Séréna Salem

Selected commercial / construction matters

• Representation of an Australian mining company and its subsidiaries in a USD9bn dispute against a Congolese State-owned entity in two French language ICC arbitrations seated in Paris regarding a shareholders dispute (subject to DRC law).
• Representation of a global leader in security services in an ICC arbitration in the context of dispute arising from a management buy-out of its activities in Morocco (subject to French law).
• Representation of a UAE company in a USD600m dispute against the contractor in an English language LCIA arbitration seated in Dubai (subject to laws of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the Federal Laws of the United Arab Emirates).
• Representation of Technip France SAS, a leading engineering and construction company in the energy industry, in an over USD3.7bn, French language ICC arbitration seated in Geneva against Sonatrach and related to the cancellation of an EPC contract to expand and upgrade the Algiers refinery (subject to Algerian law).
• Representation of the North African branch of a State-owned Chinese construction company against its North African subcontractor in the context of a solar power project in an English language ICC arbitration seated in Casablanca, Morocco (subject to Moroccan law).
• Representation of a French company in an ICC arbitration seated in Geneva and parallel settlement discussions against an US based company in relation to the execution of a contract entered into for the purposes of a major construction project in Saudi Arabia (subject to Swiss law).
• Representation of the Congolese branch of an international telecom company against its Congolese sub-contractor, in an ICC mediation and arbitration (subject to Congolese law).
• Representation of a German global supplier of custom value-added food products in an arbitration against a French supplier in a French language CAREN arbitration (subject to French law).
• Representation of a French radiology lab in ad hoc proceedings initiated against a doctor stemming from a MoU between the two parties (subject to French law, ex aequo et bono).

Selected public international law matters

• Representation of the claimant in M. Hasanov v. Georgia, an ICSID arbitration brought pursuant to the Azerbaijan-Georgia bilateral investment treaty.
• Representation of the claimants in De Sutter et al. v. Republic of Madagascar, an ICSID arbitration brought pursuant to the Belgium/Luxembourg-Madagascar bilateral investment treaty and representation of the respondents in the subsequent annulment proceedings brought by the Republic of Madagascar, against the award rendered in favor of the claimants in the underlying De Sutter et al. v. Republic of Madagascar dispute.
• Representation of a French national in pre-arbitration negotiations against a West African State in relation to a potential investment claim arising out of the host State’s investment code.

Selected matters before the French national courts

• Representation of an UAE company against the Central Bank of Iraq in proceedings initiated by the latter before the Court of Appeal of Paris and the Cour de cassation, where the Central Bank of Iraq sought the annulment of an ICC commercial arbitration award and challenged its enforcement.
• Representation of the Republic of Moldova in proceedings before the Court of Appeal of Paris, the Cour de cassation, and before the ECJ in support of a petition for the annulment of an investment arbitration award issued pursuant to the Energy Charter Treaty.
• Representation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in proceedings before the Court of Appeal of Paris and the Cour de cassation in support of a petition for the annulment of an ICC commercial arbitration award and a challenge to the enforcement of a separate ICC commercial arbitration award.

• Emergency arbitration guide (IBA Arb40), October 2025
• Contributor to A guide to third party funding in Africa | Insights | DLA Piper Global Law Firm, November 2022
• “The ICC Publishes Revised Rules for 2021”, DLA Piper, 19 October 2020
• “Covid-19 Construction Guide in France, DLA Piper”, 28 May 2020
• “COVID-19 et protectionnisme : Quelles protections pour les investisseurs étrangers”, Les Echos Executive, 28 May 2020
• “Arbitrating climate change”, Assas International Law Review No. 3, 2020
• “L’arbitrage en Algérie en 16 questions/réponses” - October 2018
• “L’arbitrage au Maroc en 16 questions/réponses” - April 2018
• “Introduction to the Arbitration Rules of the Casablanca International Mediation and Arbitration Center, the CIMAC”, DLA Piper Insights, 2018
• “Le règlement d’arbitrage du centre international de médiation et d’arbitrage de Casablanca, le CIMAC”, 14 December 2017
• “Arbitrabilité et droit des sociétés en droit français”, N° 3838, Fiche Pratique, 29 September 2016, Lexis 360 Entreprises
• “Arbitration and Company Law in France”, European Company Law vol. 12, No. 3 (2015): 144-150