About us

Guillaume Aréou

Guillaume Aréou, founding member of AfricArb, is a senior associate at Reed Smith, based in Paris.

Guillaume holds a Ph.D. in International Investment Law from the University of Nice. He advises clients on commercial and investment arbitration matters, with a particular focus on Africa related disputes. He assists both investors and States alike in complex arbitration proceedings under a variety of seats and arbitration rules, spanning various industry sectors (including, but not limited to, the construction, energy and food sectors). Guillaume regularly speaks at events, and also regularly gives lectures on international arbitration at French universities. Finally, Guillaume is a member of the Comité Français de l’Arbitrage, the Swiss Arbitration Association, the Société Française pour le Droit International and the ICC Young Arbitrators Forum.

Alex Bado

Alex, law student, is an associate of AfricArb since 2022, based in Boston.

Sylvie Bebohi Ebongo

Sylvie, founding member of AfricArb, is co-founder and partner at HBE Avocats, based in Yaoundé and in Paris.

Sylvie sits as Arbitrator (institutional and ad hoc arbitrations) and is member of many arbitrators’ panels and arbitration and ADR associations.
She also acts as counsel and advises clients in a variety of domains, sectors, and industries both in African and European related matters. She regularly speaks, teaches, and provides training and translation services in Arbitration and ADR.

Salimatou Diallo

Salimatou, member of AfricArb, is managing partner at ADNA, based in Conakry.

Salimatou focuses primarily on complex project development and project finance, M&A, and general corporate and commercial matters. She has extensive experience advising on major transactions in the mining sector across the full cycle, from acquisition and financing to disposal and expansion. She is actively advising leading clients across the commercial sphere in West Africa. Salimatou has in-depth knowledge of the local law aspects of major transactions and projects, as well as financings in Francophone Africa and the OHADA region mainly in the energy and mining sectors advising both DFIs and sponsors. With extensive experience of large and complex international projects, she is increasingly involved in arbitration and has recently acted for clients on ICC arbitration matters and settlements.

Capucine du Pac de Marsoulies

Capucine, founding member and former co-head of AfricArb, is a counsel at De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés, based in Paris.

Capucine regularly acts as counsel and arbitrator in commercial and investment arbitration proceedings (ICC, ICSID, CCJA, PCA, OHADA, etc.), mainly related to projects developed on the African continent in the natural resources (mining, oil & gas), energy and construction sectors.
Capucine has developed a thorough knowledge of French-speaking African countries, as well as OHADA and regional business law and has practised in Dakar.

Clément Fouchard

Clément, founding member of AfricArb, is a partner at Reed Smith, based in Paris.

Clément, with over fifteen years of experience, he acts for French and international clients, particularly in the mining, construction, energy and infrastructure and defence sectors.

Clément is a member of the Bureau of the Comité Français de l’Arbitrage, a co-founder of the AfricArb association and was a founder of the Paris Arbitration Week (PAW) and a member of the PAW organising committee from its inception in 2017 until 2022.

Over the years, Clément has acquired a significant experience in disputes related to the African continent.

Clément also acts as an arbitrator in domestic and international, ad hoc and institutional (ICC) arbitrations.

Athina Fouchard Papaefstratiou

Athina, founding member and former co-head of AfricArb, is an independent arbitrator based in Paris.

Athina has worked for 15 years in two of the most renowned international arbitration groups globally and in a boutique firm specialised in Africa-related dispute resolution, before establishing her own practice in 2022.

Athina has significant experience in Africa-related arbitration, as well as in arbitration involving States and State entities.

She is a founding member (and former co-head) of AfricArb, a member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR and a Board member of the Arbitration Committee of ICC Greece. She is a CIArb Fellow, a member of the Executive Committee of the CIArb European Branch, and she served in 2020 as the Head of the CIArb YMG.

Mamadou Gacko

Mamadou, member of AfricArb, is a senior associate of DLA Piper, based in Paris.

Mamadou acts as arbitrator and counsel in international arbitration proceedings. These proceedings are typically conducted under the ICC and UNCITRAL rules and involve States, international organizations and private entities. Mamadou also appears as counsel before French and OHADA courts in the context of proceedings relating to the annulment, recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards. His work mainly focuses on Francophone Africa. In addition, Mamadou has taught courses in private international law and international commercial arbitration at Panthéon-Sorbonne University and other colleges.

Thomas Kendra

Thomas, founding member of AfricArb and co-head since 2021, is a partner at Hogan Lovells, based in Paris.

Thomas is a partner in Hogan Lovells’ international arbitration team in Paris, is dual-qualified in England and France and represents clients in both commercial and investor-state arbitration. He is passionate about alternative dispute resolution in Africa and collaborated in the successful establishment of the Kigali International Arbitration Centre (KIAC) in Rwanda, where he still sits as a board member. Thomas leads Hogan Lovells’ Paris-Afrique desk. Thomas publishes and speaks widely on the topic of international arbitration and teaches courses on arbitration at Sciences Po Paris and Versailles university. Jeune Afrique Business Plus ranked Thomas 28th on its 2021 power list of most influential lawyers in francophone Africa.

Inès Kouevi

Inès, trainee lawyer, is an associate of AfricArb since 2022, based in Washington, DC.

Andrea Lapunzina Veronelli

Andrea, founding member of AfricArb, is a legal counsel and representative of the PCA in Mauritius.

Andrea acts as registrar and administrative secretary in dispute resolution proceedings and assists the PCA Secretary-General with appointing authority matters under various rules.

Prior to joining the PCA, Andrea worked was an associate at DLA Piper (Paris).

Andrea holds degrees from Paris-I Panthéon Sorbonne and Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (Master in international arbitration). She was admitted to the Paris bar in 2017 (currently omitted).

Tsegaye Laurendeau

Tsegaye, founding member of AfricArb, is a partner at Signature Litigation, based in London.

Tsegaye has over 10 years’ experience of international arbitrations under all the major arbitration rules, and focuses on disputes relating to M&A, investment funds, international financing and joint ventures in the oil and gas, energy, mining, construction and telecoms sectors.

Prior to joining Signature Litigation, Tsegaye was a partner at international arbitration boutique law firm Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes, and before that he was a member of Shearman & Sterling’s international arbitration group where he practiced for over ten years.

Tsegaye also practiced in Allen & Overy’s Project Finance group at the start of his career where he acted for financial institutions and international corporates in relation to the development and financing of large energy and infrastructure projects in Africa and the Middle East.

Paul-Jean Le Cannu

Paul-Jean Le Cannu, founding member of AfricArb and co-head since 2021, is a senior counsel and team leader at ICSID, based in Washington DC.

As Team Leader, Paul Jean supervises around sixty-five cases under the ICSID and UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. He also serves as Secretary of Tribunals and Annulment Committees. Paul Jean regularly writes and presents about international arbitration, including in the context of the joint program organized by the Georgetown University Law Center, the International Law Institute – African Centre for Legal Excellence, and ICSID. He is also a co-founder and currently co-president of AfricArb and a member of the Advisory Council of the Africa Arbitration Academy.

John Picarel

John, founding member of AfricArb, is a senior legal counsel at Nexans, based in Paris.

John is Senior Legal Counsel at Nexans’ Generation and Transmission Business Group.

He advises in the negotiation and drafting of FIDIC, EPCI or supply contracts notably, for the implementation of major projects (offshore wind farms, interconnectors, OHL, land and subsea cables, construction) or within the framework of sensitive related disputes.

A former attorney-at-law, John has gathered an extensive experience in the Construction and Energy sectors as both a transactional and international arbitration practitioner in the EMEA and MENA regions, as well as in West Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and the OHADA zone.

He is included in the Best Lawyers 2023 (France) – “Ones to watch” lists for the Energy sector.

John also gives lectures on FIDIC and construction contracts in Lyon III University’s LL.M in Energy Law.

Wesley Pydiamah

Wesley, founding member of AfricArb, is a partner at Eversheds Sutherland, based in Paris.

Wesley is also the Deputy Head of the Africa Group where he is in charge of leading the firm’s activities on the continent.
His experience includes dozens of cases where he advised and represented Governments, State-entities and private multinational companies in proceedings before numerous institutional and ad hoc arbitral tribunals (ICSID, ICC, LCIA, PCA, SIAC). He has a very significant experience in cases before the Iran-US Claims Tribunal, and also sits as arbitrator.
Wesley is specialised in the telecoms, energy and financial sectors. His regional focus is on Africa and the Middle East.

Lédéa Sawadogo-Lewis

Lédéa, associate of AfricArb since 2021, is a business management lawyer at Hogan Lovells, based in Paris.

Julie Spinelli

Julie, founding member of AfricArb, is a partner at Le 16 Law, based in Paris.

Julie acts as counsel in domestic or international arbitration proceedings, ad hoc or institutional (ICC, LCIA, ICSID, SCC, CMAP and UNCITRAL), for States as well as French and foreign companies in disputes in the sectors of energy, construction and engineering, aeronautical, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and hospitality.

She also represents clients in annulment, enforcement and arbitration-related court proceedings before French courts.

Julie regularly acts as an arbitrator.

Martin Tavaut

Martin, founding member of AfricArb, is a counsel at Jeantet, based in Paris.

Martin assists clients with their projects in Africa and in France in the energy (renewables, power) and mining sectors as well as with matters related to the energy transition.

Martin has acquired significant experience in these different fields in large-scale projects, from their inception to their implementation, acquisition or disposal (due diligences, regulatory, environmental law, OHADA law).

He is a lecturer at the Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas, as part of the University Diploma in International Economic Law in Africa, since 2015.

He is also a facilitator of the Climate Desk, which he deploys at Jeantet.

Gregory Travaini

Gregory, founding member of AfricArb, is corporate counsel at Amazon, based in Paris.

Gregory advises both private investors and State entities on cross-border investments and acting as arbitrator. Before that, he was Deputy Counsel at the ICC Court of Arbitration where he was in charge of more than 150 cases in Africa and the Middle East. Gregory graduated from Paris II and Paris III Universities and’King’s College and the School of Oriental and African Studies. His thesis addressed ‘The Influence of European Powers on Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in West Africa: The African Legal Culture’. He teaches and speaks at conferences on international dispute resolution and international law. He was awarded the’King’s College London Prin’ipal’s Award and was recognized b’ Who’s Who Legal as a Future Leader in Arbitration.