As of its creation in 2009, the firm comprised two renowned arbitration practitioners Yves Derains and Hamid Gharavi. It was then one of the first arbitration boutiques at a time when most practitioners operated out of large multi-service firms, in an avant-garde move that has since inspired and driven the market.
Derains & Gharavi has since its inception been recognized as a leading firm in France, Europe and worldwide by its peers and international organizations, States, companies and private individuals
The Firm continues to lead the field by pursuing values of excellence, passion, precision, rigor, efficiency, integrity, multiculturality and craftmanship in providing arbitration services as both counsel and arbitrator in over 600 high profile cases with resulting landmark awards that have contributed to the shaping and evolution of arbitration law and practice.
The Firm has since its inceptions acted in different capacities in over 500 arbitrations instructed as counsel and/or its members appointed as President, sole arbitrator, co-arbitrator, mediator/conciliator and expert by a variety of parties in France, Europe, Asia and North, Central and South America including:
- International organizations
- States and State-owned entities
- National and international corporate groups
- Family-owned companies
- High net individuals
- Sport federations
- Athletes
- Main arbitration institutions
The Firm’s and its members’ track-record have contributed to the development of the law and practice in public international law, investment, commercial and sports arbitrations via the following:
- Landmark awards issued by the Firm’s founding partners.
- Precedent-setting cases such as DLP v. Yemen (ICSID Case No. ARB/05/17) (the first inter-Mena BIT arbitration, and moreover the first arbitration worldwide where moral damages were awarded); Lemire v. Ukraine (ICSID Case No. ARB/06/18) (where a State was for the first time held liable for an FET violation in relation to public tenders); Pantechnicki v. Albania (ICSID Case No. ARB/07/21) (where the case was dismissed for the first time pursuant to a fork-in-the-road BIT provision); and Michael Dagher v. Republic of Sudan (ICSID Case No. ARB/14/2) (where jurisdiction was dismissed on the basis of one BIT by refusing for the first time to give international effect to a nationality)
- Innovative solutions such as resorting for the first time to French courts as “Juge d’appui” to constitute a tribunal under the OIC Treaty in Trasta v. Libya (PCA Case No. 2020-09)
- Effective and creative enforcement/seizures worldwide including of State assets and international freezing orders
- Functions on and contributions to Courts and/or Boards of major institutions such as the ICC, LCIA, and ISTAC
- The publication of over 100 articles and books, as well as teaching and speaking engagements at conferences worldwide