Laurence Ponty specialises in international arbitration, cross-border disputes, asset recovery and enforcement.
Laurence has been involved in a number of complex international proceedings in the energy, construction, real estate, engineering, telecommunications and services sectors, under the main arbitration rules. She also has experience in large cross-border litigations, including asset recovery and enforcement proceedings.
She is an active member of several professional associations. She is, among others, a member of the Executive Committee of the Russian and CIS Arbitration Network (RCAN) and the President of the Legal & Tax Chapter of the Joint Chamber of Commerce Switzerland-CIS countries (JCC).
Prior to joining the firm, she practiced international arbitration at Lalive in Geneva (2013-2018) and worked as Counsel at the Secretariat of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), where she administered over 150 arbitration proceedings, with a particular focus on CIS-related matters (2010-2013). She also practiced international arbitration, litigation and business law as an associate with Bonnard Lawson in Geneva (2006-2010).
Laurence is a dual qualified lawyer (France and England & Wales) and is registered to practice in Geneva. She holds a Master in International Commercial Law from the University of Paris I Panthéon – Sorbonne (2003), as well as a Master’s degree in French Business Law and a postgraduate diploma in Russian Law from the French-Russian program of the University Paris X Nanterre (2002).
Laurence practices in French and English and has a good command of Russian.
Laurence [...] is a remarkable strategist. Smart, pragmatic and trustworthy, with trilingualism destined to make her a key lawyer in the Russian-speaking arbitration market.
Laurence is a very bright lawyer, extremely responsive and engaged, with remarkable experience in international arbitration
Rising star with experience in Russia and wider CIS disputes
Practice areas
- International arbitration
- Cross-border disputes
- Asset recovery and enforcement
- International contracts
Recent projects
- Representing a Moroccan company in a procurement related dispute against a French company (ICC Rules, Paris seat, French law)
- Advising an African State in a telecommunication dispute against African and off-shore companies (ICC Rules, Geneva seat, Swiss law)
- Representing a European-based client in a treaty claim dispute against an African State
- Representing Swiss-based clients in a construction dispute (ad hoc arbitration & Swiss Courts, Swiss law)
- Representing Cyprus-based clients in injunction enforcement proceedings in Switzerland
- Representing a CIS athlete in whereabouts failures disciplinary proceedings
- Representing an Eastern European State in a complex investment arbitration against an Italian real estate developer (UNCITRAL Rules, London seat)
- Acting as sole arbitrator in a trading dispute between a Swiss company and UAE and Indian entities (Swiss Rules, Swiss law, Geneva seat)
- Acting as sole arbitrator in a maritime construction dispute between two Swiss companies and a Polish company (ICC Rules, Swiss law, Geneva seat)
- Acting as sole arbitrator in a dispute arising out of loan agreements between a Russian company and a Dutch company (Swiss Rules, Russian law, Geneva seat)
Conferences
- Arbitration and the Belt & Road Initiative, RCAN / JCC Legal & Tax Chapter / CCIG webinar (October 2020)
- Debt Collection and Enforcement of Foreign Judgements and Arbitral Awards in Switzerland, Centre Européen de Coopération Juridique (CECJ) training webinar (July 2020)
- Show me the money! Are offshore jurisdictions just a hiding place for ill-gotten money or the vanguards of the industry?, FIRE Russia, FSU & CEE webinar (July 2020)
- COVID-19 Business Challenges and Support Measures in Eastern Europe (non-EU), Central Asia and the South Caucasus, JCC Russian / Legal & Tax Chapters Webinar in partnership with Switzerland Global Enterprise (May 2020)
- Cross-border investments in viticultural land and wineries, AIDV/IWLA Conference (Lausanne, July 2019)
- La boîte à outils du jeune arbitre, CFA-40 Table d’Adrien (Paris, June 2019)
- Arbitrating CIS-Georgia-Ukraine-Related Disputes: Recent Developments, Future Prospects, JCC Legal & Tax Chapter Event (Zurich, May 2019)
- The LCIA and the LCIA Rules”, Swiss Arbitration Academy, CAS in Arbitration – Institutions Day (Neuchâtel, April 2019)
- Arbitrage : une vision comparative des règlements et de l’administration des procédures par les institutions, Conférence arabe pour l’investissement et le développement (Charm el-Sheikh, April 2019)
- CIS-related disputes from the Western European perspective, DIS40 Conference on Dispute Resolution in CIS-Related Business Transactions (Frankfurt, February 2019)
- The 2018 legislative reforms in the CIS countries and the 2019 perspectives, Glancing Back and Looking Ahead: 2018 Lessons and 2019 Trends – Sanctions, Business, Compliance, JCC (Zurich, December 2018)
- GO EAST! Your business Project in the CIS – The Legal Aspects, SABE/JCC/RCAN (Geneva, October 2018)
- Litigation and Arbitration Third Party Funding, C5’s 6th Annual Conference on International Dispute Resolution involving Russian and CIS Parties (London, January 2017)
- What should an effective arbitration agreement look like?, BRLA Seminar on International Arbitration in Russia-related disputes (Ekaterinburg, July 2016)
Publications
- The Protection of Foreign Investment in the Wine Sector (Chapter 10), co-authored with Baptiste Rigaudeau and Jean-Robin Costargent (Wine Law and Policy, From National Terroirs to a Global Market, Brill | Nijhoff, ed. J. Chaisse, F. Dias Simões, D. Friedmann, November 2020)
- Compatibility, Novelty, Practical Corollary? A Collective Analysis of the Prague Rules, co-authored with Vladimir Khvalei, Juan Pablo Valdivia Pizarro, Andreea I. Nica and Maria Teder (Young ICCA Blog, May 2019)
- Views from the Continent, co-authored with Rémy Gerbay (LCIA Perspectives, 9th contribution, 2018)
- Key features of the LCIA Arbitration Rules (ASA Bulletin, Vol. 32 No. 4, 2014)
Professional affiliations
- Geneva Bar Association, Commission of Lawyers from Foreign Bars (CABE)
- Joint Chamber of Commerce Switzerland-CIS countries, Ukraine, Georgia & Afghanistan (JCC), Board Member and President of the Legal & Tax Chapter
- Russian and CIS Arbitration Network (RCAN), Member of the Executive Committee
- Thought Leaders 4, Member of FIRE Starter Switzerland Committee
- Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA)
- Comité français de l’arbitrage (CFA)
- Russian Arbitration Association (RAA), Member of the Working Group on the Impact of Sanctions on Arbitration
- British-Russian Law Association (BRLA)
- International Wine Law Association (IWLA)
