Derains & Gharavi International

Ana Gerdau de Borja Mercereau

Associate

Biography

NATIONALITY: Brazilian and German
LANGUAGES: Portuguese, English, French and Spanish
ADMISSION: Brazil, Portugal and Paris (Directive 98/5/EC)
OFFICE: Paris

Ana Gerdau de Borja Mercereau is a senior associate at Derains & Gharavi (Paris).

Since 2009, Ana has practiced international and domestic arbitration and has acted in proceedings related to arbitration such as annulment and recognition and enforcement proceedings before State courts.  She has acted as counsel representing clients from Latin America, Portuguese and Spanish speaking jurisdictions, especially Brazil and Spain.  She has been particularly active in the sectors of retail distribution, industrials, construction and engineering, energy (renewables and oil & gas), transportation, real estate, mining and shipping.

She has also acted as a sole arbitrator under the ICC Rules in a construction/shipping dispute and under the Swiss Rules in a shipping dispute dealing with demurrage claims, conducted in French and English and seated in Paris and Zurich, respectively.  She has also acted as co-arbitrator in an ICC construction dispute seated in Porto, conducted in Portuguese.  As secretary to arbitral tribunals, she has been involved in some of the largest international arbitrations including investor-State arbitrations, which enables her to deal as arbitrator with no difficulty with complex procedural and substantive matters.

In her experience as counsel, arbitrator and secretary to arbitral tribunals, Ana has dealt with a myriad of applicable laws in the civil law and common law systems, including Brazilian law, Spanish law, Mexican law, Chilean law, French law, English law, Swiss law, Italian law, Algerian law, Qatari law, New York law and international law.  Her cases were conducted in Portuguese, Spanish, French and English under the ICSID, the ICC, the LCIA-MIAC, and the ICDR/AAA rules, and under Brazilian institutions’ rules (CAM-CCBC, CCMA CIESP/FIESP, CAMARB, Câmara FGV, CAM-BM&FBOVESPA, AMCHAM-Brazil and CMA from São Paulo’s Instituto de Engenharia).

She co-leads Track 5 of the Task Force dealing with corruption in international arbitration as a member of the ICC Commission on International Arbitration and ADR.  Ana is one of the founders of the Rising Arbitrators Initiative and of the Lusophones’ Arbitration Club, a former deputy chair of CIArb’s YMG Global Steering Committee and a former CIArb European Branch YMG Representative.

She has been appointed to the panels of arbitrators of ARBITAC, Câmara do Mercado (CAM B3), CAMARB, CAM-CCBC and CBMA (Brazil), of the Arbitration Centre of the Lima Chamber of Commerce and of the Centre of Arbitration Amcham Perú (Peru) and of the Arbitration Centre of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Portugal).

Ana holds a Ph.D. and an LL.M. from the University of Cambridge and is admitted to the Bars of Brazil (São Paulo) and Portugal (Porto) and is registered with the Paris Bar (Directive 98/5/EC).

EXPERIENCE AS COUNSEL

EXPERIENCE AS ARBITRATOR, AD HOC COMMITTEES AND SECRETARY TO ARBITRAL TRIBUNALS

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Since 2018 Associate, Derains & Gharavi (Paris)
2015 – 2017 Associate, International Arbitration, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (Paris)
2010 – 2015 Associate, International and Domestic Arbitration, Professor Wald’s law firm (São Paulo)
2009 – 2010 Associate, International and Domestic Arbitration, BKBG (São Paulo)

ACADEMIC POSITION

2017 Lecturer in Private International Law (Prof. Bernard Haftel’s course) at the University of Paris-XIII

EDUCATION

2010 PhD in law, under the supervision of James Crawford, thesis: « Regional Economic Community Rules and lnvestment Treaty Arbitration: The EU Experience and its Relevance for the Andean Community », from  the University of Cambridge
2006 LL.M. in international law from the University of Cambridge
2005 LL.B. from the University of Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre

MEMBERSHIPS

Publications

“Pedido de Esclarecimentos” in Lei de Arbitragem Comentada - Lei nº 9.307/1996 (eds A C Weber, F de Cerqueira Leite). São Paulo, RT/Thomson Reuters (2023) (with I Monnerat Mendes)

"Medidas Cautelares Anteriores à Constituição do Tribunal Arbitral: Apontamentos sobre Competência, Escopo e Execução?” in Arbitragem e Poder Judiciário: Estudos sobre a interação entre as jurisdições arbitral e estatal. São Paulo, Migalhas (2023) (with LF Yokota)

“O Árbitro de Emergência e o Caso das Anti-Suit Injunctions a Favor da Arbitragem” in Arbitragem, Mediação e Outros Métodos Alternativos de Resolução de Conflitos: Estudos em Homenagem ao Doutor Frederico José Straube (eds A M Cunha Guimarães, A F Nascimbeni et al). São Paulo, Quartier Latin (2023) (with LF Yokota)

"La responsabilité sociale des entreprises et l’arbitrage d’investissement", in Cerqueira, G. et al, Études en l'honneur du Professeur Iacyr de Aguilar Vieira (Société de législation comparée, 2022)

“O Profissionalismo do Árbitro” in A Função do Árbitro no Brasil (eds B Guandalini, C E Stefen Elias) Lisboa, Almedina (2022) (with Y Derains)

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