MICHELE SABATINI

Michele focuses on commercial and investment arbitration and international litigation. He regularly assists and advises Italian and foreign clients in complex arbitrations on contracts involving private and public parties and different sets of rules (ICC, UNCITRAL, LCIA, EDF).

Michele has acquired a specific experience in construction disputes and in FIDIC contracts where he assists clients from the preparation of claims to the Engineer, to adjudication before DABs and arbitration.

As to investment treaty arbitration, Michele is currently co-representing with Luca foreign investors in UNCITRAL proceedings on a renewable energy dispute and two groups of Italian bondholders in two ICSID arbitrations against the Republic of Argentina.

He has also been appointed sole arbitrator by the Milan Arbitration Chamber and by the ICC in international and domestic arbitrations.

Michele coordinated the Section on international arbitration of the main Italian commentary on arbitration, the second edition of which is in preparation, and is on the board of editors of Diritto del Commercio Internazionale, for which he
co-edits a biannual review of international arbitration cases.

From 2002 to 2007 he was a research assistant of Public International Law at the University of Viterbo and in 2006 a research assistant at the Tulane University Law School.

• 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

• 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