About

Number of years practice: 24

Principal practice areas: International arbitration

Languages spoken: French and English

What is the geographical focus of your practice in Africa?

Pan-African practice, with a focus on North and Francophone Africa, West Africa and Central Africa.

Please describe the most important matters you have worked on in the African market in the last two years, including your role and the significance of the matter (if any) to the development of business and law.

Pan African Minerals vs. Burkina Faso: Myself and my team have been instructed by Frank Timis, Romanian-Australian mining magnate, to represent Pan African Minerals against Burkina Faso in a multi-billion ICC arbitration dispute in the mining sector. The amount at stake exceeds US$4bn. The hearing was held in September 2018 and the award is expected in 2019.

African Petroleum vs. Senegal: me and my team represent African Petroleum against Senegal in an ICSID arbitration about an expropriation in the gas sector. The request for arbitration was filed in June 2018. The case is registered at the ICSID and is ongoing.

Accor Afrique & Accor vs. the Republic of Togo: me and my team represented the Accor Group in a dispute against the Republic of Togo regarding a lease contract for one of Togo’s main hotels. This ICC arbitration case was highly sensitive as it involved strategic issues in relation to the development of Accor in West Africa.

The firm also represented Accor in the action brought by Togo to set aside the award on jurisdiction before the Paris Court of Appeal. Betto Seraglini obtained a favourable award on the merits in December 2017, ordering the Republic of Togo to pay more than 4 million euros to Accor.

The firm also obtained a favourable decision from the Paris Court of Appeal rejecting the challenge against the Award on jurisdiction. Togo has appealed this decision before the Cour de Cassation.

What differentiates your practice from that of other private practice lawyers?

Our main goal in the creation of this boutique law firm in 2013 was to, not only provide our clients with outstanding defense but also to create an environment other than the standard corporate law firm. Something different, a firm where the associates work with the partners and not simply for them. We belong to a new generation of entrepreneurial lawyers, who are offering an alternative to high-profile sophisticated clients with a quality and flexibility that is seldom provided by corporate firms.

We assist governments, state-owned entities and major companies in the resolution of international crisis mostly in the defence, energy (oil, gas, minerals), aerospace, construction and investment sectors. We have the courage to take difficult, complex and sensitive cases for demanding clients and trust that we will deliver a defence of the highest quality.

Gathering 25 specialists, Betto Seraglini is now one of the French market leaders of international dispute resolution. The firm currently handles cases in which aggregate value exceeds US$36bn. The team dealt with some of the most sensitive investment and commercial arbitration cases of the past decade. For example, the firm worked on the Taiwan frigates affair or more recently, the firm has been instructed by Vladimir Putin’s former banker Sergei Pugachev in its €13bn dispute against Russia.

Why has Africa been a particularly strong focus for you?

Our clients made us African market experts. In a general manner, we observe a growing number of litigations in Africa. This is a rather positive sign as it means that the use of law is the norm to solve a dispute.

Moreover, in resolving a dispute, the cultural dimension of the case should always be borne in mind. Our clients expect us to take into
account local peculiarities, including customs and usages.

Furthermore, some African regions remain deeply ingrained in the civil law tradition, which makes us a privileged interlocutor as we can represent our clients before local courts. For example, we have represented our clients before the Togolese, Tunisian, Moroccan, Guinean (Conakry), and Congolese (DRC and Brazzaville) national
courts.

What changes have you seen in the appetite for Africa-based ventures and investments over the last five years?

Africa-based ventures and investors increasingly resort to arbitration to resolve their disputes.

Are there any aspects of the African legal market that you would like to see change?

The improvement of courts’ efficiency is still to be considered as a short-term priority, including the CCJA. African arbitrators should be more represented in arbitral tribunals, in particular those adjudicating Africa-related disputes.

What megatrends do you think will shape the African market over the coming five years? How (if at all) will these trends affect your practice?

As investment in Africa keeps growing, with some African countries recording among the highest GDP growth in the world, the continent is facing key business and human rights challenges. There is an increasing awareness of why human rights must be brought into business strategies and operations, not only for the people of Africa but also for the sustainability of investments.

To assist our clients in this field, Betto Seraglini welcomed a new partner: Martin Pradel, a specialist in in white-collar crime, compliance, investigations and human rights, who helps his clients keep ahead of new risks in emerging markets.