ArbLit – Radicati di Brozolo Sabatini Benedettelli

Defending ThyssenKrupp against an €8 billion ICC claim filed by Greece

ArbLit was launched by Luca Radicati di Brozolo and Michele Sabatini after they broke away from leading Italian firm Bonelli Erede Pappalardo in 2013. The Milan-based outfit made its debut in the GAR 100 in 2015 and was recognised at the GAR Awards in the same year.

A well-known name in Italy, Radicati di Brozolo is also highly regarded for his expertise in EU and antitrust law. He was head of the competition department at Italy’s Chiomenti Studio Legale in the 1990s, when he also headed the firm’s Brussels office. He joined Bonelli in 2001, later heading its London disputes desk. A door tenant at Fountain Court Chambers in London, he sits as arbitrator at the ICC, ICSID and the LCIA – where he was appointed vice president in 2019 – as well as the Milan Chamber of Arbitration and the Geneva Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In addition, he is chair of private international law at the Catholic University of Milan and a former vice chair of the International Bar Association’s arbitration committee.

Sabatini also sits as arbitrator in ICC cases and the Milan chamber. He is a member of the Milan and New York bars, and has particular expertise in FIDIC disputes. Another name partner is Massimo Benedettelli, who joined in 2014 from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Milan and is a vice president of the ICC Court. He is also an arbitrator and professor of international law.

Marco Torsello, who had been of counsel at the firm since 2014 and heads its Italian litigation team, was made name partner in 2017.

Who uses it?

Telecom Italia, Enel, Tenova, STE Energy, Impresa Pizzarotti and Finmeccanica are among the firm’s major Italian clients, while international names include BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and steelmaker ThyssenKrupp.

In the investment treaty sphere, it has represented European renewable energy investors in six UNCITRAL claims against the Czech Republic relating to the repeal of economic incentives for solar power. ArbLit was brought in by the claimants to replace another firm.

Track record

Together with Quinn Emanuel, ArbLit helped US insurer AmTrust settle a €3 billion dispute with its former Italian business partner in 2016, after disqualifying an arbitrator accused of taking a bribe. Italy’s Supreme Court upheld the challenge in 2017. The firm has also assisted AmTrust in follow-on litigation against the arbitrator.

A team led by Benedettelli scored a victory for Telecom Italia’s Brazilian unit TIM in 2016, helping it defeat a US$150 million ICC claim that concerned allegations of fraud. The dispute related to a merger deal with a prominent Rio de Janeiro businessman.

In the same year, Radicati di Brozolo helped Italian engineering client Consta win a €20 million Permanent Court of Arbitration award against the governments of Djibouti and Ethiopia. The dispute, heard under European Development Fund rules, concerned a deal to renovate a railway between the two states’ capitals. The firm is advising Consta on a potential investment treaty claim against Ethiopia, after the award was annulled by the Ethiopian Supreme Court.

Further back, the firm won favourable jurisdictional rulings in two trailblazing ICSID cases against Argentina, brought on behalf of Italian bondholders affected by the state’s debt default. Although the two cases were later discontinued, the decisions stand as valuable precedents for future treaty claims over sovereign debt.

Recent events

Alongside two other firms, ArbLit continues to defend ThyssenKrupp against an €8 billion ICC claim brought by Greece over projects to replenish its navy’s submarine fleet.

The firm helped Malta-based Star Image settle a €35 million ICC arbitration with Argentine footballer and Juventus striker Paulo Dybala over image rights, a dispute that reportedly scuppered potential moves to English clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.

ArbLit continues to represent Natland Investment Group in a solar claim against the Czech Republic. Natland obtained an award on jurisdiction and liability in 2017 that was upheld by the Swiss courts in 2020. The arbitration is now at the damages phase.

Radicati di Brozolo remains active as an arbitrator. He was on a Paris-seated tribunal that ruled in a dispute between the Peruvian municipality of Lima and a French-owned road concessionaire.

Senior associate Emilio Bettoni joined the leadership team of the Spanish Arbitration Club’s under-40 group.

Client comment

David Saks from AmTrust says ArbLit was “very responsive and had good knowledge of Italian law”. Massimo Benedettelli and Marco Torsello both did a great job, he says.

David Saks from AmTrust says ArbLit was “very responsive and had good knowledge of Italian law”. Massimo Benedettelli and Marco Torsello both did a great job, he says.

Daniel Andreolli, CEO of Consta, says that he was amazed by the firm’s “effective strategic thinking and excellent advocacy”, singling out Sabatini in particular. “I cannot think of any law firm in Italy as well equipped as ArbLit in handling international arbitration proceedings.”