Professional notice
Helped a Middle Eastern state defeat a huge claim
People in Who’s Who Legal | 2 |
---|---|
Pending cases as counsel | 31 |
Value of pending counsel work | US$10.5 billion |
Treaty cases | 0 |
Current arbitrator appointments | 43 (of which 18 are as sole or chair) |
Lawyers sitting as arbitrator | 9 |
Lenz & Staehelin was formed in 1991 when Conrad Staehelin’s Zurich firm merged with Raoul Lenz’s Geneva practice. Both arms of the firms already had experience of arbitration going back decades before the merger. The team on the Geneva side included the late Robert Briner, who served as a judge at the Iran-US Claims Tribunal in the 1980s and went on to be chairman of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and a renowned arbitrator.
These days the group is headed by partners Xavier Favre-Bulle in Geneva and Harold Frey in Zurich, who both sit as arbitrators. The team is split evenly between the two cities (there’s also an office in Lausanne) and includes five partners and three counsel who do arbitration full-time as well as four other partners and a team of more than 20 counsel and associates.
Who uses it?
The firm acts for states and state-owned entities in international disputes. It also has private clients from industries including pharmaceuticals, energy, telecoms, construction, financial services and luxury goods. The list includes some well-known Swiss blue-chip companies and multinationals.
Unfortunately, few of the firm’s clients are on the public record but it is known to be advising Romanian state entity Hidroelectrica in an €80 million arbitration brought by energy trader EFT. Going further back, it advised Deutsche Telekom (in a dispute with Vivendi) and Turkey’s Çukurova group (in a dispute with Teliasonera).
It regularly co-counsels with international firms on large matters with a Swiss angle. The firm also frequently appears on behalf of sports federations in cases before the Court of Arbitration for Sport and related Swiss court actions.
Track record
One spectacular result for the firm came in 2016 when it helped a state in the Middle East to defeat a claim for more than US$1.5 billion in damages, as well as a claim for the issuance of a long-term concession. The client also received a large part of its costs.
It has helped four of the most important industrial groups in Germany defeat a billion-dollar claim by a US company; and successfully defended the manufacturer of a desalination plant in a subcontractor dispute, winning costs of over 1 million Swiss francs.
For a healthcare company, it helped to settle a multibillion-euro dispute over the termination of licence and supply agreements – agreeing terms that allowed the client to maintain the business relationship.
Another highlight saw the firm represent an Irish company in a successful Geneva arbitration against a Libyan state entity over the use of a fibre optic cable across the Mediterranean.
Recent events
Besides the US$1.5 billion defence win already mentioned, the firm picked up new instructions from a financial institution for a post-M&A dispute worth 1.5 billion Swiss francs, relating to the purchase of a Swiss bank. It has also started acting as counsel in gas price review arbitrations.
Another new client is a foreign investor in Russia in relation to potential investment treaty claims. It is also helping two Middle Eastern state companies in a challenge to a multibillion award.
Partner Xavier Favre-Bulle was appointed by Algeria’s national oil and gas company Sonatrach to sit as arbitrator in a US$1.5 billion ICC arbitration against French engineering group Technip concerning a refinery upgrade.
He was also asked to be presiding arbitrator in a US$125 million ICC case between Eike Batista’s CCX and Turkey’s Yildirim Group over the sale of coal assets in Colombia, but the case settled before a hearing.
Meanwhile partner Harold Frey joined the board of the Swiss Arbitration Association.

Website: www.lenzstaehelin.com
With over 200 lawyers and offices in three major economic centres, Lenz & Staehelin is the largest law firm in Switzerland. Known for its high professional standards, the firm provides its domestic and international clients with a full range of services in the main areas of law. It is ranked amongst the leading practitioners in business law.
Historically, Switzerland has been a preferred center for international arbitration and Lenz & Staehelin has its solid part in that history. Over time, legal disputes and proceedings have become increasingly complex and require the highest level of expertise and sensitive handling. Our experience enables us to provide our clients with the support they need.
Lenz & Staehelin has enjoyed a leading position in international arbitration for a number of decades. Our attorneys have been involved in several hundred international arbitrations, either as counsel for a party or sitting as arbitrators.
Our arbitral practice is involved in institutional arbitration (in particular under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce, the Swiss Chambers’ Arbitration Institution, the London Court of International Arbitration, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ), investment arbitration (International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes), as well as UNCITRAL and ad hoc arbitrations.
The firm’s International Arbitration group includes more than 30 attorneys (in Geneva, Zurich and Lausanne). Most have qualifications from or practical experience in foreign (in particular common law) jurisdictions.
Our work includes:
- State contracts, privatization and investment arbitration
- Joint ventures
- Sales and distribution
- Construction and engineering
- Pharmaceutical industry
- M&A-related disputes
- IP and licensing
- Sports
- General advice on arbitration issues
- Arbitration-related litigation; setting aside proceedings
For more information, please contact any of the partners of the International Arbitration group:
Geneva
Lenz & Staehelin
Route de Chêne 30
CH-1211 Geneva 6
T: +41 58 450 70 00
F: +41 58 450 70 01
Xavier Favre-Bulle
[email protected]
Zurich
Lenz & Staehelin
Brandschenkestrasse 24
CH-8027 Zurich
T: +41 58 450 80 00
F: +41 58 450 80 01
Harold Frey
[email protected]