During a ceremony held on January 27 in Lausanne, Philippe Pinsolle, Paris-based partner in Shearman & Sterling’s International Arbitration Group, received the Swiss Arbitration Association’s Prize for “Advocacy in International Commercial Arbitration.”

The ASA Prize for International Commercial Arbitration, established in 2008, promotes the effective resolution of international commercial disputes through arbitration, and rewards “Counsels who, through their exceptional talents in advocacy, contribute most effectively to this objective” (Source: ASA).

Pinsolle has 20 years of experience in international arbitration, both commercial and investor-state. He has acted as counsel in more than 150 international arbitrations. He also acts as an arbitrator in both ad hoc and institutional arbitrations.

Pinsolle joined Shearman & Sterling in 1991 and became a partner in 2001. Leading directories report that clients have described him as being “completely excellent,” and an “outstanding strategist” with a “great tactical sense.”

Highlights of his career include a victory on decommissioning costs in an arbitration between the African subsidiary of a major energy company and an African state in relation to an oil field; several arbitrations for the firm's long-standing client Algerian energy company SONATRACH; the successful representation, alongside partners Emmanuel Gaillard and Yas Banifatemi, of the majority shareholders of former Yukos Oil Company in the jurisdictional phase of their US$103 billion arbitrations against the Russian Federation; and more recently obtaining favorable settlements in various gas price reopening disputes.

Pinsolle is highly regarded in the field and has been repeatedly described as a leading figure of the French arbitration Bar. He lectures on international arbitration at the Institut de Droit des Affaires of the University of Aix-Marseille III, the University of Versailles – Saint-Quentin, and the University of Montpellier. He is Co-editor in Chief of the Paris Journal of International Arbitration / Cahiers de l’arbitrage. He is admitted to practice in Paris and as a Barrister in England & Wales. He is a graduate of French Business school ESSEC, and holds law degrees from Panthéon-Assas University (Paris II) and the University of Oxford (Hertford College).

Emmanuel Gaillard, Managing Partner of Shearman & Sterling Paris and Head of the firm’s International Arbitration global practice, commented: “This is a well deserved award for Philippe, who truly has exceptional talent and skills, which have directly contributed to the reputation of our team over the past 20 years.”

“I am also very pleased that the second ASA prize was awarded to a French lawyer,” adds Gaillard. “The ASA is one of the oldest and most highly regarded arbitration associations. So awarding this prestigious prize to a French lawyer comes to show that with respect to international arbitration advocacy, French lawyers are considered to be among the very best.”