GBS Disputes

Nicolas is part of the team advising and/or representing:

• An international joint venture in an ICC arbitration in Paris against an oil field services provider. The dispute arises from an EPC contract for the construction of upstream facilities in Africa. Issues include liability for delay, additional works and disruption. Over USD 850 million is at stake.
• A joint venture between an African oil & gas company and its European partner, Respondents in an ICC arbitration in Paris initiated by various contractors. The dispute arises from the late completion and various defects affecting the performance of an oil & gas wastewater treatment plant.

While at his prior firms, Nicolas was part of the team who advised and represented:

• A British mining company, Claimant in an ICSID arbitration against the Republic of Tanzania initiated under the U.K.-Tanzania bilateral investment treaty concerning the expropriation of certain mining rights and other breaches of international law (ICSID Case No. ARB/20/38).
• An Australian mining company, Claimant in a PCA arbitration against the Republic of Poland under the Australia-Poland bilateral investment treaty in relation to Poland’s unlawful interference with two mining projects owned by Claimant (PCA Case No. 2020-52). Several billion dollars were at stake.
• Two Colombian investors, Claimants in an ICSID arbitration against the Republic of Chile under the Chile-Colombia bilateral investment treaty in relation to the loss of their investment in two public concessions for transport services (ICSID Case No. ARB/17/16).
• Cypriot investors, Claimants in a UNCITRAL arbitration against the Czech Republic under the Cyprus-Czech Republic bilateral investment treaty in relation to the expropriation of their investment in the gaming industry.
• A telecommunications service provider in an ICC arbitration against a media conglomerate in a dispute arising out of a sale and purchase agreement for the acquisition of a controlling shareholding in a national telecommunications company. The dispute related inter alia to the valuation of shares, breaches of representations and warranties, indemnities for historic tax liabilities, and the interpretation of certain limitation of liability clauses in the purchase agreement.

Education

• Harvard Law School, LL.M. (with honours)
• Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas, Master of Laws in Arbitration, Litigation and ADR (cum laude)
• Sciences Po Law School, Paris, Master of Laws in Economic Law
• Ecole Nationale de Statistiques et Administration Economique (ENSAE), Paris, Master of Science in Market analysis and Corporate Finance
• Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, Master of Science in Applied Mathematics in Finance

Admissions & Courts

• Barrister, England & Wales
• New York

Languages

• French
• English
• Spanish

Nationality

• French

• Director, Paris Bar School’s Advanced Programme in Investment Arbitration (APIA) (2017–)
• Coach, Skadden Arp’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Moot (2017–)
• Lecturer, Paris Bar School CLE program on English Contract Law (2019)

• “Full protection and security and the minimum standard of treatment of aliens,” King’s College and British Institute of International & Comparative Law, London, 2 November 2022
• “Assignment of claims in investment arbitration,” Center for International Legal Studies (FDI Moot Global Oral Rounds), Salzburg, 3 November 2020
• “Valuation of damages in investment arbitration,” Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 12 October 2019
• “Fork-in-the-road clauses in investment treaty disputes,” Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 10 October 2018
• “Contributory fault and armed conflicts in investment disputes,” Colloquium on International Investment Law and the Law of Armed Conflict, National and Kapodistrian University, Athens, 5–6 October 2017