Vienna

Contract Drafting and International Arbitration

The panel discussion

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The purpose of the discussion is to contribute material and experience on contract clauses whose construction has proven to be uncertain, clauses that are meant to be interpreted faithfully, clauses that will probably be read in the light of the governing law, etc.

The panelists discussed among others the circumstances under which these clauses are drafted, and the expectations of the drafters when they insert them into the contract.

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Panelists

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Amanda Neil is General Counsel of the Head Group. Prior to joining Head, she spent many years in private practice. She uses her professional experience and her personal experiences as a female lawyer to effect positive change in the legal world so that younger generations of women have an easier path and can fullfil their full potential.

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Tuğçe Yalcin is a dual-qualified lawyer (Attorney at Law in Austria and Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales) having a strong focus on cross-border M&A, Private Equity (PE), Joint Venture (JV), Warranty & Indemnity (W&I) and financial transactions as well as on global corporate restructurings including the regulatory aspects such as the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Screening Regulation and the export control. Her ability to practice law in both a civil law and a common law jurisdiction, her language skills (being native in German, English and Turkish) and her excellent network make her an ideal Head of our CEE Turkish Desk. This desk bundles comprehensive expertise for both Turkish investors and companies aiming to enter the CEE markets as well as for investors and companies based in Europe who are positioning themselves or making investments in Türkiye. Tuğçe has many years of experience in advising national and international clients in transactions often involving multiple jurisdictions. Another main area of her practice are transport & logistics projects, often with a focus on the CEE region. She regularly writes and speaks at conferences on a wide range of corporate law and FDI topics.

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Semiha Melis Mani has acted as in-house legal counsel for the international legal department of Strabag Group (CML International) since 2015, with her current role being Vienna group lead.  Her main focus has been providing legal advice for EMEA and Africa regions as well as Australia, Canada and UK.  Melis has vast experience in the drafting, reviewing, negotiation and execution of FIDIC and NEC based and bespoke form of construction contracts, joint venture and consortium agreements, supply and subcontract agreements, EPC contracts, confidentiality agreements, guarantee letters, and other legal documents. She provides legal research and advice, factual information, counselling, and guidance on legal issues regarding the projects as well as legal advice and advocacy for claim preparation, DAB, DB, mediation, litigation and arbitration processes and steering of the same.  Previously, she worked as an in-house legal counsel for GAMA Power Systems (GAMA Güç Sistemleri) in Turkey between 2013 to 2015 and mainly focused on FIDIC contracts, EPC contracts and dispute resolution. From 2010 until 2013, she worked as an in-house legal counsel and ethics and compliance program officer for Yuksel Construction (Yuksel Insaat) in Turkey and mainly focused on FIDIC based and bespoke form of construction contracts. Melis has a Master’s degree on International Private Law and a Doctorate in Public Law from Ankara University, Turkey.   

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Ivo Deskovic is a partner in the dispute resolution team. His focus is on advising national and international clients from the financial sector, where he has extensive experience in mass- and cross-border litigation. He is well known for regularly acting as party representative or arbitrator for national and international arbitral tribunals. Ivo has made a name for himself for being an expert in forming, coordinating and successfully managing teams for major litigation cases. For more than a decade he has represented parties from the financial industry both before courts and in arbitration cases and also regularly acts as an arbitrator. He is a member of some of the most renowned institutions like the ICC Arbitration Commission or the New York International Arbitration Center. Before focusing on dispute resolutions, he advised domestic and international clients on commercial matters (including privatisation in the CEE region). Due to Ivo’s deep understanding of the financial institutions sector he will also advise you on banking related matters. 

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Michael Waibel is a professor of international law at the University of Vienna. His teaching and writing focus on international law, international economic law, sovereign debt and international dispute settlement. He received the Deák Prize of the American Society of International Law, the Book Prize of the European Society of International Law and a Leverhulme Prize for his research. He is Co-General Editor of the ICSID Reports (with Jorge Viñuales) and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Economic Law (with Kathleen Claussen and Sergio Puig). Previously, he taught for a decade at the University of Cambridge, und was from 2015-2019 co-deputy director of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law and Director of Studies at Jesus College. In 2010-2011 he was the Schmidheiny Visiting Assistant Professor in Law and Economics at the University of St. Gallen. In 2019, he was Nomura Visiting Professor of International Financial Systems at Harvard Law School. He studied law at the universities of Vienna, Paris II Pantheon-Assas and Harvard Law School, and economics at the London School of Economics. He worked at the European Central Bank, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

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Giuditta Cordero-Moss, Dr. juris (Oslo), PhD (Moscow), Professor, Oslo University, publishes and lectures in Norway and internationally on contract law, private international law and arbitration. Former corporate lawyer, arbitrator in international disputes since 2002. Among her positions: Norwegian delegate, UNCITRAL Working Group on Arbitration (2007-); member, Hague Academy of International Law’s Curatorium (2019-); President, International Academy of Comparative Law (2022-); Member, ICC Court of Arbitration (2018-2024); President (2017-20) and Judge (2007-2020), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Administrative Tribunal; vice-president ( 2014-), Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority’s Board of Directors; member (2015-), Norwegian Tariff Board on general application of collective agreements.

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