Niuscha Bassiri

Partner - Admitted in Cologne and registered in Brussels

niuscha.bassiri@hvdb.com T: +32 (0)2 290 39 00 F: +32 (0)2 290 39 39

Niuscha Bassiri – Matters as Arbitrator Mediator

For more than two decades, Ms. Niuscha Bassiri has acted as arbitrator and counsel in numerous international arbitrations under the major arbitral institutions and arbitration rules (CEPANI, DIFC-LCIA, DIS, ICC, LCIA, NAI, Swiss Rules, SCC, SIAC, UNCITRAL, VIAC), including ad hoc.

The arbitrations and mediations in which Ms. Bassiri has been involved concern State-entities and private entities alike, spanning a multitude of sectors such as banking, construction, energy, entertainment, finance, food and beverage, highways, infrastructure, insurance, luxury and leisure, maritime equipment, metallurgical industry, mining, nuclear power plants, oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, railways, real estate, satellites, solar power plants, steel, telecommunication, third-party funding, transportation, watches, wind parks and yachts and relating to diverse legal issues including corruption, distributorship, investment, joint ventures, licensing, patents, post-M&A, sales of goods and shareholding.

Ms. Bassiri’s matters have been conducted at various seats, governed by a variety of substantive and procedural laws (including those of Austria, Belgium, England and Wales, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Iran, Jersey, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Netherlands, New York, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland and UAE).

Ms. Bassiri’s training as a District Court and Court of Appeal judge in Germany gives her relevant insight into the judicial approach. Her diverse and vast experience has led her to become a sought-after strategic adviser on setting-aside and enforcement matters, in particular under the New York Convention regime. Ms. Bassiri appears as counsel before EU Member State courts representing commercial clients as well as sovereign States. Currently, she is a member of the team representing the Republic of India in the Devas setting aside and revocation proceedings in the Netherlands. As a mediator, Ms. Bassiri has successfully concluded an ICC mediation in an international post-M&A matter.

Ms. Bassiri is a member of the faculty of the University of Miami White & Case International Arbitration LLM program. She was a Visiting Senior Fellow at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law and a guest lecturer in the Geneva LLM in International Dispute Settlement (MIDS) program. She co-lectured the first English-language course in the master’s program of the ICHEC Business and Management School in Brussels on International Commercial Law and Dispute. She has given lectures at the ICC’s ePIDA Training on International Commercial Arbitration in 2020. Since 2020, Ms. Bassiri has been a faculty member of the CIArb’s Virtual Diploma on International Commercial Arbitration program. In 2023-2024, she is sharing her expertise as the Co-Chair and faculty member of the ICC Advanced Arbitration Academy for Eastern Europe. Ms. Bassiri is also the Chair and faculty member of the Delos Dispute Resolution’s Writing Awards Course. As a member of the ICC Task Force Addressing Issues of Corruption in International Arbitration, she is a Co-coordinator of one of the tracks, focusing on the use of AI for detecting red flags.

Ms. Bassiri regularly speaks at leading conferences and seminars on international arbitration. She publishes widely on topics such as efficiency in investment arbitration, arbitrators’ nationality, EU consumer law and arbitration, enforcement of awards rendered in ODR, default arbitration proceedings, institutional rules’ nationality requirements and arbitrators and their online identity. Ms. Bassiri is the co-editor and author of various landmark books, amongst them International Arbitration and the COVID-19 Revolution, as well as Arbitration in Belgium, the sole English-language commentary on the Belgian arbitration law. Ms. Bassiri is also a co-author in the leading German language commentary on the ICC and DIS Rules, now on its second edition. Amongst others, she has led the task force on the Young ICCA Guide on Arbitral Secretaries and translated from English into German ICCA’s Guide to the Interpretation of the 1958 New York Convention.

Ms. Bassiri is listed in various panels and lists of arbitrators, including the Abu Dhabi International Arbitration Centre, ASA (Swiss Arbitration Association), BVI International Arbitration Centre, CEPANI (Belgian Center for Arbitration and Mediation), DIS (German Arbitration Institute), India International Arbitration Centre, LCIA (London Court of International Arbitration), NAI (Netherlands Arbitration Institute), SIAC (Singapore International Arbitration Centre, and Tehran Regional Arbitration Center, and in many arbitration directories.

Ms. Bassiri has received many professional accolades, recognising her as one of the best in international arbitration including Who’s Who Legal—Arbitration, Who’s Who Legal—Thought Leaders, Legal 500 Arbitration Powerlist, Expert Guides Women in Business Law—Arbitration, GAR 100, among others. Since 2014, she has been praised in Who’s Who Legal—Arbitration. Already in 2016, she was ranked in the top 20 practitioners worldwide by WWL: Future Leaders – Arbitration, described by peers and clients as an “extremely sharp arbitrator and counsel”, which followed by praising her “clever and sophisticated advocacy”. Since 2018, Who’s Who Legal—Arbitration has acknowledged Ms. Bassiri as a Thought Leader and Global Leader. Over the years, peers and clients commented on her being “super-organised and insightful”, as well as “extremely knowledgeable in investment arbitration”.

The arbitration community acknowledged Ms. Bassiri’s arbitrator career by describing her as an “elegant and skillful arbitrator” who has deep “experience in international commercial arbitration and construction” disputes and is an “excellent arbitrator; top speaker and extremely knowledgeable in investment arbitration”. Ms. Bassiri continues to be “[h]ighly recommended for her leading investment and commercial arbitration expertise” and has been described as a “very smart and hard-working lawyer” and a “brilliant arbitrator”, who is “sharp, quick and attentive to details”, “has an abundance of hands-on experience” and “excellent experience in investment arbitration and energy-related disputes”. Who’s Who Legal—Arbitration 2024 states that “Ms. Bassiri is able to handle tricky situations as arbitrator with finesse and sound judgment” and that she is “very experienced in investment arbitration”. Observers of her work also state that “her skills as an arbitrator are so polished she shines.”