Arbitrations with Third-Parties: 5 Things to Know About New Rules from the German Arbitration Institution (DIS)
3 minute read | June.20.2024
Siegfried Elsing, Prof. Dr. LL.M. (Yale)
Partner
Düsseldorf
Siegfried Elsing is a world-renowned arbitration practitioner with more than 40 years of experience as counsel and arbitrator in national and international arbitration proceedings.
He has acted as counsel, presiding arbitrator, sole arbitrator, or chairman in more than 300 arbitration proceedings, including ad hoc proceedings and arbitrations under the rules of the leading arbitration institutions.
As counsel, he represents private investors, international corporations, sovereign states, and state-owned enterprises in a range of significant, complex, and often cross-border disputes.
In addition to counsel work and acting as an arbitrator, Siegfried also acts as an expert witness before German courts as well as courts in the United States and the United Kingdom and before regulatory institutions.
His experience includes disputes in the areas of M&A, energy, investment protection, engineering and construction, financing, joint ventures, and intellectual property.
He is admitted to practice as an attorney-at-law in both Germany and New York.
Chambers Global 2024 describes Siegfried as a "star individual" who is "often appointed as arbitrator in complex international arbitrations" and is also "a leading practitioner in the field of investment arbitration" with "extensive experience as an arbitrator in investment law cases".
Siegfried was a member of the Advisory Board of the American Arbitration Association (2009 to 2020) and a member of the Panel of Conciliators of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) (2011 to 2017). He was a member of the Board of the German Arbitration Institute (DIS) (2012 to 2022) and has been a member of the DIS Council (since 2022). He was also Chairman of the Mediation Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA) (2007-2008).
He is co-editor of the German Arbitration Journal (Zeitschrift für Schiedsverfahren (SchiedsVZ)). He regularly lectures and publishes on international arbitration and comparative law. Siegfried is also honorary professor at the Faculty of Law at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, where he has been teaching international commercial arbitration and international civil procedure law for 25 years. Since 2013, he represents the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg as Honorary Consul in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Siegfried Elsing co-founded the German law firm Hölters & Elsing in 1989 and has overseen the merger with Orrick in 2008.
-
Select mandates:
Engineering, energy and construction
Counsel
- Federal Republic of Germany in various arbitration proceedings to defend against claims of over €700 million in connection with the planned introduction of a car toll system following the termination of the contract
- Plant manufacturer in a dispute in connection with the construction of an offshore wind farm project in the North Sea
- Leading hydropower equipment supplier in a dispute concerning the construction of a hydropower plant in Greece
- Failed investment in a hotel complex and a casino (1 bn euro, ICC, chair)
- LNG supply contract price revision (several 100 m US dollar, ICC)
- Adjustment of price provisions for the supply of Russian natural gas to a European importer (3 bn US dollar, ICC)
- Dispute between a Dutch and an Italian energy company regarding the price adjustment under a long-term agreement for the purchase and sale of natural gas (1 bn US dollar, ICC, chair)
- Romanian power producer regarding a contractual dispute with a German technology group over the refurbishment of a hydropower plant (140 m US dollar, ICC, chair)
- German-based energy trading company in a dispute with a global importer over claims under a long-term gas sales agreement (73 m US dollar, DIS)
- European pumped storage power plant company in a dispute (damages for delay) concerning the construction of a hydroelectric power plant (over 50 m euro, ICC, chair)
- Various German energy service providers in relation to price adjustment claims (ad hoc)
- Dutch energy company and leading German utility company regarding a joint venture agreement for the construction and operation of a gas storage cavern (DIS, chair)
- Several proceedings in connection with utility services in Turkey (ICC, chair)
Post M&A and corporate transactions
Counsel
- Insolvency administrator of a major manufacturer of photographic film and laboratory equipment and companies of a Belgian photographic group in relation to the spin-off of the consumer imaging business (several ICC proceedings)
- Post M&A dispute between two global companies in connection with the partial acquisition of the seed division (1.7 bn euro, ICC, chair)
- European gas transportation company and a joint venture regarding the acquisition of a gas transmission network (800 m euro, DIS)
- Post M&A dispute between a building materials group and a US insurance company (270 m euro, DIS, chair)
- Post M&A dispute between a Russian and a Turkish company in connection with the sale of a group of companies in the energy sector (200 m US dollar, ICC, chair)
Investment protection
Counsel
- North Macedonia in an investment protection case brought by Indian investors (Case No. 2018-18) for alleged violations of the Indo-Macedonian BIT (224 m US dollar, UNCITRAL, PCA)
- RSM Production Corp. vs. St. Lucia, ICSID-ARB 12/10 (chair)
- Ali Alyafei vs. Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, ICSID-ARB 15/24
- Dispute in the context of a license agreement to determine license fees for standard-essential patents according to FRAND principles (1 bn US dollar, ICC)
- Claims for damages by a major bank against a former member of the management board (ad hoc, chair)
Events
International Mock Arbitration/Mediation
May.25.2018
