Shaparak Saleh

Shaparak is a partner in the Three Crowns’ Paris office. She has acted as counsel for two decades in a large number of commercial arbitrations, both ad hoc and institutional, including under the DIAC, ICC, IEMA, LCIA, UNCITRAL, and VIAC rules. Her experience includes post-M&A disputes and disputes in the aeronautics, chemicals, construction, energy, food, mining, pharmaceutical, space and telecommunications sectors, relating to projects in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.

She has represented a wide range of clients, including States, State entities, major international oil, gas, and mining companies, leading construction groups, an aircraft manufacturer, and electricity companies.

Shaparak regularly sits as arbitrator, including as chairperson. In addition, she has broad experience in pre-arbitration and post-arbitration litigation before the French courts, having represented clients in approximately 25 set-aside proceedings. She was also involved in enforcement proceedings of numerous awards against sovereign States.

Shaparak is listed in the major international rankings. She is notably recognised as a Global Thought leader and a Thought leader for France for arbitration in the Lexology Index. She is also featured in Chambers Global and named a Next Generation Partner in The Legal 500. Global Arbitration Review also listed her as one of the world’s top 45 arbitration lawyers under 45.

In 2024, Shaparak was appointed as Delegate to the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, comprising experts in the field of international dispute resolution. For the past 15 years, Shaparak has been a lecturer in international arbitration, teaching courses on enforcement proceedings at a number of prominent universities, such as Sciences Po Paris, Paris II – Panthéon-Assas and Aix-Marseille University. She is admitted in Paris and speaks French, English, Italian, and Persian.

Selected Experience

· Obtaining a complete victory on behalf of a leading Malaysia-based independent water and power producer and its French subsidiary in defeating a €400 million claim under a shareholders’ agreement and a sale and purchase agreement governed by Algerian law against an Algerian state-owned entity (ICC, Algerian law, seat in Paris)

·  Representing French construction groups in several disputes against the owners of the projects (ICC and AFA, French law, seats in Paris)

·  Successfully representing Algeria-based developer in an arbitration against a Turkish construction group of companies in relation to the termination of a contract for the construction of a mixed-used construction project, comprising a business centre (offices and conference rooms), a mall, a hotel and several parking lots in Algeria (ICC, French and Algerian law, seat in Brussels)

·  Representing an international mining company in a French language ICC arbitration, brought by a West-African State arising from a settlement agreement pertaining to the development of a mining extraction and production complex (ICC, French and West-African State law, seat in Paris)

·  Representing Mr and Ms Garcia, two dual nationals from Spain and Venezuela in multiple annulment proceedings currently pending before the French courts. In the underlying arbitration, Mr and Ms Garcia pursued a USD billion-plus UNCITRAL claim against Venezuela under the Spain-Venezuela bilateral investment treaty, seeking compensation for state measures affecting their investments in food import and distribution companies. This was a landmark case in which the French courts ruled on whether a jurisdictional objection could be founded on the investors’ dual nationality.