Baptiste Rigaudeau

Baptiste Rigaudeau specializes in dispute avoidance and dispute resolution, with a particular focus on arbitration disputes, both commercial and between foreign investors and States. He has significant experience in disputes involving the mining, banking, pharmaceuticals, hotels, energy, construction and telecom sectors. He has been involved, as Counsel or tribunal secretary, in ad hoc disputes (notably under UNCITRAL rules) and institutional disputes (governed by ICC, ADCCAC, HKIAC, SIAC, SCC, CIETAC, CMAP, SCAI and ICSID rules), governed by diverse procedural and substantive laws. Baptiste also has experience advising clients on settlement negotiations and on multi-jurisdictional disputes relating to asset tracing and recovery issues. He also acts as arbitrator.

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

He currently chairs the Global Steering Committee of the Young Members Group of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and co-chairs the dispute resolution group of the African Society of International Law. He 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.

He is listed as arbitrator for the Asian International Arbitration Centre.

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, Application 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: pharma, 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, Language: English, Applicable law: English

Selected investment arbitration experience:

• Counsel to Romania in ICSID case No. ARB/15/31 [lien hypertexte à ajouter] v. Gabriel Resources et. Al., Sector: mining; Language: English
• Counsel to Swiss Confederation in ICSID case No. ARB/20/29 [lien hypertexte à ajouter] v. Human Rights Defenders Inc., Sector: Real estate; Language: English
• Counsel to Ukrainian investor against Russian Federation, UNCITRAL arbitration, Sector: electricity infrastructure, Language: English
• Counsel to US investor against South American State, UNCITRAL arbitration, Sector: Oil & Gas, Languages: Spanish and English
• Counsel to Australian and Canadian investors against African States, Sector: natural resources, Languages: French and English
• Associate to Tribunal in ICSID case No. ARB/09/18 [lien hypertexte à ajouter] 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 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 to a French telecoms 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 Paris Bar
• Master 2 in Arbitration and International Business Law, Versailles University (2010)
• LL.M., European Legal Studies, Cardiff University Law School (2009)
• Licence, French-British Section, Université de Nantes (2005-2008)

Recent Publications :

• “Has the UK Supreme Court blown the whistle on the UK litigation funding market?”, Ciarb e-solver, 12 October 2023
• “Burkina faso: investment protection in times of political and military uprisings”, Lexology Online, 13 July 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 N°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 N°4, 2021

Recent Speaking Engagements:

• “Provisional Measures in International Investment Arbitration”, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Genève, Suisse, 9 November 2023
• “AI in international arbitration and mediation”, Asia Arbitration Week, virtuel, 24 August 2023
• “Corruption et arbitrage international”, Weekend Africain du Droit Minier et de l’Energie, Conakry, Guinée, April 2023
• “La résolution des litiges liés à l’initiative des Nouvelles Routes de la Soie en Afrique”, 43ème Mensuelle Africaine, Commission Afrique OHADA, Barreau de Paris, virtuel, 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, virtuel, 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 the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative in Africa, Master 2 Droits Africains, Sorbonne University
• Seminar on environmental issues in International Investment Law, Paris Bar School