Offices: Beirut, Paris, Ras Al Khaimah

Areas of Concentration

Marwan is an avocat in Beirut and Paris, an advocate before the DIFC Courts in Dubai and a Chartered Arbitrator (CIArb, UK), his practice encompasses commercial work and specializes in dispute resolution (especially international arbitration and litigation), banking and financial law, insurance and reinsurance, commercial agencies, corporate law, M&A and restructuring, conflict of laws and jurisdictions, public law, foreign investments and infrastructure projects (construction, oil, telecommunications, turnkey and BOT projects), European and Middle Eastern laws. He has advised, appeared as counsel in litigation and arbitration proceedings and arbitrated these matters under various laws and jurisdictions (France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Egypt, UAE, Qatar, Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Lebanon, Syria) and arbitration rules (ICC, CRCICA, LAC, QICCA and UNCITRAL). He has advised and assisted the Lebanese Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Lebanon and the Association of Banks of Lebanon, as well as the Lebanese Ministry of Administrative reform and the Investment Authority of Kurdistan in the drafting of several financial, economic and investment laws and regulations.

Marwan acts as member of tribunal and sole arbitrator under several arbitration rules (ICC, CCIB-LAC, ad hoc and Lebanese CPR). He is on the panel of arbitrators of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC) and the GCC Commercial Arbitration Centre in Bahrain, the Arbitration Centre of the Franco-Arab Chamber of Commerce in Paris and the panel of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) in London. He is also a member of ICC Lebanon’s Committee on Arbitration and Rapporteur of the Arbitration and ADR Committee of the Beirut Bar.

Bar Admissions

• Beirut (1989)
• Paris (2005)
• Dubai International Financial Centre (2009)
• Admitted pro hoc vice before the Egyptian Courts and several other Arab jurisdictions

Career

Marwan started practicing as a trainee then an associate of one of the most prominent litigation firms in Beirut. Between 1994 and 2000 he was a senior associate of a major law firm affiliated with Gide Loyrette Nouel in Beirut and Riyadh, before becoming a partner of Hennaoui & Sakr and then participating in the founding of SAAS in Beirut.

Education

• Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth (LL.B Lebanese Law and French maîtrise en droit privé)
• Lebanese State University (Post-Graduate studies in private law)
• Haute école des avocats conseils (HEDAC-CRFPA), Versailles, France.
• Université Toulouse I Capitole, France (Master 2 de droit international, européen et comparé,
• spécialité juriste international)
• University of Huddersfield, UK (LL.M International Law)
• Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London (Fellow)

Teaching and Publications

Marwan has a substantial university teaching experience in commercial and contract law, project finance law, engineering and construction law, economic law, international commercial law and international arbitration in various Master programs (Université Saint-Joseph, Beirut and Université Saint-Esprit in Kaslik, Lebanon) and at the Beirut Bar Institute. He is an approved Faculty Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (International Arbitration). Marwan is the author of “Non-signatories, Third Parties and the International Arbitration Agreement” (2009, Sader Legal Publishers, Beirut); and the general editor and main contributor of “Sader’s Law and Jurisprudence on Banking” (2011, Sader Legal Publishers, Beirut) and of several book chapters, articles, reports, studies, chronicles and case notes in specialized local and international legal reviews. He also speaks extensively on these subjects. Marwan has also taught international arbitration to Arab judges and lawyers (Lebanese, Libyan, and Jordanian) in several courses organized by the Arab Association for International Arbitration, the Lebanese Arbitration Centre and other professional organizations.

Membership

Marwan is a member of the Beirut Bar Association, Paris Bar Association, International Bar Association (IBA), American Bar Association (ABA), London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA, Young International Arbitrators Group, YIAG), Association suisse de l’arbitrage (ASA), the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) London, European Association of Banking & Financial Law (Association Européenne de Droit Bancaire et Financier, AEDBF) Paris, the Association française des avocats conseils d’entreprise (ACE, the French commercial bar), the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) UK, ICC Lebanon, and the Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) USA. He is also a Fellow of the Center for International Legal Studies (CILS), Salzburg, Austria.

Languages

Arabic, French, English (all fluent)