KIAC Tribunal hearing, a dispute between an East-African contractor and East-African state agency over a geothermal energy project and, as member of a UNCITRAL Tribunal, hearing  a dispute between an African investor and South Sudan over a failed power project.

Karel also uses his African "frontier" expertise in other regions. He acts for RSM in an ICSID arbitration against St Lucia (a dispute over offshore oil concessions), for a Syrian subcontractor in an ICC arbitration against a Chinese contractor (in a dispute over the construction of a 2,400 MW power plant in Saudi Arabia) and for an Indian party in an LCIA Indian arbitration against a Qatari investment fund (in a dispute over investments in the agribusiness).

Apart from Karel's investor-state work, he does commercial arbitration work under the Rules of the LCIA, ICC, CEPINA, UNCITRAL and in ad hoc arbitrations. These disputes arise under a variety of commercial contracts (joint venture agreements, share purchase agreements, sales agreements, service agreements and lease agreements) in a variety of sectors, including retail, financial services, construction, real estate.

Karel has recently been ranked in Chambers Global 2017 as a leading individual in the Africa-wide disputes category, and is "highly regarded for his experience in international arbitration matters". According to Legal Business, "Daele has quickly established himself as a leading investor-state arbitration practitioner".  He is also an IFLR1000 Leading Lawyer in Energy and Infrastructure, a member of various arbitration institutions and has been recognised in Who’s Who Legal’s Future Leaders – Arbitration 2017.