Derains & Gharavi International

Yves Derains

Founding Partner

Biography

NATIONALITY: French
LANGUAGES: French, English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese
ADMISSION: Paris
OFFICE: Paris

Yves Derains, founding partner of Derains & Gharavi, is presented by Who’swho Legal 2023 as “one of the most active, responsive and senior arbitrators in the world.” Ranked as “Most in demand arbitrators” in the 2023 editions of Chambers Europe, Chambers Latin America and Chambers Global Market Leaders, he is also praised for his appearance as counsel: “Yves Derains employs his experience acting as both counsel and arbitrator to provide highly valued insight” into cross-border disputes (Chambers Latin America 2020). Market sources comment that he “is a god in the arbitration space,” with renowned experience in commercial and investment arbitration, besides being “completely dedicated to his arbitration practice” (Who’swho Legal 2023).

Yves Derains, who is a former secretary general of the ICC Court, is also honorary Chairman of the ICC Institute of World Business Law, which he chaired between 2010 and 2020. He is also the former president of the Arbitration Court of the Jerusalem Arbitration Centre (JAC) that was created by both Israeli and Palestinian ICC national committees.  He was Vice-President of the Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil-Canada (CAM-CCBC).

He has over 40 years’ experience in arbitration. At the time of his departure from the ICC, he joined the Canadian firm Phillips & Vineberg. Shortly afterwards in 1985, he founded Derains Gélinas & Associés, one of the first arbitration firms, which name would change into Derains & Associés in 1994 and eventually become Derains & Gharavi in 2009.

Yves Derains has not ceased to devote himself to the development of international arbitration. He successfully led the revision of the ICC Rules of Arbitration adopted in 1998 and participated in the revision of the Rules of 2012. Yves Derains offers clients a double perspective through his long-standing experience as arbitrator and counsel. His skills are particularly highly regarded in Latin America, where he regularly conducts arbitrations in Spanish and Portuguese.

As former Chairman of the Comité Français de l’Arbitrage, Yves Derains is on the arbitrators’ lists of numerous arbitration institutions and speaks at conferences all over the world. He is co-author of the celebrated work, A Guide to the ICC Rules of Arbitration, 2nd Edition, with Eric Schwartz, Kluwer Law International, 2005, which has become a seminal text on the application and interpretation of the ICC Rules of Arbitration.

EXPERIENCE AS COUNSEL

EXPERIENCE AS ARBITRATOR

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Since 2009 Founding Partner, Derains & Gharavi
1994 – 2008 Founding Partner, Derains & Associés
1985 – 1994 Founding Partner, Derains-Gélinas & Associés
1982 – 1984 Partner, Philips & Vineberg Paris
1977 – 1981 Secretary General of the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC and Director of the Legal Department of the ICC
1973 – 1977 Secretary of the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC and Director of the Legal Department of the ICC. Secretary of various ICC Commissions including the International Commission on Banking Technique and Practice.
1971 – 1973 Attaché to the International Court of Arbitration and to the Legal Department of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

ACADEMIC POSITION

EDUCATION

1970 D.E.S. in Private Law (Paris University)
1968 License in Private Law (Paris University

MEMBERSHIP

Publications

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

“Propos conclusifs” - colloque CFA « L’arbitrage en France, dix ans après la réforme », Revue de l’Arbitrage, 2022 n°1

“Une nouvelle approche de la procédure arbitrale internationale”, Revue de l’Arbitrage, 2021 n°3

“Le professionnalisme des arbitres internationaux”, Revue de l’Arbitrage, 2019 n°3

"Arbitraje internacional y neutralidad procesal", Colección Cátedra Bancolombia de derecho económico, financiero y del mercado de valores, serie Arbitraje Internacional – Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Grupo Editorial Ibañez, 2019  

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