Baptiste Rigaudeau

Baptiste Rigaudeau specialises in dispute avoidance and dispute resolution, with a particular focus on arbitration, both commercial and between foreign investors and States. He has significant experience in the mining, banking, pharmaceuticals, hotels, energy, construction and telecommunications sectors. He has been involved, as counsel, tribunal secretary, or arbitrator in ad hoc (notably under UNCITRAL rules) and institutional arbitration (governed by ICC, ADCCAC, HKIAC, LCIA, SIAC, SCC, CIETAC, CMAP, Swiss Arbitration Centre and ICSID rules), governed by diverse procedural and substantive laws.

In addition, Baptiste has experience advising clients on settlement negotiations and on multi-jurisdictional disputes relating to asset tracing and recovery. He also acts as arbitrator.

Before joining Lead up, Baptiste practised over 12 years within litigation and arbitration departments of top law firms in Hong Kong, Houston, Madrid, Paris and Geneva.

He currently sits on the executive committee of Young Mining Professionals Switzerland and he co-chairs the dispute resolution group of the African Society of International Law. He is the immediate past chair of the Global Steering Committee of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators’ Young Members’ Group and was a member of the inaugural ICC Commission on the Belt and Road Initiative. He is also a member of the International Wine Law Association.

Selected Commercial Arbitration Experience :

• Counsel for German party against Algerian party, ICC arbitration, Sector: construction, Language: French, Applicable law: Swiss
• Counsel for Chinese party against Gabonese party, ICC arbitration, Sector: Oil & Gas, Language: English, Applicable law: Gabonese
• Counsel for English party against Saudi party, ICC arbitration, Sector: construction, Language: English, Applicable law: Saudi
• Counsel for US party against French party, ICC arbitration, Sector: hotels, Language: English, Applicable law: French
• Counsel for international party against DRC party, ad hoc arbitration, Sector: real estate, Language: French, Applicable law: DRC and International Law
• Counsel for German party against French party, CMAP arbitration, Sector: waste management, Language: French, Applicable law: French
• Counsel for Finnish party against Finnish party, pre-arbitral advice, Sector: construction, Language: English, Applicable law: Finnish
• Secretary to Tribunal in ICC arbitration between US and French parties, Sector: pharmaceuticals, Language: English, Applicable law: New York
• Secretary to Tribunal in ICC arbitration between Lebanese and Kuwaiti parties, Sector: Food & Beverage, Language: English, Applicable law: English
• Secretary to Tribunal in HKIAC arbitration between US and Chinese parties, Sector: renewable energies, Languages: Mandarin and English, Applicable law: New York
• Secretary to Tribunal in SIAC arbitration between Chinese and Filipino parties, Sector: geothermal energy, Language: English, Applicable law: English

Selected Investment Arbitration Experience:

• Counsel for Romania in ICSID case No. ARB/15/31 v. Gabriel Resources et. Al., Sector: mining; Language: English
• Counsel for Swiss Confederation in ICSID case No. ARB/20/29 v. Human Rights Defenders Inc., Sector: real estate; Language: English
• Counsel for Ukrainian investor against Russian Federation, UNCITRAL arbitration, Sector: electricity infrastructure, Language: English
• Counsel for US investor against South American State, UNCITRAL arbitration, Sector: Oil & Gas, Languages: Spanish and English
• Counsel for Australian and Canadian investors against African States, Sector: natural resources, Languages: French and English
• Associate to Tribunal in ICSID case No. ARB/09/18 between US investor and Kingdom of Cambodia, Sector: power generation, Language: English
• Secretary to Tribunal in UNCITRAL arbitration between US investor and South East Asian State, Sector: tourism, Language: English

Selected International Litigation and Asset Recovery Experience:

• Counsel for a bank against a high profile individual in relation to multi-jurisdictional dispute (France, US, Cyprus, BVI) over the non-reimbursement of loans
• Counsel for French telecommunications company against a US startup before the US courts in relation to a dispute relating to allegations of unfair competition
• Counsel for a magazine editor against its distributor before French courts in relation to IP misappropriation allegations

• Admission to the Paris Bar
• Master 2, Arbitration and International Trade, Versailles University, France
• LL.M., European Legal Studies, Cardiff University Law School, UK
• Licence, French-British Section, Nantes University, France

Recent Publications :

• “Commentary of CASS 1ere Civ, 7 June 2023: When Abiding by the Applicable Arbitration Rules and Jurisprudence on Arbitrator Challenges Is Still Not Enough for the French Cour de Cassation” Romanian Arbitration Journal, volume 65, Issue No. 4/2023
• “Mining Projects and Tax Disputes: What Remedies can be Achieved Through International Arbitration”, Jus Mundi Mining Arbitration Report, March 2023
• “ Projets d’Infrastructure en Afrique de l’Ouest et Règlement des litiges”, Revue du Droit International des Affaires no. 1, 2023
• “Mali Ecowas Sanctions: the Impact on Foreign Investors”, Lexology Online, 31 January 2022
• “Guinea: Outlook on investment protection one month after the coup”, Lexology Online, 11 October 2021
• “Projets d’Infrastructure en Afrique de l’Est et Règlement des litiges”, Revue du Droit International des Affaires no. 4, 2021

Recent Speaking Engagements:

• “Protection des investissements étrangers face aux coups d’états en Afrique subsaharienne”, 50th Mensuelle Paris Bar Commission Afrique OHADA, Paris, France, 7 March 2024
• “Provisional Measures in International Investment Arbitration”, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Geneva, Switzerland, 9 November 2023
• “AI in international arbitration and mediation”, Asia Arbitration Week, virtual, 24 August 2023
• “Corruption et arbitrage international”, Weekend Africain du Droit Minier et de l’Energie, Conakry, Guinea, April 2023
• “La résolution des litiges liés à l’initiative des Nouvelles Routes de la Soie en Afrique”, 43rd Mensuelle Paris Bar Commission Afrique OHADA, virtual, 7 April 2022
• “The Belt and Road Initiative in Africa: Disputes and their Impact on China-Africa trade”, African Society of International Law 10th Conference, virtual, 30 October 2021
• “Chinese Investment in Africa: Lessons on Dispute Resolution”, 2nd Annual Conference of African Arbitration Association, Accra, April 2021

Academic involvements :

• Seminar on tax disputes and international arbitration, LLM Contentieux International des Affaires approfondi, UPEC, 2024
• Seminar on the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative in Africa, Master 2 Droits Africains, Sorbonne University, 2022
• Seminar on environmental issues in International Investment Law, Paris Bar School, 2020-2022