Homayoon Arfazadeh leads valfor's arbitration practice with 35 years of experience in international arbitration and has been involved in more than a 170 cases in Geneva, Paris, New York, the Middle and Far East. He is an active member of Swiss and NY bars, was a member of the ICC arbitration commission from 2008 to 2024 and past vice-president of ICC Switzerland's commission of Arbitration and ADR.
He is a former member of the International Court of Arbitration of the Swiss Arbitration Centre (2016-2022), and has acted as counsel and arbitrator under various institutional rules including ICSID and various BITs. He has published extensively and has been a visiting lecturer at the Geneva Institute of International Studies and a scholar at the New York University.
He also represents clients in complex cross-border criminal, white collar crime, bankruptcy, international sanctions and compliance cases in Switzerland and in New York, and regularly assists clients in M&A, joint-venture and IT negotiations.
Location
Geneva
Rue Jacques-Balmat 5
P.O. Box 1203
1211 Geneva 1 Switzerland +41 58 220 36 00 Contact email hidden; JavaScript is required Assistant email hidden; JavaScript is required
1211 Geneva 1 Switzerland +41 58 220 36 00 Contact email hidden; JavaScript is required Assistant email hidden; JavaScript is required
Languages
- English
- French
- Persian
Experience
| Since 2024 | Partner, valfor |
| 1993–2024 | Partner, PYTHON |
| 2007–2008 | Lecturer, Graduate Institute of International Studies, Development and Globalization, Geneva |
| 2006 | Rapporteur, International conference on “Managing Commercial Dispute Resolution Centres”, Chamonix |
| 1999–2006 | Consultant, rapporteur and drafter, WTO/UNCTAD International Trade Centre, Geneva |
| 2004 | Drafter of Model Law, “National Export Councils” |
| 1999–2003 | Member of Drafting Committee on Model contracts on international Joint Ventures and international Sale of goods |
| 2001–2002 | Visiting Scholar, NY International Justice and Moral Philosophy, New York University School of Law, New York |
| 1991–1995 | Legal Counsel, Regional Center for Arbitration, Kuala Lumpur |
| 1987–1992 | Lecturer and Assistant, University of Geneva School of Law, Geneva |
| 1991 | Internship, ICC Court of International Arbitration, Paris |
| 1991 | Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee, New Delhi |
| 1990 | Internships and Short Assignments, Iran-US Claims Tribunal, The Hague, Netherlands |
| 2004 | Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva (Ph.D., 2004) |
| 2001 | New York University School of Law, New York |
| 1990–1991 | Swiss National Research Fund |
| 1983–1987 | University of Geneva School of Law |
- List of International Arbitrators of major international arbitration institutions
- Geneva and Swiss Bar Associations
- New York Bar Association
- Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA)
- Comité Français de l’Arbitrage (CFA)
- London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA)
- A Practitioner’s Approach to Interest Claims under Sharia law in International Arbitration, in Interest, Auxiliary and Alternative Remedies in International Arbitration, Ed. Filip De Ly and Laurent Levy, Dossier of the ICC Institute of World Business Law, 2008, pp. 211 ff
- Ordre public et arbitrage international à l’épreuve de la mondialisation. Une théorie critique des sources du droit des relations transnationales, Schulthess-Zurich, LGDJ-Paris, Bruylant-Bruxelles, 2005, 351 pages. Second Edition appeared in December 2006
- In the shadow of the “”unruly horse””: International Arbitration of the Public Policy Exception, in American review of international arbitration, 2004 special edition, 50th anniversary of the Institute of Judicial Administration of New York University, pp.43 ff Iran: la Médiation Européenne ou le Dangereux Engrenage, Le Temps, 5 mai 2006, p. 1 et 17
- Draft Model Enactment (Model Law) on National Export Council, including article by article commentary and recommendations concerning by-laws, International Trade Centre, WTO/UNCTAD Executive Forum, Montreux, September 2004
- Israel’s Best Bet: True Justice or International Law?, RSDIE 2002, no. 4, pp. 479 ff Considérations pragmatiques sur la compétence respective de l’Arbitre et du Juge en matière de contrats de corruption, Bulletin ASA 2001, no. 4, pp. 672 ff
- Arbitrability under the 1958 New York Convention: the lex fori revisited, Journal of the London Court of International Arbitration, Vol. 17, no. 1, 2001, pp. 73 ff
- Actionnariat responsable et état de droit international, in: Ateliers pour la pratique du droit international public et du droit international humanitaire, Institut Henri Dunant, Genève, Audio, éd. Bibliothèque publique d’information, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 1998 Juge d’appui et for de nécessité, Bulletin ASA 1996, no.2, pp. 325 ff. Costs under UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules and their Adaptation to an Institutional Setting, in: ASA Conference Papers, Zurich 1997
- Costs under UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules and their Adaptation to an institutional Setting, in Swiss Arbitration Association Conference Papers, Zurich, Jan. 1997 L’ordre public du fond et l’annulation de sentences arbitrales internationales en Suisse, RSDIE 1995, pp. 245 ff
- Settlement of international trade disputes in South East Asia: The experience of the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration, The Malaysian law Journal cxxii, Singapore 1992
- New perspective in South East Asia and Delocalised Arbitration in Kuala Lumpur, Journal of International Arbitration, Vol. 8, no. 4, p. 104, 1991