Raphaelle Legru specialises in international commercial arbitration and investment arbitration in proceedings brought under the major institutional rules, including ICC, ICISD, UNCITRAL.

Currently based in London, Raphaelle’s practice focuses on disputes involving States and State entities, in all major sectors, including the telecommunications, pharmaceutical and construction sectors. Raphaelle has participated in numerous annulment proceedings, both before ad hoc committees and the French courts.  Raphaelle moreover regularly acts as administrative secretary to the tribunal.

Commercial arbitration

• Representing a French pharmaceutical group against a Swiss pharmaceutical company in two ICC arbitrations arising from a product distribution and licensing agreements (Belgian law, Brussels seat in one case; Swiss law, Lausanne seat in the other).
• Representing the Algeria-based joint-venture of three major oil & gas companies against a Lebanese company in an ICC arbitration arising from delays and costs related to the construction of the base camp of a gas field.
• Representing a BVI telecommunications company and a South Sudanese telecommunications company against an African State in an ICC arbitration arising from a mobile network license (South Sudanese & English law; Geneva seat).
• Representing an Asian State against four French defence companies in two ICC arbitrations arising from a military procurement contract and the payment of illicit commissions (French law; Paris seat).
• Representing a Brazilian group of companies against a group of Portuguese banks in an ICC arbitration arising from the financing of a construction project in the Republic of the Congo (French law; Paris seat).
• Representing a French oil company against a Lebanese company and a Belgian company in an ICC arbitration arising out of the termination of an agency agreement for oil fields in Iraq (French law; Paris seat).

Investment arbitration

• Member of the team representing the Republic of Poland in two parallel PCA-UNCITRAL arbitrations arising from changes in the applicable regulatory framework (PCA Case No. 2021-06 and PCA Case No. 2020-52).
• Member of the team representing a JV of European construction companies against the State of Kuwait in an ICSID arbitration arising from the construction of an expressway in Kuwait City (ICSID Case No. ARB/17/8).
• Member of the team representing the Arab Republic of Egypt against 13 Kuwaiti claimants in an ICSID arbitration arising from a project to transform desert land into agricultural land (ICSID Case No. ARB/18/31).
• Member of the team representing the Czech Republic in a PCA-UNCITRAL arbitration arising from changes in the regulatory framework for lotteries and gaming (PCA Case No. 2016-12).
• Member of the team representing the Czech Republic against a Swiss investor in an ICSID arbitration arising from the alleged illegal acts of the State in connection with real estate investments in Prague (ICSID Case No. ARB/17/11).
• Member of the team representing the Republic of Ecuador against Burlington Resources in an ICSID arbitration arising from a windfall profit levy on oil revenues and involving counterclaims for environmental harm to the Amazonian rainforest (ICSID Case No. ARB/08/5).
• Member of the team representing the Republic of Ecuador against Perenco Ecuador Limited in an ICSID arbitration arising from a windfall profit levy on oil revenues and involving counterclaims for environmental harm to the Amazonian rainforest (ICSID Case No. ARB/08/6).

Annulment proceedings

• Representing the Republic of Poland before the Paris Court of Appeals and the Cour de cassation in annulment proceedings Vincent J. Ryan, Schooner Capital LLC, and Atlantic Investment Partners LLC v. Republic of Poland.
• Representing two members of a JV of European construction in the annulment proceedings of ICSID Case No. ARB/17/11.
• Representing the Czech Republic in the annulment proceedings of ICSID Case No. ARB/17/8.
• Representing the Republic of Ecuador in the annulment proceedings of ICSID Case No. ARB/08/6, Perenco Ecuador Limited v. Republic of Ecuador.

As Administrative Secretary to the Tribunal

• In an ICC arbitration between a Central African State entity and a French company in a dispute arising out of a construction of a road (Central African law; Brussels seat).
• In an HKIAC arbitration between a Mexican and a Chinese IT company arising out of the supply of IT equipment (Mexican law; Hong Kong seat).
• In an LCIA arbitration between
• In two parallel ad hoc arbitrations between a French construction company and its Senegalese subsidiary against a Senegalese company in a dispute arising out of the construction of a hotel (French law; Paris seat).
• In an ICC arbitration between two Swiss companies in a dispute arising out of the inspection of goods (French law; Paris seat).
• In an ICC arbitration between a Romanian entity, on the one hand, and a German company and an Austrian company on the other hand, in a dispute arising out of the refurbishment works of a hydro power plant (French law; Bucharest seat).

Master 2 in Private International Law (University Panthéon-Assas), 2013

Master 1 in International and European Law (University of Paris X), 2012

Graduate Diploma in Law (BBP Law School, UK), 2011

Paris

English and French

(With E. Silva Romero) “Quelle place pour la Compliance dans l’arbitrage d’investissement ?”, La juridictionnalisation de la Compliance, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) et Dalloz (2023)

“Overview of the differences in the recent updates to the LCIA Rules and the ICC Rules”, b- Arbitra | Belgian Review of Arbitration (2021)

(With E. Stein) “The State of Play of Belgium’s International Investment Agreements: Whither Investment Arbitration?”, LIBER AMICORUM 50 years of solutions, Cepani 1969 (2019)

• Young Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA) Mentorship Program
• Member of ArbitralWomen
• Member of the Comité Français de l’Arbitrage
• LCIA Users’ Council