Two prominent arbitration lawyers have left leading firms to set up a boutique arbitration-only practice in Europe. 

Former Hanotiau & van der Berg partner Niuscha Bassiri and WilmerHale special counsel Maxi Scherer have founded the firm – known as ArbBoutique – alongside two managing counsels and one associate. The firm has offices in London, Paris, Berlin and Brussels, according to its website. 

Speaking to Global Arbitration Review, Bassiri and Scherer said they hoped the firm would develop new ways to practice international arbitration, balancing independent practice with placing “great value on being part of a team”.

They aim to bridge the gap between practising in a law firm or chambers or as a sole arbitrator, which they said “can sometimes be limiting”.

While not an arbitrator-only boutique, the duo having reserved the right to act as co-counsel, the firm will primarily focus on resolving disputes as arbitrators, reflecting their backgrounds and distinguishing them better from former colleagues.  

Scherer is dual qualified in Paris and London and leaves WilmerHale after 20 years, having sat in many prominent ICSID and commercial arbitrations during her time at the firm. She has also combined her practice with academic appointments, including at Queen Mary University, where she has been a professor of international arbitration since 2012. 

At WilmerHale Scherer represented clients and served as an arbitrator or legal expert in more than 140 commercial and investor-state arbitrations. She wrote on LinkedIn: “‍Words cannot express the gratitude I feel towards this team, of which many colleagues and former colleagues (indeed too many to mention) have become friends.”

Meantime Bassiri has spent the past 18 years at Hanotiau, a prominent Belgian disputes boutique, where she worked closely with name partner Albert van den Berg, most notably acting for Russia in its long-running battle over the Yukos arbitration award levied against the Russian state by the Dutch courts.  

She made partner at the firm in 2012 after stints as a judge in Germany and legal practice in London, including at WilmerHale from 2003 to 2006, where she overlapped with Scherer. Like Scherer, she has also held various academic appointments at senior levels, including universities in Geneva, Miami and Singapore.  

Joining ArbBoutique as managing counsel are Ole Jensen and Emily Hay. Jensen is another WilmerHale alumnus and is dual qualified in Germany and London, while Australia-qualified Hay joins from Hanotiau.  

Scherer and Bassiri said the duo represented “the next generation of arbitrators and are future leaders in the profession”. Former ICSID case management associate Pierre Nosewicz completes the founding team, with the two co-founders saying they aimed to attract future arbitrators from diverse backgrounds alongside using artificial intelligence to support their work.  

News of the firm’s launch comes just days after former ICSID secretary general Meg Kinnear launched an independent arbitrator practice with Steptoe’s former head of international arbitration, Lucinda Low.  

Other leading women lawyers choosing to set up as independent arbitrators include Paula Hodges KC, who left Herbert Smith Freehills, and Philippa Charles, who swapped Stewarts for Twenty Essex.