Michele Sabatini

Michele Sabatini

Education

  • LL.M. (Tulane University Law School, 2006)
  • International Legal Studies Certificate (American University Washington College of Law, 2005)
  • Degree in Law (University of Rome “Sapienza”, 2002)

Admissions

  • Milan Bar
  • New York State Bar

Languages

Italian, English, French

Michele is a founding partner of ArbLit.

 

Michele started his career at Studio Coccia de Angelis & Associati under the supervision of Prof. Massimo Coccia, focusing in particular on sports law and arbitration proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS/TAS). He then joined the international litigation and arbitration department of Bonelli Erede Pappalardo (now BonelliErede), where he trained under two of the most prominent practitioners in the field: Prof. Antonio Crivellaro and Prof. Luca Radicati di Brozolo.

 

In October 2013 Michele left BonelliErede and founded, together with Prof. Luca Radicati di Brozolo, a new legal “boutique” which, as the acronym “ArbLit” suggests, specializes in international arbitration and litigation.

 

Michele represents clients in complex commercial and investment proceedings. On the commercial side, he has developed significant experience in international construction, assisting major Italian and foreign contractors from the submission of claims through the subsequent dispute adjudication (DAB) and arbitration stages. He works on large-scale infrastructure and industrial projects (including roads and railways, energy plants, sports arenas and hydraulic works) and has in-depth knowledge of the contract models most widely used in international practice, in particular the FIDIC contracts (Red, Yellow and Silver Books, 1999 and 2017 editions) and EPC and turnkey contracts. From the project execution phase onwards, he supports project management and contract management teams in handling notices and contractual time bars, in preparing claims for extensions of time, variations, additional costs and suspensions, and in disputes concerning liquidated damages, guarantees and termination. In the subsequent dispute phase, he coordinates the work of technical and quantum experts on typical industry issues, such as delay and disruption analysis, concurrent delay and the quantification of damages, managing proceedings involving extensive technical and contractual documentation.

 

As regards investment arbitration, Michele recently represented, together with Prof. Luca Radicati di Brozolo, several groups of foreign investors in the solar energy sector against the Czech Republic in six UNCITRAL arbitrations administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, for breaches of several bilateral investment treaties and of the Energy Charter Treaty. Previously, he represented groups of Italian bondholders in two ICSID proceedings against the Argentine Republic concerning the 2001 default (ICSID Cases Nos. ARB/07/8 and ARB/08/9).

 

Michele also has well-established experience in sports law. During his years at Studio Coccia de Angelis & Associati, he acted as secretary in several arbitration proceedings before the CAS/TAS and handled internal federation disciplinary proceedings. During the same period, he assisted Prof. Coccia in his role as Deputy Extraordinary Commissioner of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), responsible for rules and regulations, during the extraordinary administration that followed Calciopoli. He also passed the qualifying examination to act as a sports agent for the Italian Rugby Federation, handling the contracts of several players. Most recently, he assisted a Maltese company in an ICC arbitration concerning the commercial exploitation of the image rights of a well-known Serie A footballer.

 

In addition to his work as counsel, Michele is frequently appointed as party-appointed arbitrator, sole arbitrator or president of arbitral tribunals in proceedings administered by leading arbitral institutions, including the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Milan Chamber of Arbitration (CAM) and the Danish Institute of Arbitration (DIA).

 

Michele regularly speaks at arbitration conferences in Italy and abroad. He sits on the editorial boards of the Rivista di Diritto del Commercio Internazionale and the ICC Dispute Resolution Bulletin, and regularly publishes case-law reviews in The Paris Journal of International Arbitration. He also coordinated the international arbitration section of the Commentario breve al diritto dell’arbitrato nazionale ed internazionale (CEDAM 2017). Finally, he is co-author of the IBA Arbitration Country Guide for Italy and of the IBA study on the public policy exception in the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards.

 

Over the years, Michele has become one of the leading figures among the new generation of international arbitration practitioners in Italy and abroad. Chambers and Partners describes him as a lawyer “with significant experience in the construction sector and FIDIC contracts, with excellent know-how and quick to provide answers”. In addition, since 2017 Michele has been listed among the select “world’s leading commercial arbitration experts” by Who’s Who Legal (now Lexology Index).

  • IBA – International Bar Association, Arbitration Committee
  • The Young Arbitrators Forum (YAF) of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
  • New York State Bar Association
  • American Bar Association

  • Publications

    • As of 2013 Michele co-authors together with Andrea Carlevaris (currently Secretary General of the ICC) a review of Italian jurisprudence in the Cahiers de l’Arbitrage | The Paris Journal of International Arbitration.
    • As of 2012 Michele is part of the board of editors of Diritto del commercio internazionale.
    • As of 2012 he coordinates together with Professor Antonio Crivellaro a biannual review of international arbitration cases (“Rassegna di giurisprudenza e prassi dell’arbitrato internazionale“) published in the Italian law review Diritto del Commercio Internazionale.
    • In 2010 Michele coordinated the Part II, devoted to international arbitraiton, of the Commentario breve al diritto dell’arbitrato interno e internazionale, Cedam, Padova, 2010, (co-edited by Luca Radicati di Brozolo, Massimo Benedettelli and Claudio Consolo).

     

    SPECIFIC PUBLICATIONS

    • “L’assistenza legale e la procura ad litem nell’arbitrato interno internazionale” (translation: “legal assistance and the mandate ad litem in international and domestic arbitration), in Diritto del commercio internazionale, 2011, p. 1084.
    • “Dallah: la Cour d’appel di Parigi si riappropria della sua toga” (translation; “Dallah: the Cour d’appel of Paris regains possession of its gown) in Diritto del commercio internazionale, 2011, p. 1132.
    • “Romania: validità di clausole arbitrali inserite in contratti d’appalto pubblico” (translation: “Romania: validity of arbitration clauses in construction contracts with public entitites”), in Diritto del Commercio Internazionale, 2011, p. 145.
    • “Il Pakistan si oppone con successo all’esecuzione in Inghilterra di un lodo ICC reso nei suoi confronti a Parigi” (translation “Pakistan successfully opposes to the enforcement in England of an ICC award rendered in Paris”), in Diritto del commercio internazionale, 2011, p. 223.
    • “L’obbligo di “disclosure” dell’arbitro: la corte d’appello di Parigi si schiera contro gli arbitri che fanno parte dei grandi Studi associati” (tanslation: “arbitrator’s duty of disclosure: the Paris Court of Appeal sides against arbitrators who are members of big law firms”), in Diritto del commercio internazionale, 2009, p. 179.
    • “Verso un assetto multilaterale delle regole sulla concorrenza: The Doha Development Agenda e la creazione dell’ICN” (translation: “Towards a Multilateral Asset of Competition Rules: The Doha Development Agenda and the Creation of the ICN”) in Diritto del commercio internazionale, 2002, p. 951.

The most significant experience of Michele Sabatini as counsel includes the following cases.

  • Representing a Maltese company in an ICC arbitration relating to the commercial use of the image rights of one of the world’s leading football players
  • Representing ten photovoltaic investors of different nationalities in six UNCITRAL arbitrations against the Czech Republic brought under the ECT and various intra-EU BITs (overall amount in dispute € 100 million). In the largest of these proceedings (which are still ongoing) the investors prevailed on the merits
  • Successfully defending the Brazilian subsidiary of an Italian telecommunications group in ICC proceedings brought by a prominent shareholder (amount in dispute approximately € 50 million)
  • Representing a railway contractor in a Paris-seated ICC arbitration relating to a FIDIC dispute against two East European public entities (amount in dispute approximately € 25 million)
  • Successfully representing a leading Italian Engineering & Construction company in a widely publicized and long drawn out ICC arbitration against a subcontractor relating to the construction of a polypropylene plant in Greece
  • Successfully representing a joint venture of Italian companies in an Addis Ababa-seated European Development Fund arbitration against the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Republic of Djibouti concerning a project for the rehabilitation of a railway line (amount in dispute approximately € 100 million)
  • Representing a joint venture between two Italian companies and a French company in an Addis Ababa-seated European Development Fund arbitration against the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia concerning a project for the construction of a water network (amount in dispute approximately € 30 million)
  • Representing an Italian construction company in a European Development Fund arbitration against a Haitian state entity relating to a road rehabilitation project, which ended in a settlement (amount in dispute € 8 million)
  • Successfully representing a joint venture between Italian companies in Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania and ICC arbitrations against a Romanian state entity concerning a road rehabilitation project (amount in dispute approximately € 35 million)
  • Successfully defending a major Italian construction company in a dispute with two Eastern European sub-contractors in Paris-seated ICC proceedings
  • Representing an Italian distributor in a Tokyo-seated ICC arbitration in a dispute arising from the non-renewal of a Japanese law agreement with a Japanese manufacturer of clinical diagnostics equipment
  • Representing a leading Italian fashion group in an ICC arbitration relating to the licensing of the brand for the production of luxury watches
  • Representing Italian bondholders in two ICSID arbitrations against the Argentine Republic arising from the State’s default (ICSID Case No. ARB/08/9, Ambiente Ufficio and others v. Argentine and ICSID Case No. ARB/07/8, Giovanni Alemanni and others v. Argentine Republic)
  • Representing leading dredging companies in an ICSID arbitration against Egypt (ICSID Case No. ARB/04/13, Jan de Nul N.V. and Dredging International N.V. v. Arab Republic of Egypt)
  • Representing an Italian investor in an ICSID arbitration relating to the expropriation of a pipe plant in Georgia (ICSID Case No. ARB/05/23, Ares International S.r.l. and Metalgeo S.r.l. v. Georgia)


WWL says: “Michele Sabatini is a highly regarded counsel and arbitrator who stands out for “his hands-on approach” and “excellent understanding of complex legal frameworks“

Michele Sabatini  is described as “experienced and canny counsel” in arbitration proceedings, within which he specialises in commercial and investment disputes. He is additionally active in litigation