Arbitration co-counsel

Rory Wheeler
Avocat (Paris)
Solicitor (England)

I am an Avocat at the Paris Bar and a Solicitor in England, with over ten years of experience in arbitration gained in renowned teams in Paris and Geneva. I now focus on collaborating with law firms that wish to add my skillset to their teams temporarily. My roles range from overseeing most aspects of an arbitration to handling specific issues such as jurisdictional objections, points of French and English law, the quantification of damages, or the cross-examination of witnesses and experts.

In parallel, I am trying to gain experience as an arbitrator, having previously acted as an administrative secretary to arbitral tribunals. As a French-educated, native English-speaker, with a solid training in business and finance, I bring together some diverse traits in a rather unique and conflict-free profile.

Case Studies

Arnaud Joubert from Legi Conseils, a law firm in Dijon, needed a co-counsel to represent his French client in an arbitration in Singapore against a Taiwanese company. Together, we developed a strategy resting on Arnaud’s expertise in distribution law and my experience in international arbitration. During the procedure, Arnaud handled the client and the legal theory while reviewing the pleadings and correspondence that I drafted. We secured an award for 95% of the client’s claim and all its costs. Our cooperation continues as we seek to enforce the award in multiple jurisdictions.

Profile

English Français

I’m from a Zimbabwean family that educated me in the French school system, first in Zimbabwe and then in France. From my earliest memories, I have been bilingual in French and English, and at ease in cross-cultural settings. Somewhat predictably, I gravitated toward international law during my studies in France before a year at the University of Cape Town convinced me to pursue a career in arbitration. I qualified as a lawyer in France and as a solicitor in England, notching up ten years of experience alongside first-tier practitioners in Paris and Geneva. To gain a deeper understanding of finance and business, I also did an MBA at INSEAD.

Through the firms I worked at, I have had the good fortune of spanning many sectors. I have arbitration experience in natural resources, pharmaceuticals, aeronautics, automobiles, construction, M&A, distribution, and international trade. Most of my work concerned the EMEA region, with a quarter of it being investment treaty work involving a State or a public entity in Africa.