Partasides and Petrochilos to join former colleague Jan Paulsson
Breakaway arbitration boutiques are increasingly common but they rarely have the gravitas of the latest entrant, as Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s London international arbitration group head Constantine Partasides last month resigned alongside Paris-based partner Georgios Petrochilos, to form a heavyweight trio alongside former co-arbitration head Jan Paulsson.
Dispute resolution partner Partasides spent ten years practising in the Magic Circle firm’s Paris office before returning to the UK in 2007 to head up its top-tier arbitration team. He is listed as a leading individual in The Legal 500 and recent arbitrations he has led include acting for a telecoms operator in a treaty claim regarding an expropriation of a multibillion-dollar business in North Africa.
Petrochilos, along with Paulsson, has served as adviser to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in connection with the revision of its arbitration rules, and he now represents Greece as a delegate to UNCITRAL.
Paulsson retired last year from Freshfields, having joined in 1989 and had been head of its international arbitration group for around 20 years. As president of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), Paulsson helped Dubai develop its own arbitration centre in 2008.
The breakaway boutique follows other recent disputes spin-offs, including former Shearman & Sterling colleagues Christophe Dugué and William Kirtley, who late last year formed Dugué & Kirtley; and White & Case and Hogan Lovells partners Christophe Seraglini and Jean-Georges Betto, who in November 2012 formed Betto Seraglini.