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Michail Risvas PhD

Senior Lead Lawyer
Brussels
About

Well-versed in both common law and civil law as well as EU law and international law, Dr Michail Risvas has more than 12 years of experience in advising private investors, States and State entities in relation to complex and multi-jurisdictional transactions and regulatory questions and acting as counsel before investment treaty and commercial arbitral tribunals and domestic and European Union courts, with a particular focus on banking, finance, insurance, infrastructure, and energy-related matters.

Michail also accepts appointments as arbitrator and is included in several “lists of neutrals” such as the lists of the European Commission for disputes under EU trade agreements, the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA), and Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC).

In addition to his private practice, Michail is a university faculty member since 2018 and currently a tenured assistant professor at a leading UK University, teaching international arbitration, contract law, and tort law. He has taught courses on EU law, international law, and comparative law as a visiting professor in several universities around the world, including in the Netherlands, France, Greece, Spain, Brazil, and Chile. He holds a doctorate and two master’s degrees from the University of Oxford, and he has published several academic articles and a monograph with Oxford University Press on international economic law.

Areas of FocusRegulatory and Government AffairsLitigation, Arbitration and InvestigationsCorporateFinanceFinancial ServicesEnergy and Natural ResourcesInsuranceInfrastructure, Construction and TransportHealthcare
Professional QualificationsDikegóros admitted with the Dikegorikos Syllogos AthenonBarrister in England and Wales

EXPERIENCE

  • Representing Hellenic Post SA before the European Commission in Brussels in several pending State aid cases.
  • Advising on negotiating and drafting a Joint Venture Shareholders Agreement between a State power company and private company.
  • Advising buyers on complex international transactions (including on the negotiation and drafting of Share and Asset Agreements in different industries such as the tourism, health, and water industries).
  • Represented a leading energy, industrial and metal company in an investment treaty arbitration against a Balkan State. *
  • Represented the shareholders of a systemic bank in an over EUR1bn ICSID arbitration in the context of the Global financial crisis against an EU Member State. *
  • Represented a leading aircraft manufacturer in an ICC arbitration in the defence sector against a State. * 
  • Represented a major gaming company in an LCIA arbitration against a state entity. *

 

* matters handled prior to joining DLA Piper

Languages
  • English
  • Greek
  • French
Education
  • University of Oxford, Faculty of Law & Balliol College (Academy of Athens scholar, Volterra Fietta scholar), DPhil (PhD), 2017
  • University of Oxford, Faculty of Law & Balliol College, Master of Philosophy, 2013
  • University of Oxford, Faculty of Law & Balliol College, Master of Jurisprudence (distinction), 2011
  • University of Athens, Faculty of Law

Publications and media

  • Non-discrimination in International Investment Arbitration (book published in the "International Arbitration" series of Oxford University Press, 2023)
  • (with Professor Stephan Schill, Stephan) "Re-thinking the Role of Domestic Law in International Adjudication" (2024) 23(1) The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals, 73-82
  • "International law as the basis for extending arbitration agreements concluded by States or State Entities to non-signatories" (2022) 71(1) International and Comparative Law Quarterly 183-209
  • "Underwater Cultural Heritage in Africa and Questions of Immunity, State Ownership and Succession" (2020) 35(2) The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, 264-294

Seminars

  • Assistant Professor (Lecturer), University of Southampton, Law School

Prior Experience

  • Founding Partner in a Greek boutique law firm, 2018-2024
  • Associate in a leading international arbitration firm, Paris, 2013-2018

Memberships and Affiliations

  • Greece, Lawyer (Dikegóros, registered with the Athens Bar Association) at Court of First Instance in Athens Bar Association (2012, higher audience rights in 2018) 
  • England and Wales, Barrister (called at Middle Temple), 2023
  • France, Paris (passed the exam of Article 99 of the Decree of 27 November 1991), 2018

My latest insights

Publication
Paris_Office_Building_P_1054

A closer look at the EU Banking Package

27 November 2024 .9 minute read

Connect

Phone

+32 2500 16 10
(Work, Brussels)
+32 495 24 98 10
(Mobile, Brussels)
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