Monique Sasson
Of Counsel
Via delle Belle Arti, 7
00196 Rome
+39 06 877 62 800
Via Tortona, 33
20144 Milan
+39 02 928 52 614
sasson@drlaw.it
Monique Sasson has more than twenty years of experience in analyzing international disputes. She is qualified as a New York attorney, an English solicitor, and an Italian avvocato, and she has worked at three major law firms in London, Milan, and Rome.
Monique returned to her home jurisdiction in 2017 after practising in New York and London.
While in New York, she was on the JAMS International List of Arbitrators and Mediators and successfully mediated a commercial engineering dispute between an Italian manufacturer and its U.S. distributor (case filed in federal court, North Carolina). She was also involved in mediation of other disputes connected with U.S. state courts.
While in London, Monique worked as counsel on major international arbitration High Court cases as a member of the Herbert Smith law firm’s international disputes group.
Monique has particular expertise in international investment law. She holds a Ph.D. in international law from Cambridge University, where she was a student of James Crawford, now a judge on the International Court of Justice.
Representative matters
- Representing a major U.S. oil and gas company in an ICC arbitration arising from an M&A dispute (Italian Law, Rome seat).
- Advising a major U.K. oil and gas company in an enforcement of an arbitration award in the Italian courts.
- Representing an Israeli company in an ICC arbitration against a Swiss supplier (English Law, London seat).
- Representing a Korean Company in an LCIA arbitration arising from a joint venture dispute (Ukrainian Law, London seat).
- Representing Vodafone in an LCIA arbitration against a Spanish company concerning a violation of a merger undertaking (E.U. Law, London seat).
- Representing Standard Chartered Bank in an ICC arbitration against a Lebanese company concerning breach of a sale and purchase agreement (French Law, Lausanne seat).
- Representing a French company against a U.S. distributor in an LCIA arbitration (UNIDROIT, London seat).
- Representing a U.S. oil and gas company in an ad hoc arbitration against a Chinese subcontractor (English Law, London seat).
- Advising on the applicability of Bilateral Investment Treaties and the European Convention of Human Rights.
- Advising a major financial institution on a multi-jurisdictional dispute arising out of the insolvency of a major Italian company.
- Advising and representing companies in the High Court, London: IFAD v Jazaheri (fraud) (Chancery); ISC Technologies v Hartley (fraud) (Chancery); Banca Carige v Banco Central de Cuba and Banco Nacional de Cuba (State immunity) (Chancery); and ESEIL & RIL v Mitchell (shareholders/directors dispute) (Chancery).
- Advising and representing companies before Italian Courts of First Instance and Courts of Appeal concerning mortgages and foreign exchange issues.
- CEAC v. Montenegro, ICSID No. ARB/14/8.
Academic Activities
Washington College of Law, American University
Adjunct Lecturer in International Arbitration.
Books
- Substantive Law in Investment Treaty Arbitration: The Unsettled Relationship of International and Municipal Law, Kluwer Law International, second edition, 2017.
- Substantive Law in Investment Treaty Arbitration: The Unsettled Relationship of International and Municipal Law, Kluwer Law International, 2010.
Articles and Book Chapters
- Mandatory Law: International Commercial and Investment Treaty Arbitration, in Cambridge Compendium of International Commercial and Investment Arbitration, Cambridge, 2020 (forthcoming).
- Historical Background, in International Investment Arbitration in a Nutshell, edited by Ferrari F., King D.B., West Academic Publishing, 2020.
- Investment, ibid.
- Procedure, ibid.
- Chapter 7 (Arts. 62 and 63: Place of Proceedings, in The ICSID Convention, Regulations and Rules: A Practical Commentary, edited by Fouret J., Gerbay R., Alvarez G.M., Hart, 2019, p. 803-819.
- Inherent Power of Arbitrators to Exclude Counsel?, in Inherent Powers of Arbitrators, edited by Ferrari F., Rosenfeld F., Juris, 2019, p.85-104.
- The Emergence of Human Rights Protection in Investment Treaty Arbitration, in 22 The Vindobona Journal of International Commercial Law and Arbitration, 2018, p.81-95.
- The Applicable Law and the ICSID Convention, in ICSID Convention after 50 Years: Unsettled Issues, edited by Baltag C., Kluwer, 2017, p. 273-300.
- Court Review of Arbitral Tribunals’ Jurisdictional Decisions, in 9 NYSBA, New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer, 2016, p. 54-57.
- Investment Arbitration: Procedure, in International Investment Law, edited by Bungenberg M., Griebel J., Hobe S., Reinisch A., C.H. Beck-Hart-Nomos, 2015, p. 1288-1372.
- Review: The History of ICSID by Antonio Parra, in 107 American Journal of International Law, 2013, p. 980-984.
- The Recent ‘Reform’ of the Italian Civil Procedure Chapter on Arbitration, in International Arbitration Law Review, 2007, p. 1-6.
Talks & Interviews
- Panel presenter. 15th Annual Generations in Arbitration Conference, Session on The Emergence of Human Rights Protection in Investment Treaty Arbitration, Vienna, Austria, March 2018.
- Panel debater. Annual Conference of the German American Lawyers’ Association (Deutsch- Amerikanische Juristenvereinigung), Session on Investment Arbitration, TTIP and NAFTA after the US/German Elections: Perspectives from Both Sides of the Atlantic in Times of Turmoil. Frankfurt, Germany, March 2018.
- Panel presenter. Conference on Soft Law in International Commercial Arbitration. IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration and Disclosure of Third-Party Funders. Organized by the Italian Association for Arbitration, Milan Chamber of Arbitration and the International Law Association, Rome, Italy, February 2018.
- Panel presenter. Conference on Inherent Powers in International Adjudication. Inherent Power of Arbitrators to Exclude Counsel. Organized by NYU and Sciences Po, Paris, France, November 2017.
- Lecturer. NYU Transnational Litigation Conference. Lecture on Jurisdiction and Admissibility in International Arbitration, March 2014.
- Panel presenter. Conference on Inherent Powers and Human Rights in Investment Arbitration. Organized by the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, Houston, Texas, February 2014.
- Panel debater. ICSID-ICC-AAA Colloquium, Session on Dissenting Opinions in International Arbitration. Washington, D.C., October 2012.
Education & Languages
Bar Admissions & Memberships
Rome, Italy (1997)
England and Wales, Solicitor, Senior Courts of England and Wales (2001)
England and Wales, Solicitor Advocate (Higher Rights of Audience) (2004)
New York, U.S. (2012)
Milan, Italy (2018)
- Financial Market Law Committee’s Working Group on the proposed Rome I Regulation
- New York City Bar Arbitration Committee (NYCBA)
- Italian Association for Arbitration (AIA)
- London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA)
- Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA) – Executive Committee.