Council of the ICC Institute of World Business Law

Eduardo Silva Romero is Professor Emeritus at the University of Rosario’s Law School in Bogotá. He teaches Investment Arbitration at Paris 2 (Panthéon-Assas) University, Investment Arbitration and International Contracts at the Paris Institute for Political Studies (Sciences Po), and French Arbitration Law at the University of Paris-Dauphine (Paris IX).
Prof. Silva Romero is also Co-Chair of Dechert’s International Arbitration global practice. He is a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration.
He was Deputy Secretary General of the ICC International Court of Arbitration from 2000 to 2004, and Vice-Chair of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR from 2007 to 2017.

Mélida Hodgson focuses her practice on investor-state and commercial arbitrations, counselling governments and state-owned entities, as well as corporate entities, with respect to international investment protection provisions, business disputes and World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute resolution and international trade policy issues. Recognized by Latinvex as one of the top 100 lawyers whose practice focuses on Latin America, Ms. Hodgson is noted for her key role in successfully defending countries in investment arbitration, including Venezuela in several International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitrations. She also represents the Republics of Panama, Peru, and Sierra Leone in ICSID and United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) matters.

Ms. Hodgson is an arbitrator of international disputes including those initiated under the American Arbitration Association’s International Centre for Dispute Resolution rules (ICDR), and Chapter 19 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Ms. Hodgson has been recognized in Who’s Who Legal Arbitration, including as a Thought Leader, in Legal 500 Latin America, and is ranked by Chambers in its Latin America, USA and Global publications.

Since 1989, Mr. Thambiayah has been appointed as chairman of arbitral tribunals, sole arbitrator or co-arbitrator in over 500 ad-hoc and institutional arbitrations of disputes arising from international investment contracts and joint ventures, building & civil engineering contracts, oil and gas operation, distribution and transport network contracts, power purchase agreements and maritime and international trade (including export finance ) contracts, in Bangkok, Colombo, Delhi, Hong Kong, Karachi, Kolkata, Kuala Lumpur, London, Mumbai, New York, Paris, Perth, Sydney and Singapore, with the total value of claims in excess of US$8 billion. These appointments include: as sole arbitrator by the High Court of Singapore, by the ICC, ICDR, HKIAC and SIAC, acting as the appointing authorities; as presiding arbitrator by party appointed arbitrators from Australia, Malaysia, Seoul, London, U.S.A., Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore, and by the ICC and KLRCA, acting as the appointing authorities; and as co-arbitrator by parties from various countries and by the ICC, ICDR and SIAC, acting as the appointing authorities. Mr. Thambiayah is a member of the SIAC Court of Arbitration, Vice-Chair of the Council of the ICC Institute of World Business Law and is on the panel of arbitrators of various arbitral institutions.