Anne-Sophie Tonin

Throughout her 15-year experience, Anne-Sophie Tonin has built a significant practice in commercial litigation, domestic and international, in international arbitration and alternative dispute resolution.

She advises and represents French and international clients before and during disputes, in sectors such as agrobusiness, construction, defense, energy, telecommunications, transports & logistics, and media. She has also developed an important practice in relation to industrial risks.

Anne-Sophie has also acted as counsel in domestic or international arbitration disputes, both institutional and ad hoc. She is also instructed in matters before French courts relating to recognition, challenge and enforcement of arbitral awards.

Anne-Sophie is listed in Legal 500 Private Practice Arbitration Powerlist – Arbitration France 2023.

After starting her career in an international law firm in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Anne-Sophie worked for many years in a top-tier Parisian boutique dedicated to domestic and international dispute resolution. She then served as Head of Litigation at the General Counsel Office of a Big-Four audit firm, where she handled investigations launched by the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF), the French Regulator of Statutory Auditors (H3C), and French judicial authorities, along with compliance issues (e.g. anti money laundering or terrorism financing).

Through these various experiences, she acquired all the skills to understand the needs of her clients on every level and to handle complex matters in multicultural settings.

Selected Arbitration and Arbitration-Related Litigation Experience:

• Counsel to a joint venture composed of a French multinational and an Algerian company in an ICC arbitration over the enforcement of a contract relating to the safety of oil and gas infrastructures in Algeria
• Counsel to an international oil company in an ICC arbitration against a South American sub-contractor in relation to the non-enforcement of a maritime services contract relating to oil extraction operations
• Counsel to a European State in an ad hoc arbitration brought on the basis of a BIT by a foreign investor in relation to customs measures
• Counsel to a South American audit firm in an ICC arbitration relating to the termination of a contract for membership in a professional network
• Counsel to the energy department of a US industrial multinational group in litigation, ICC mediation then ICC arbitration relating to the construction, shipment, and installation of electrical parts to be integrated into electronics systems in relation to the construction of an LNG plant in Texas
• Counsel for a French telecommunications company in relation to the enforcement of an arbitral award against an African State, which involved the seizing of aircrafts and buildings in France and Switzerland and an ICC emergency arbitration procedure

Selected Litigation Experience:

• Counsel to a global steel and mining company in litigation over the termination of a contract for the transformation of steelmaking gas into electricity
• Counsel for an international food and beverage group in judicial expertise proceedings and French and Belgian court litigation relating to defects impacting an industrial site
• Counsel for an industrial group with global expertise in water management in litigation relating to the termination of established commercial relationships with its transport and chemical products subcontractors
• Counsel for a Jordanian investor in litigation relating to the enforcement of a settlement agreement over the reimbursement of a loan between shareholders of a Hong Kong company, and to the actioning of a bank guarantee
• Counsel for a real estate and hotel company in litigation against individual managers of an international hotel group and their statutory auditors for management wrongdoings
• Counsel for an international vinyl manufacturer in the management of several bankrupt suppliers and in the design and presentation of sale proposals relating to a company under judicial administration

Selected Industrial Risks Experience:

• Counsel for a US group, specialised in measurement tools and meters, in judicial expertise proceedings relating to malfunctions affecting measurement tools used in the energy sector
• Counsel for an international steel-making group in judicial expertise proceedings relating to defects impacting breakwater facilities in the Port of La Rochelle (France)
• Counsel to an industrial group specialised in water and waste treatment in judicial expertise proceedings relating to a claim arising out of corrosion on the urban heating system of the city of Grenoble (France)
• Counsel to a Finnish industrial group, specialised in industrial equipment for the mining, construction, and other process industries, in judicial expertise proceedings relating to malfunctions of portable grinding and sifting systems
• Counsel to the energy branch of an international industrial group in judicial expertise proceedings relating to defects affecting the lighting system of the Lille subway

• Admission to the Paris Bar
• Master 2 in Litigation, Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution, University Paris II – Panthéon-Assas, France
• Master 2 in Private International Law and International Trade, University Paris II – Panthéon-Assas, France
• Double degree: Master in Private International Law, University Paris XI, Sceaux, France and Translation Certificate in Legal English and Spanish, ISIT (Institut Supérieur d’Interprétation et de Traduction), Paris, France
• Licence – Erasmus program, University of Edinburgh, Faculty of Law, Scotland

Publications :

• « Conflictos de interés de los árbitros. Deber de revelación y deber de declaración de los árbitros. El punto de vista del derecho francés », Anuario Latinoamericano de Arbitraje n°3, April 2014, p. 541

Speaking engagements :

• « Référé et mesures conservatoires », Etats généraux de l’arbitrage – Savoir gérer le contentieux par l’arbitrage, 25 October 2019, Paris, CNBF
• « Conflicto de leyes aplicables al arbitraje », 5th International Forum on ICC Arbitration, 24 and 25 June 2019, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo ICC Committee

Academic involvement:

• Seminar on international arbitration, Master 2 in Business litigation, University Paris X-Nanterre (2018-2019)
• Seminar on comparison between common law and civil law systems, Master 2 in Economic and Legal Translation, University Cergy-Pontoise (2016-2017)
• Seminar on comparison between common law and civil law systems, Program « Communication juridique interculturelle », HEDAC / ISIT, Versailles (2012-2014)