Yas Banifatemi

Dr. Yas Banifatemi is a founding partner of Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes and is widely recognized as one of the most prominent international arbitration and public international law specialists worldwide. Prior to founding Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes, she served as Shearman & Sterling’s Global International Arbitration Practice Group Leader and the head of the Public International Law practice.

She advises and represents States, State-owned entities and companies on both public international law and international arbitration issues. She acts as counsel, arbitrator and expert in arbitrations conducted pursuant to all major arbitration rules.

Dr. Banifatemi is a member of the SIAC Court of Arbitration. She is a former Vice-President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration as well as a former member of LCIA Court. She is listed on a number of arbitrator panels, including the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators, appointed by the Chairman of ICSID’s Administrative Council.

She is the President of the International Arbitration Institute (IAI), succeeding the late Emmanuel Gaillard in that capacity.

Dr. Banifatemi teaches at Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, Panthéon-Sorbonne University and the Sciences Po School of Law. In the Summer 2019, she gave a course at The Hague Academy of International Law on the powers of the arbitrator. She researches in the areas of public international law and international arbitration, and has authored numerous publications in, and regularly speaks about, both these fields.