Yves Derains

Practice Areas

International Arbitration

Languages Spoken

French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian.

Career

Yves Derains, founding partner of Derains & Gharavi, is presented by Who’swho Legal 2023 as “one of the most active, responsive and senior arbitrators in the world.” Ranked as “Most in demand arbitrators” in the 2023 editions of Chambers Europe, Chambers Latin America and Chambers Global Market Leaders, he is also praised for his appearance as counsel: “Yves Derains employs his experience acting as both counsel and arbitrator to provide highly valued insight” into cross-border disputes (Chambers Latin America 2020). Market sources comment that he “is a god in the arbitration space,” with renowned experience in commercial and investment arbitration, besides being “completely dedicated to his arbitration practice” (Who’swho Legal 2023).

Yves Derains, who is a former secretary general of the ICC Court, is also honorary Chairman of the ICC Institute of World Business Law, which he chaired between 2010 and 2020. He is also the former president of the Arbitration Court of the Jerusalem Arbitration Centre (JAC) that was created by both Israeli and Palestinian ICC national committees. He was Vice-President of the Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil-Canada (CAM-CCBC).

He has over 40 years’ experience in arbitration. At the time of his departure from the ICC, he joined the Canadian firm Phillips & Vineberg. Shortly afterwards in 1985, he founded Derains Gélinas & Associés, one of the first arbitration firms, which name would change into Derains & Associés in 1994 and eventually become Derains & Gharavi in 2009.

Yves Derains has not ceased to devote himself to the development of international arbitration. He successfully led the revision of the ICC Rules of Arbitration adopted in 1998 and participated in the revision of the Rules of 2012. Yves Derains offers clients a double perspective through his long-standing experience as arbitrator and counsel. His skills are particularly highly regarded in Latin America, where he regularly conducts arbitrations in Spanish and Portuguese.

As former Chairman of the Comité Français de l’Arbitrage, Yves Derains is on the arbitrators’ lists of numerous arbitration institutions and speaks at conferences all over the world. He is co-author of the celebrated work, A Guide to the ICC Rules of Arbitration, 2nd Edition, with Eric Schwartz, Kluwer Law International, 2005, which has become a seminal text on the application and interpretation of the ICC Rules of Arbitration.

Professional Memberships

Honorary Chairman of the ICC Institute of World Business Law

Co-Chairman of the ICC Working Group on the reduction of costs and time in international arbitration

Member of the bureau of the Comité Français de l’Arbitrage

Honorary member of the Sociedad Cubana de Derecho Económico y Financiero y la Sociedad Cubana de Derecho Mercantil de la Unión Nacional de Juristas de Cuba

President of the Arbitration Court of the Jerusalem Arbitration Centre (JAC), created by both Israeli and Palestinian ICC national committees (2014-2016)

Chairman of the Working Party on the Revision of the ICC Rules of Arbitration (1995 – 1997)

Chairman of the Commission on International Commercial Practices of the French National Committee of the ICC (1983 – 1994)

Chairman of the ICC Working Party on Arbitration and Construction Contracts (1980 – 1982)

Former President of the French Branch of the Club Español del Arbitraje

Member of the French Committee on Private International Law (since 1979)

Member of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration

Member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration

Member of the ICC Commission on International Arbitration

Member of the IBA

Education