The webinar jointly organized by I-ARB Africa and Delos on “Demystifying African Seats: A Look into Algeria, The Gambia & Mauritius”, took place on Wednesday, 8 December. The speakers were Loubna Farage, Alejandra Lapunzina, Peter Muliisa, Dr Jamsheed Peeroo, Mourad Seghir and Leyou Tameru. Their short bios are available below.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS
Loubna Farage is a lawyer with growing reputation in The Gambia and overseas. She has been representing international investors for more than 10 years. Her representation includes a wide variety of commercial contracts, advice on compliance with local laws and application of international standards of practice in various fields. She is knowledgeable in petroleum, mining and maritime law. She also provides services in general transactions, civil and criminal litigation including administrative proceeding and representation in International Arbitration disputes. Loubna Farage studied law at the University of Leeds and undertook her bar vocational course (BVC) at the BPP Law School in London. She is a member of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn and was elected the President of the Gambia Bar Association in January 2013.
Alejandra Lapunzina is Deputy Editor of the Delos Guide to Arbitration Places (GAP). Alejandra is an in-house counsel formerly associate at an international arbitration boutique in Paris. Her practice includes both international commercial and international investment arbitration in English, Spanish and French. She has trained at leading law firms and boutiques in Paris and Buenos Aires and worked as a teaching assistant in International Economic Law at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. She holds a Masters’ degree in Global Business Law and Governance from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Columbia Law School and the Ecole de Droit de Sciences Po, and is admitted to the Paris Bar.
Peter Muliisa started his career as a magistrate and thereafter spent 11 years in the litigation office of Uganda Revenue Authority. He is an enrolled advocate in Uganda, a member of the Uganda Law Society and East African Law Society. Peter has appeared in all courts in Uganda and handled most of the key tax decisions in the last eleven years. He is interested in arbitration and has been involved in three arbitration matters as counsel and speaks at arbitration conferences. Peter holds an LLB from Makerere University, a Diploma in Legal practice from the Law Development Centre and an LLM in petroleum taxation and Finance from the University of Dundee. Peter’s areas of interest are corporate governance, project finance, negotiations, taxation, litigation and arbitration.
Dr Jamsheed Peeroo is an arbitrator, an arbitration counsel and a dual-qualified barrister practising at the Bar of England and Wales and at the Mauritian Bar. He also has full rights of audience before DIFC Courts. His practice focusses on international commercial and investor-State arbitration, on complex commercial and corporate cross-border litigation and on arbitration-related court proceedings. Over the years, Jamsheed has worked on a wide range of high-profile matters, often relating to or within the African and Asian continents, in various sectors and areas including infrastructure, offshore corporations and trusts, mergers and acquisitions, hotel and tourism, shipping and fisheries, insurance, construction, telecoms and IT, technology products, renewable energy and mining.
Mourad Seghir is the Partner in charge of the Algiers office of Bennani & Associes. Mourad received his LL.M. Degree (Master of Laws) from Northwestern University School of Law (Chicago, USA). Mourad is admitted to the New York bar and has spent a substantial part of his career with Ghellal & Mekerba in Algiers. Mourad is particularly knowledgable with respect to the Algerian law and practice related to foreign investments, joint venture, M&A, public and private contracts, exchange control regulation, labor law, and infrastrucute projects.
Leyou Tameru is the founder of I-Arb Africa, Africa’s online international arbitration hub. She is an arbitration expert and regularly consults on international arbitration projects. Ms. Tameru previously worked with international private and government organizations including Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, DLA Piper, the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the African Union. She is experienced in private sector development, international arbitration and youth empowerment in Africa. Ms. Tameru has law degrees from Addis Ababa University and Georgetown University.
