Yas Banifatemi is a founding partner of Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes, a firm established in 2021 with the late Professor Emmanuel Gaillard. Prior to that, they had co-led the international arbitration practice at Shearman & Sterling for many years.
She advises states, state entities, and companies on matters of international arbitration law and public international law. She acts as counsel, arbitrator, and expert in arbitrations conducted under the arbitration rules of ICSID, UNCITRAL, ICC, LCIA, SCC, SIAC, HKIAC, the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA), the DIS, and the Swiss Rules of International Arbitration. She works in various sectors, including international investment law, the energy and mining sectors, telecommunications, and the life sciences.
She served as Vice-President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration from 2014 to 2021 and as a member of the LCIA Court in London from 2015 to 2020. Since 2019, she has been a member of the SIAC Court of Arbitration in Singapore. She is also listed on the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators, having been appointed by the Chairman of the ICSID Administrative Council (World Bank).
Since September 2021, she has served as president of the Institute for International Arbitration (IAI), having been appointed by the Executive Committee of the French Arbitration Committee, succeeding Professor Emmanuel Gaillard.
She teaches international arbitration law at Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, and Panthéon-Sorbonne University (Paris I). She is also a co-founder and former Secretary General of the Academy of Arbitration.