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Young ITA

Young ITA promotes the involvement of young professionals (under 40) in the international arbitration community through programs, publications and other activities, including:

  • Young Lawyers Roundtables presented annually during the ITA Workshop in Dallas, the ITA-IEL-ICC Joint Conference on International Energy Arbitration in Houston and the ITA Americas Workshop in Latin America.
  • #YOUNGITATALKS programs and events for young practitioners in other cities in North America, South America (Spanish-speaking jurisdictions), Brazil, Mexico and Central America, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, Africa and Asia.
  • The annual Young ITA Writing Competition and Award.
  • The annual Young ITA Mentorship Program teaming students and early career professionals with eminent mentors for a year of collegiality and insight.
  • The Young ITA Newsletter designed to keep us in touch, help keep you abreast of the latest developments in arbitration, and make you aware of the opportunities Young ITA has to offer.

Membership in Young ITA is free and open to all young arbitration practitioners, law students, and other professionals under 40 years old with an interest in international arbitration.

For more information about Young ITA, contact Young ITA chair Catherine Bratic (Chair) and Karima Sauma (Vice Chair).

Young ITA Mentorship Program 2022- 2023

Young ITA is thrilled to announce the 2022-23 edition of the Young ITA Mentorship Program.  The objective of this Program is to bring together young and aspiring arbitration practitioners with leading figures in the arbitration field.  The Program is hands-on, offering students and early career professionals an exceptional opportunity to glean valuable knowledge from established figures, and to forge lifelong connections.  Any member of Young ITA may apply to be a mentee (membership is free).

For more information about the Mentorship Program, click here. The deadline to apply is September 12, 2022.

To apply for the Young ITA Mentorship Program, please submit a CV, together with a brief cover letter explaining your reasons for seeking to participate in the Program.  The letter should address how you expect to benefit from the Program, and specify the region or country where you will be based during the Program cycle.  Please share your documents by way of the following online form: https://es.surveymonkey.com/r/23JN55B 

For more details on the Program, please email Thomas Innes and Sylvia Samano.

Young ITA Leadership

Young ITA is delighted to announce twenty six new appointments to its leadership team. Despite the global, Covid-19 pandemic, Young ITA has had a busy two year of events and seen an increase in membership to over 2000 individuals across over 100 countries, Young ITA has created a number of new roles to ensure we can continue to provide our members with the most useful and interesting events, articles and workshops, across the widest range of regions. We are excited to announce that our previous leadership positions have been expanded to include our first ever regional chairs for India, Oceania, Eastern Europe and Western Europe, alongside vice chairs to assist our Communications and Thought Leadership Chairs, as well as a number of our regional chairs. We would like to say a big thank you to our outgoing leadership team for their fantastic services for the past two years and congratulations to our new chairs and vice chairs, we look forward to another successful two years working with the ITA and continuing to expand on educational and leadership opportunities for young arbitrators.

Catherine Bratic
Chair
Hogan Lovells US LLP
Houston, TX

Young ITA Chair - Catherine Bratic is a Senior Associate at Hogan Lovells LLP in Houston, Texas, where she represents clients in the energy, construction, and media sectors, as well as states and state-owned entities. She regularly advises clients in complex, high-value disputes before international arbitral tribunals, as well as before national courts. Catherine is dual-qualified in Texas and France, and earned law degrees from Columbia University and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. Prior to joining Hogan Lovells’s Houston office, Catherine clerked for the Hon. Lee H. Rosenthal, Chief Judge for the Southern District of Texas, served as a legal fellow at UNESCO in Paris, and practiced in Hogan Lovells’s Paris office for three years.

Karima Sauma
Vice Chair
Counsel
DJ Arbitraje
San Jose, Costa Rica

Young ITA Vice Chair - Karima Sauma is the Executive Director of the International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration of the Costa Rican-American Chamber of Commerce, an adjunct professor at ULACIT University and LEAD University in San José, and of Counsel at DJ Arbitraje. Previously, she worked as an Advisor with the Dispute Settlement Team of the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Trade, where she was part of Costa Rica’s defense team in claims filed under various treaties and free trade agreements. She was also a member of the negotiating team for treaties involving investment and dispute settlement provisions. Prior to joining the Ministry of Foreign Trade, she worked with the International Arbitration Group at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Washington, DC. Karima received her J.D. with honors from the University of Costa Rica. She also holds an LL.M from Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. She is admitted to practice law in Costa Rica and the State of New York.

Ciara Ros
Young ITA Communications Chair
Vinson & Elkins LLP
London, UK

Young ITA Communications Chair - Ciara Ros read Jurisprudence as an undergraduate at Oriel College, University of Oxford and is a senior associate in the International Dispute Resolution practice group of Vinson & Elkins RLLP. She spent six months in the Vinson & Elkins LLP Houston office as part of her training contract, and worked in the Dubai office of Vinson & Elkins LLP for three years after qualification. Ciara returned to the London office of Vinson & Elkins RLLP in 2018. Her focus is on construction, energy and infrastructure disputes and international commercial arbitration, for both private companies and state clients. Ciara also advised clients on project finance and mergers and acquisitions, within the energy, infrastructure and telecoms sectors, during her tenure as a cross-practice associate in the Dubai office of Vinson & Elkins LLP. She is admitted to practice as a solicitor in England and Wales.

Jorge Arturo Gonzalez
Young ITA Communications Vice Chair
Aguilar Castillo Love, S.r.l.
San José, Costa Rica

Young ITA Communications Vice Chair - Young ITA Communications Vice-Chair - Jorge Arturo Gonzalez is an Associate at Aguilar Castillo Love in San José, Costa Rica. He focuses on international arbitration and commercial litigation, and has experience in sectors including pharmaceuticals, tourism and hospitality, forestry, real estate, and finance. He earned his law degree from University of Costa Rica, and further completed studies in the Netherlands and the United States. He speaks English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Thomas Innes
Young ITA Mentorship Co-Chair
Steptoe & Johnson UK LLP
London, United Kingdom

Young ITA Mentorship Chair - Thomas Innes is a Partner at Steptoe & Johnson in London. He advises and conducts advocacy on a wide range of international and commercial disputes. In particular, he acts as counsel in investment treaty disputes and international commercial arbitrations. Thomas is ranked as a Rising Star for Public International Law by The Legal 500 UK (2021-2022) and was previously ranked as an Associate to Watch for International Arbitration in Chambers UK (2019-2022).

Sylvia Sámano Beristain
Young ITA Mentorship Co-Chair
Secretary General
Arbitration Center of Mexico (CAM)
Mexico City, Mexico

Young ITA Mentorship Chair - Sylvia Sámano Beristain is an associate at the Litigation and Arbitration practice in Hogan Lovells. She was in charge of the administration of more than 70 commercial arbitrations at the Arbitration Center of Mexico. Her practice also includes acting as counsel, arbitrator, and Secretary of the Tribunal in commercial arbitrations, and has interned at the ICC Hong Kong office.

She holds an LL.M in Arbitration and Dispute Resolution from Hong Kong University and a law degree specialized in commercial law from National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She has experience in civil, commercial, mining, natural resources, and energy law. In the academic field, she teaches arbitration at the postgraduate program at UNAM as well as in the bachelor program at Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Enrique Jaramillo
Young ITA Thought Leadership Chair
Locke Lord LLP
Houston, Texas

Young ITA Thought Leadership Co-Chair - Enrique Jaramillo is a Senior Counsel at the Houston offices of Locke Lord where his practice ‎focuses on international litigation and arbitration in a wide range of industries. Mr. Jaramillo ‎has advised clients on cross-border legal matters in the fields of energy and environmental law ‎related to different jurisdictions in the United States, Europe, Africa and Latin America. Mr. ‎Jaramillo has also advised governments on the development and drafting of policies, legislation ‎and contracts applicable to the energy sector. He is admitted to practice law in the State of New ‎York and in the Republic of Ecuador. In addition to being Thought Leadership Chair of the ‎Young ITA, Enrique is also Executive Editor of ‎ITA in Review. Enrique has published several ‎contributions in the fields of international arbitration, environmental law, and commercial and ‎economic law. Mr. Jaramillo holds a Juris Doctor (JD)-equivalent degree granted by the ‎Universidad Católica Santiago de Guayaquil ‎‎(Ecuador), two Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees ‎from the Universität Hamburg (Germany) and the ‎Università di Bologna (Italy) and, finally, a ‎degree as a Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD) from the ‎University of Houston.‎

Derya Durlu Gürzumar
Young ITA Thought Leadership Vice-Chair
Bilkent, Universiteler Mahallesi
Ankara,Turkey

Young ITA Thought Leadership Vice Chair - Derya Durlu Gürzumar is an attorney-at-law registered to the Istanbul Bar Association. She holds LLB and LLM degrees from Bilkent University Faculty of Law, in Ankara, Turkey, and a diploma in advanced studies in international arbitration, awarded by the University of Lucerne and University of Neuchâtel. She also holds a number of international arbitration certificates, awarded by various academic and professional institutions, including the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), University of Düsseldorf, University of Cologne, and Humboldt University of Berlin. Mrs. Durlu Gürzumar is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Neuchâtel, in Switzerland. Being an ardent “Vis-mootie” since 2007, Mrs. Durlu Gürzumar has been one of the few law students to receive two successive Honorable Mentions in the Martin Domke Best Oralist Award, namely in the 16th and 17th Willem C. Vis Moot competitions. She has coached her alma mater’s moot teams since 2018, and has been arbitrating the written and oral phases of various international and domestic arbitration competitions, such as Vis Moot and Vis East Moot, Jessup, ICC Moot, FDI Moot, and ISTAC Moot, as well as a number of pre-moot competitions, since 2010. She is the current chair of the International Bar Association’s (IBA) Alternative and New Law Business Structures Committee, which works primarily on alternative legal practice models and the future of the legal profession. Mrs. Durlu Gürzumar’s practice and research interests have focused on competition law, internet/IT law, AI/LegalTech, dispute resolution/arbitration, and white-collar irregularities. She has co-authored a book on "Fundamental Concepts of Anglo-American Law", and has been publishing extensively in the foregoing fields.

Anne-Marie Doernenburg
Young ITA Asia Chair
Nishimura & Asahi
Tokyo, Japan

Young ITA Asia Chair - Anne-Marie Doernenburg is an associate at Nishimura & Asahi in Tokyo specialising in international arbitration, public international law and cross-border dispute resolution. She represents clients in commercial and investment arbitrations under major arbitration rules, advising both corporations and governments. Anne-Marie is admitted in Germany (Rechtsanwalt) and England & Wales (Solicitor). Brought up in a trilingual environment and fluent in six languages, Anne-Marie is passionate about working with clients and colleagues from all over the world. Before moving to Japan, Anne-Marie was based in Washington, DC, Paris and London while working for Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP as well as in Munich. As Young ITA’s ambassador in Asia, Anne-Marie looks forward to organising interesting projects and events that will encourage dialogue between young arbitration practitioners in both Asia and the West.

Philip Tan
Young ITA Asia Vice-Chair
White & Case
Singapore

Young ITA Asia Vice-Chair - Philip Tan is an associate in White & Case’s International Arbitration practice. Based in Singapore, Philip acts as counsel in commercial and investment treaty arbitrations, focusing on energy and construction disputes. He has represented clients in complex, cross-border arbitrations under various rules, including ICC, SIAC, UNCITRAL and ICSID. He also speaks and writes regularly on developments in international arbitration, with an emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region. Philip received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, and is qualified in New York, District of Columbia, Singapore, and England & Wales.

Daniel Allman
Young ITA Oceania Chair
Norton Rose Fulbright
Sydney, Australia

Young ITA Oceania Chair - Daniel Allman is a Senior Associate at Norton Rose Fulbright in Sydney. Daniel specialises in cross-border dispute resolution and represents clients in international commercial and investment arbitration, as well as complex commercial litigation. He is dual-qualified in Australia and New York. Daniel was previously an associate at Covington & Burling in New York, and has worked as a consultant to a UN agency on business and human rights in Southeast Asia and as a solicitor at another leading firm in Australia and on secondment in China. Daniel received his LL.M. from Columbia University and his LL.B. and B.A. from the University of Melbourne. He served as managing editor of Columbia FDI Perspectives and writes frequently on arbitration, investment, and trade.

Rodrigo Barradas Muñiz
Young ITA Mexico and Central America Chair
Von Wobeser y Sierra, S.C.
Ciudad de México, México

Young ITA Mexico and Central America Chair - Rodrigo Barradas Muñiz is a Senior Associate in Von Wobeser y Sierra’s dispute resolution team in Mexico City. Rodrigo acts as counsel in commercial arbitration cases under all major arbitral rules, and has particular experience in the energy and public works sectors. He also represents clients in complex, high-value disputes before domestic courts. Rodrigo is dual-qualified in Mexico and New York, and holds a law degree (J.D. equivalent) from Escuela Libre de Derecho and a master’s degree (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School. Prior to joining Von Wobeser y Sierra, Rodrigo worked for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP in New York. He is currently Adjunct Professor of International Litigation and History of Law at Escuela Libre de Derecho, and writes regularly on international commercial arbitration and dispute resolution.

Daniel Brantes
Young ITA Brazil Chair
Centro Brasileiro De Mediacao E Arbitragem
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Young ITA Brazil Chair - Daniel Brantes earned his Ph.D. in Constitutional Law at the Pontifical University of Rio de Janeiro in 2011 and was a visiting scholar at UB Law School (2009) researching Legal Realism under the guidance of UB Distinguished Professor John Henry Schlegel. Daniel was a Law Professor in the following Law Schools in Rio de Janeiro: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (2008-2009), FGV-Rio (2010), and University Cândido Mendes (2012-Present). Daniel was the Dean of IBMEC Law School from 2014 until 2017. Currently, Daniel is a professor at University Cândido Mendes and Ambra University, teaching the course of arbitration for graduate and undergraduate students. He is also Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Brazilian Center of Arbitration and Mediation (CBMA), where he is also an arbitrator. Daniel is also Chief-Editor of the Brazilian Journal of Alternative Dispute Resolution (RBADR). He is the Dean of Candido Mendes University Masters in Law and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Guilherme Piccardi
Young ITA Brazil Vice Chair
Pinheiro Neto
Sao Paulo, Brazil

Young ITA Brazil Vice-Chair - Guilherme Piccardi is a Brazilian attorney specialized in international dispute resolution, with focus on arbitration, mediation, commercial litigation, and corporate investigations. He is a senior associate at Pinheiro Neto Advogados' litigation practice in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, and has worked as a foreign temporary associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell's New York office during the period of August 2019 to December 2020. Guilherme has received his Bachelor of Laws degree from the Law School of the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, and is currently pursuing an LL.M. degree at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. He is a member of the Brazilian Bar Association, São Paulo Section, to which he was admitted in 2012.

Dr. Viktor Cserep
Young ITA Central and Eastern Europe Chair
PROVARIS Varga & Partners
Budapest, Hungary

Young ITA Central and Eastern Europe Chair - Dr. Viktor Cserep is an associate at PROVARIS in Budapest specializing in dispute resolution and a doctoral candidate at the University of Vienna (international arbitration). Viktor has regularly served as assistant to the presiding arbitrator in high-profile international arbitrations and counsel in arbitration, setting aside and complex cross-border commercial litigation proceedings in multiple industry sectors, including several construction disputes (FIDIC Books). He holds a juris doctor degree (summa cum laude) from Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary) and teaches private international law and contract law to international postgraduate students in the European and International Business Law LL.M. programme of the same Faculty. He frequently attends international conferences and moot courts as arbitrator (Vis, FDI) worldwide. Viktor works in English, German and Hungarian.

Karolina Czarnecka
Young ITA Central and Eastern Europe Vice Chair
Queritius
Warsaw, Poland

Young ITA Central and Eastern Europe Vice Chair - Karolina Czarnecka is an International Arbitration Associate at Queritius. She has represented clients in commercial and investment arbitration cases, under various institutional rules. She also has experience in M&A and banking law. Karolina acts as a Mentor in the Mentorship Programme at the Istanbul Arbitration Centre, a Mentee in the Young ICCA Mentoring Programme, and an Ambassador for Arbitrator Intelligence in the CEE region. She is also a member of the Arbitration Youth Forum (AFM below 40) at the Arbitration Court at the Polish Chamber of Commerce in Warsaw. She graduated from Sciences Po, Paris, where she completed a LLM degree in Transnational Arbitration and Dispute Settlement, and Kozminski University, Warsaw, with a master in law degree. She is currently pursuing her PhD degree at University of Warsaw focusing her thesis on business and human rights arbitration.

Juhi Gupta
Young ITA India Chair
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co
New Delhi, India

Young ITA India Chair - Juhi Gupta is a principal associate at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. She is based in New Delhi and is qualified in India. Juhi has diverse international commercial arbitration experience under various arbitral rules. Her arbitration experience also includes domestic arbitration and related court proceedings as well as acting as a tribunal secretary. A graduate of National Law School of India University, Bangalore and a LL.M. graduate from Harvard Law School, she previously completed her training contract from Allen & Overy, London. She is also a certified mediator. Juhi regularly writes on different topics related to arbitration in India and dispute resolution. She will serve as Young ITA's first ambassador in India.

Lidia Rezende
Young ITA North America Chair
Chaffetz Lindsey LLP
New York, USA

Young ITA North America Chair - Lidia Rezende is an Associate at Chaffetz Lindsey, LLP in New York, where she represents clients in international and domestic commercial arbitrations under the ICC, SCC, UNCITRAL, LCIA, and AAA rules, and in litigation before U.S. courts. Lidia received an LL.M degree from NYU Law in 2015 and an LL.B degree from Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in 2010. She is admitted to practice both in New York and Brazil and is a native Portuguese speaker. Her cases focus on matters of construction, infrastructure, oil and gas, insurance and reinsurance, Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), complex contract disputes, and matters at the intersection of common and civil law. Prior to joining Chaffetz Lindsey, Lidia practiced for five years at a mixed law and engineering boutique firm in Brazil, working side by side with civil engineers in complex construction matters.

Michael Fernandez
Young ITA North America Vice Chair
Rivero Mestre
New York, USA

Young ITA North America Vice Chair - Michael Fernandez’spractice is focused on complex commercial litigation, international arbitration and regulatory compliance issues. He frequently represents Spanish and Portuguese speaking clients. He has experience representing U.S., Latin America, and other foreign based companies and individuals involved in arbitrations, litigations, and with regulatory compliance issues in the U.S., as well as parties to international commercial and investment treaty arbitrations conducted under the major international rules (UNCITRAL, ICSID, ICDR, etc.). He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is admitted to the arbitrator rosters for the Costa Rica Center of Conciliation and Arbitration (CICA), the Mexico Arbitration Center (CAM) and the Conflict Resolution Commission of the Chamber of Industry of Guatemala (CRECIG). He was named to Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for Alternative Dispute Resolution and Commercial Litigation, 2021 and recognized by Super Lawyers as a "Rising Star" in the area of Civil Litigation: Defense, 2018-2021

Maria Camila Rincon
Young ITA South America Chair (Spanish-Speaking Jurisdictions)
Zuleta Abogados
Bogotá D.C., Colombia

Young ITA South America Chair (Spanish-Speaking Jurisdictions) - Maria Camila Rincon is an associate at Zuleta Abogados Asociados, where she concentrates her practice in international investment law, public international law and international arbitration. Before joining the Zuleta Abogados team, María Camila was part of Colombia’s National Legal Defense Agency and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism where she participated in Colombia’s first international investment arbitrations, in the negotiation of investment treaties, and the design of public policies to attract and protect foreign investment in Colombia. María Camila has been a professor of Public International Law and teacher assistant of Theory of Public International Law at the Universidad del Rosario. She graduated from Universidad del Rosario and has studied in the Columbia Center for Sustainable Investment at Columbia University and in Private International Law at the Hague Academy of International Law.

Santiago Lucas Pena
Young ITA South America Vice Chair (Spanish-Speaking Jurisdictions)
Bomchil
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Young ITA South America Vice Chair (Spanish-Speaking Jurisdictions) - Santiago Lucas Pena is a senior associate in the international arbitration department at Bomchil, Buenos Aires. His practice focuses on complex litigations and arbitrations. He has acted in several arbitrations under the main international rules (ICC, ICDR and UNCITRAL, among others) and participated as attorney and secretary of arbitral tribunals. He graduated with honours from Universidad de Buenos Aires, and obtained a postgraduate diploma in arbitration as well as a master’s degree in corporate law from Universidad Austral. He is an assistant professor on civil and commercial contracts at Universidad de Buenos Aires and at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.

Katrina Limond
Young ITA UK Chair
Allen & Overy
London, UK

Young ITA UK Chair - Katrina Limond is a London-based senior associate in Allen & Overy’s International Arbitration and Public International Law team. She acts for a range of State and corporate clients in cross-border investment-treaty and commercial arbitrations under the ICSID, UNCITRAL, LCIA, ICC, CIArb and SIAC rules, as well as enforcement and challenge English court proceedings, and advising on public international law issues. Before joining Allen & Overy, she studied English Law at the University of Cambridge and French Law at the Université Paris II (Panthéon-Assas). She also worked as a legal advisor for the Legal Affairs, Disarmament and Terrorism Committees at the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations in New York.

Robert Bradshaw
Young ITA UK Vice Chair
LALIVE
London, UK

Young ITA UK Vice Chair - Robert Bradshaw is an associate in LALIVE’s London office, where his practice focuses on international commercial and investor-State arbitration. He has represented clients in diverse sectors including energy, mining, media, information technology, food processing, hospitality and pharmaceuticals. In addition to the Young ITA, Robert is active in Young ICCA, ICC Young Arbitrators Forum, LCIA Young International Arbitration Group and CIArb Young Members Group, and publishes regularly. Prior to joining LALIVE, he was an associate in the Paris office of Hogan Lovells. Robert is a graduate of the University of Birmingham, where he studied LLB Law with German, and BPP Law School, where he completed his LPC and LLM.

Asha Rajan
Young ITA Western Europe Chair
Teynier – Pic I Paris
Paris, France

Young ITA Western Europe Chair - Asha Rajan is an associate at Teynier Pic in Paris, France. She represents clients in areas of international commercial and investment arbitration and international litigation. Asha has experience in the construction, telecommunications, industrial and spatial sectors. In addition to acting as counsel, she has also assisted arbitral tribunals in commercial arbitration proceedings. A dual-qualified lawyer, Asha is admitted to practice in India and France and has law degrees from the University of Pune, India and Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. Asha writes regularly on international commercia arbitration, and arbitration developments in India.

Georgios Fasfalis
Young ITA Western Europe Vice Chair
Linklaters
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Young ITA Western Europe Vice Chair - Georgios Fasfalis is an associate in Linklaters’ arbitration practice. He has previously worked for a renowned arbitration boutique and the legal department of a Dutch multinational. Georgios’ arbitration experience includes involvement in commercial and investment treaty arbitrations conducted under, among others, the ICC, ICSID, LCIA, NAI, SIAC and UNCITRAL Rules. He has also been involved in arbitration-related litigation matters, such as setting aside and enforcement proceedings. Georgios’ publications include, inter alia, a chapter in S. Balthasar (ed) International Commercial Arbitration (Hart Publishing) (2021). He is admitted to the Thessaloniki Bar in Greece and holds degrees from the University of Amsterdam and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Hamid Abdulkareem
Young ITA Africa Chair
Three Crowns LLP
London, UK

Young ITA Africa Chair - Hamid Abdulkareem, counsel in the London office of Three Crowns LLP, is an experienced arbitration practitioner and litigator, having regularly advised multinational companies on an extensive range of disputes, particularly within the energy and natural resources sector. He has played a lead role in multiple disputes arising from Nigeria’s deep offshore production sharing contracts, resulting in successful outcomes for his clients. Hamid is a current Co-Chair of the International Bar Association’s Arb40 subcommittee. He has been recognised in Who’s Who Legal: Future Leaders for Arbitration and as a National Leader for arbitration in Nigeria, having been described as “an exceptional advocate” who is “sharp as a tack” and “definitely one to watch”. Hamid is also ranked in The Legal 500 for dispute resolution. He is qualified in Nigeria and was educated at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Ilorin, Nigeria.

Jennifer Paterson
Young ITA Middle East Chair
K&L Gates
Dubai, UAE

Young ITA Middle East Chair - Jennifer Paterson is a special counsel in the International Arbitration practice group of K&L Gates LLP, based in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and is a member of the Firm’s Global Associate Liaison Committee. Jennifer read Jurisprudence at Brasenose College, University of Oxford. She was subsequently called to the Bar of England and Wales by Lincoln’s Inn and spent five years practising as a barrister in London before moving to Dubai. She has since gained over ten years of experience in the Middle East and regularly advises on matters governed by various regional civil codes, English Law and DIFC Law. Jennifer representsclients in a broad range of disputes, including in the construction, real estate, and oil and gas sectors. She has acted in arbitrations administrated by many of the local and international arbitration institutions and has full rights of audience before the DIFC Courts and the Courts of England and Wales. She also works closely with local counsel in respect of proceedings before the onshore UAE Courts. Jennifer regularly writes and presents on arbitration developments in the UAE.