Derains & Gharavi has extensive experience in North America.

Co-founding partner Hamid Gharavi is admitted to practice in New York and holder of a graduate degree from NYU School of Law as a Hauser Scholar and a graduate degree in North American Business Law from University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. He has lived in the United States for ten years where he was in part educated and trained, and started his career at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP in New York and as Visiting Professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.

The firm and its partners have acted as counsel and arbitrator in a large number of arbitrations as non exhaustively set out below (For full list see the CVs of Yves Derains and Hamid Gharavi):

• Successfully represented as lead counsel a US investor Charles Lemire in an ICSID arbitration against Ukraine obtaining compensation for over 10 million USD for FET violation in relation to public tenders – a first in investment arbitration (ICSID Case No. ARB/06/18);
• Successfully represented as lead counsel Colgate-Palmolive Services before the Paris Court of Appeal in an action for annulment of an ICC award (Mr. Noureddine Tabbane c/ S.A. Colgate-Palmolive Services);
• Successfully represented as lead counsel a Canadian construction company in an ICC arbitration against a public entity arising out of the construction of a plant in the Middle East (ICC Case No. 14545/EC/GZ);
• Successfully enforced and seized assets in Canada of a default judgment issued in the Middle East;
• President of the Tribunal in an ICC arbitration between a major Canadian iron production company and two American companies providing mining technologies in relation to the provision of a grinding mill (ICC Case No. 18735/CA/ASM) [Yves Derains];
• President of the Tribunal in an ICC arbitration between two Canadian companies as claimants and one Canadian and one American company as respondents in relation to a mining dispute (ICC Case No. 22304/RD) [Yves Derains];
• President of the Tribunal in a dispute between the Detroit international bridge Company and the Government of Canada (PCA Case No. 2012-25) [Yves Derains];
• Sole Arbitrator in an LCIA arbitration in London under New York Law between a North American company and a European bank for the alleged breach of a financial agreement (LCIA Case No. 91445) [Hamid Gharavi];
• Sole Arbitrator in an ICC arbitration in Milan between a European company and a North American company for the alleged breach of a procurement contract for conveyor dryers in relation to the construction of a project in Asia (ICC Case No. 18201/FM/MHM) [Hamid Gharavi];
• Co-arbitrator in an ICC arbitration between an American company and two American and German companies in the medical sector (ICC Case No. 22758/MK) [Yves Derains];
• Co-Arbitrator in an ICC arbitration between a Turkish company and European, US and Turkish companies for alleged violation of the sale and purchase agreement regarding the acquisition of a company-operator of several fast-food restaurant chains (ICC Case No. 22406/ZF) [Hamid Gharavi]; and
• Co-arbitrator in an ICSID arbitration between three American companies and individual as claimants and Romania as respondent (ICSID Case No. ARB/10/13) [Hamid Gharavi].