Press Release - Sep 02, 2019

The firm hires a top-tier Common Law / Civil Law arbitration team in Paris.

September 2, 2019 – ASAFO & CO. is pleased to announce the arrival of Partner Jacob GRIERSON to its Paris office. Jacob’s arrival enhances the Firm’s presence in Paris as part of the commitment to offer clients top-tier disputes capabilities across the entire ASAFO & CO. global platform, including Abidjan, Johannesburg and Casablanca.

Jacob will be joined by Thomas GRANIER (Of Counsel) and a team of associates with significant experience of commercial and investment arbitration and of civil law and common law systems.

Jacob is a dual-qualified English barrister and French avocat with 25 years’ experience of practising law. After five years’ practice at the prestigious One Essex Court chambers in London, he moved to Paris, and has since then practised international arbitration at three leading US law firms. He has acted as counsel in a vast range of international arbitrations, under the rules of the ICC, ICSID, HKIAC and LCIA, and has also acted as arbitrator (sole arbitrator, president and co-arbitrator) in a number of arbitrations. He is the author of “Arbitrating under the 2012 ICC Rules: An Introductory User’s Guide”, published by Kluwer Law International, and is a Council Member of the ICC Institute, a UK delegate to the ICC Commission on Arbitration, the Vice-President of the Casablanca International Mediation and Arbitration Centre (CIMAC) and until recently the Treasurer of the Paris-based Arbitration Academy. Jacob also teaches at several universities, including the College of Europe, which he himself attended as a student.

Thomas is a French avocat having studied in France and Germany. Thomas served as counsel for the Africa, Europe and Middle-East Team at the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris, after having acted as deputy counsel for the Germany, Switzerland, and Austria Team. At the ICC, Thomas supervised more than 300 arbitrations and reviewed hundreds of arbitration awards. Thomas then joined a leading US law firm where he has acted as counsel in a wide array of arbitrations under the rules of the ICC, ICSID, HKIAC, LCIA and UNCITRAL. Thomas has also acted as arbitrator in international arbitrations under the ICC, Delos and UNCITRAL rules. Thomas is one of the founders of Delos Dispute Resolution, an independent arbitration institution established to meet the demands of commercial companies by promoting time and cost efficiency in the resolution of their disputes. He is also a Special Advisor to the Casablanca International Mediation and Arbitration Centre (CIMAC).

Jacob, Thomas and the rest of the team will be resident in ASAFO & CO.’s Paris office but will work closely with lawyers in ASAFO & CO.’s other offices (Abidjan, Johannesburg and Casablanca). Their practice, which has recently focused increasingly on cases involving the African continent, will become even more so upon joining ASAFO & CO.

We are pleased to welcome Jacob and his team to the firm. Arbitration has always been an important part of the legal services that our clients require. I am very pleased that we have found the right team to provide those services. Jacob’s proven track-record as an arbitration lawyer, his understanding of both common law and civil law systems and his ability to plead in both English and French make him the ideal person to lead ASAFO & CO.’s arbitration department. We look forward to forming a winning team to resolve our clients’ disputes on the best possible terms” said Pascal AGBOYIBOR, Managing Partner of ASAFO & CO.

The creation of a world-class law firm dedicated to Africa is a very exciting project and we are delighted to be part of it. In addition, our own practice has been increasingly focused on Africa-related arbitrations, and we are only too happy to strengthen that focus, and to add to our offering new colleagues with such wide and deep knowledge of many African jurisdictions. And, perhaps most importantly, we look forward to working with a group of dynamic, hard-working and like-minded lawyers who share our vision and constantly strive for excellence. The imminent perspective of focused collaboration with leading lawyers in Kenya and Nigeria is also very promising for our common law practice” said Jacob GRIERSON.