Baptiste Rigaudeau

Biography

Baptiste Rigaudeau is a partner at Lead up. He specialises in dispute avoidance and dispute resolution, with a particular focus on international arbitration, both commercial and between foreign investors and States (Investor State Dispute Settlement or ISDS). He has significant experience in the mining, banking, pharmaceuticals, hotels, energy, construction and telecommunications sectors.

Baptiste has acted as counsel, as tribunal secretary and as arbitrator (sole, party-appointed and president) in ad hoc proceedings, in particular under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, and in institutional arbitration administered under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Abu Dhabi International Arbitration Centre (ArbitrateAD, formerly ADCCAC), the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC), the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), the Centre de médiation et d’arbitrage de Paris (CMAP), the Swiss Arbitration Centre and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), in proceedings governed by diverse procedural and substantive laws.

Beyond contentious work, Baptiste advises clients on settlement negotiations and on multi-jurisdictional disputes relating to asset tracing and recovery. He is included on the international arbitrators’ lists of the Asian International Arbitration Centre, ICC France and the International Arbitration Chamber of Paris.

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

Baptiste is the Global Vice Chair of Young Mining Professionals, the French Ambassador for Swiss Arbitration, a member of the Steering Committee of the under-40 group of the IBA Arbitration Subcommittee, and of the Board of AfricArb.

Baptiste is recognised in the Lexology Index 2026 (formerly Who’s Who Legal) for arbitration, published in partnership with Global Arbitration Review (GAR).

He is admitted to the Paris Bar, is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (MCIArb), and works in English, French and Spanish.

Experience

Below is a selection of representative matters across commercial arbitration (as counsel and arbitrator), investment arbitration,and international litigation and asset recovery. The list is illustrative and does not exhaust Baptiste’s practice.

Selected commercial arbitration experience as counsel

• Counsel for an Asian party against an African State counterparty in an ICC arbitration concerning a long-term farmout agreement. Sector: mining. Language: English. Applicable laws: local law and OHADA law
• Counsel for a Middle Eastern party against an East African State party in an ICC arbitration relating to a major infrastructure project. Sector: infrastructure. Language: English. Applicable law: local law.
• Counsel for a French franchisee in LCIA arbitration against a US counterparty over termination of a master-franchise agreement; subsequently challenged the resulting awards in annulment proceedings before the Paris Court of Appeal. Sector: franchising. Language: English. Applicable law: English.
• Counsel for a German party against an Algerian party, ICC arbitration. Sector: construction. Language: French. Applicable law: Swiss.
• Counsel for a Chinese party against a Gabonese party in an ICC arbitration arising out of an production sharing agreement in the oil and gas sector. Sector: oil and gas. Language: English. Applicable law: Gabonese.
• Counsel for an English party against a Saudi party in an ICC arbitration relating to a mega construction project. Sector: construction. Language: English. Applicable law: Saudi.
• Counsel for a US party against a French party, ICC arbitration. Sector: hotels. Language: English. Applicable law: French.
• Counsel for an international party against a Democratic Republic of the Congo private party in an ad hoc arbitration. Sector: real estate. Language: French. Applicable laws: DRC law and international law.
• Counsel for a German party against a French party in a CMAP arbitration relating to a waste-management contract. Sector: waste management and environmental services. Language: French. Applicable law: French.
• Counsel for a Finnish party against a Finnish party, pre-arbitral advice. Sector: construction. Language: English. Applicable law: Finnish.

Selected experience as arbitrator

• Sole arbitrator in a dispute between Mauritian and South African parties, MARC arbitration. Sector: real estate. Seat: Port Louis.
• President of the Tribunal in a dispute between French parties, CAIP arbitration. Sector: commodities. Seat: Paris.
• Co-arbitrator in a dispute between a German and a Swiss party, LCIA arbitration. Sector: shipping. Applicable law: Swiss. Seat: London.

Selected investment arbitration experience

• Counsel for Romania in ICSID Case No. ARB/15/31, Gabriel Resources Ltd. and Gabriel Resources (Jersey) v. Romania, high-profile 5 billion USD gold mining-related treaty arbitration. Sector: mining. Language: English.
• Counsel for the Swiss Confederation in ICSID Case No. ARB/20/29, Human Rights Defenders Inc. v. Swiss Confederation. Sector: real estate. Language: English.
• Counsel for a Ukrainian investor against the Russian Federation, UNCITRAL arbitration relating to electricity-infrastructure expropriation. Sector: electricity infrastructure. Language: English.
• Counsel for a US investor against a South American State, UNCITRAL arbitration. Sector: oil and gas. Languages: Spanish and English.
• Counsel for Australian and Canadian investors against African States. Sector: natural resources. Languages: French and English.
• Assistant to Tribunal in ICSID Case No. ARB/09/18 between a US investor and the Kingdom of Cambodia. Sector: power generation. Language: English.
• Secretary to Tribunal in a UNCITRAL arbitration between a US investor and a South-East Asian State. Sector: tourism. Language: English.

Selected international litigation and asset recovery experience

• Counsel for a French company in annulment proceedings before the Paris Court of Appeal in respect of an LCIA award relating to a franchising contract.
• Counsel for a bank against a high-profile individual in a multi-jurisdictional dispute (France, the United States, Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands) over the non-reimbursement of loans.
• Counsel for a French telecommunications company against a US start-up before the US courts in a dispute relating to allegations of unfair competition.
• Counsel for a magazine editor against its distributor before the French courts in a dispute relating to intellectual property misappropriation allegations.

Education

• Certificat d’Aptitude à la Profession d’Avocat (CAPA), Paris Bar.
• Master 2, Arbitration and International Trade, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France.
• M., European Legal Studies, Cardiff University Law School, United Kingdom.
• Licence en Droit, French-British Section, Université de Nantes, France.

Thought leadership

Recent publications

• “Q&A: Conducting Litigation in France”, Lexology, 23 June 2025 (with Julien Maire du Poset, Anne-Sophie Tonin and Ramy Bassily).
• “In Brief: Arbitration Formalities in France”, Lexology, 23 June 2025 (with Julien Maire du Poset, Anne-Sophie Tonin and Ramy Bassily).
• “Panoramic Dispute Resolution — France”, Lexology, 27 October 2025 (with Julien Maire du Poset, Anne-Sophie Tonin and Ramy Bassily).
• “Commentary on Cass. 1ʳᵉ, 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, 31 January 2022.
• “Guinea: Outlook on Investment Protection One Month after the Coup”, Lexology, 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

• “The Competition for Critical Resources: Recent Developments in the Mining Sector in Africa”, co-organised by Keidan Harrison and Quadrant Chambers, London International Disputes Week, 6 June 2025.
• “Navigating Disputes in Times of Conflict: Focus on Africa and the Mining Sector”, Paris Arbitration Week, African Society of International Law, 11 April 2025.
• “Mining Disputes”, Young Mining Professionals Switzerland and London, 13 February 2025.
• “La licence sociale d’exploitation”, Podcast no. 2, Académie Africaine de Pratique du Droit International, January 2025.
• “Arbitration and Tax Law”, PBA Podcasts, Paris Baby Arbitration, January 2025 (with Anne-Sophie Tonin).
• “How to Best Prepare and Manage a Fact-Heavy Case from the Investigation to Trial: A Panel Session with Views from Lawyers and Experts”, AIJA 3rd Annual Litigation Conference, London, 18 October 2024.
• “Protection des investissements étrangers face aux coups d’État en Afrique subsaharienne”, 50th Mensuelle, Paris Bar Commission Afrique OHADA, Paris, 7 March 2024.
• “Provisional Measures in International Investment Arbitration”, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Geneva, 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’Énergie, 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.

Academic involvements

• Seminar on dispute resolution in the mining sector, LLM Contentieux International des Affaires approfondi, Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC), 2026.
• Seminar on tax disputes and international arbitration, LLM Contentieux International des Affaires approfondi, Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC), 2025.
• Seminar on the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative in Africa, Master 2 Droits Africains, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 2022.
• Seminar on environmental issues in international investment law, École de Formation professionnelle des Barreaux de la Cour d’appel de Paris (EFB), 2020 to 2022.

Contact

A.A.R.P.I. Lead up, 12, rue Tronchet, 75008 Paris, France. Telephone: +33 1 45 75 43 44. Email: rigaudeau@leadup-avocats.com. To get a fuller sense of the firm, please visit our Expertise page and our Team page.