Professionals

Michael Stepek

Partner

Chair, International Arbitration Practice

Admitted to practice only in England & Wales and Illinois

London

+44 20 7011 8754

New York

Overview
Experience
Credentials
Insights & News

Michael focuses on international commercial arbitration and litigation, investment treaty arbitration, and complex, high-value disputes. He advises on matters involving the control of corporate entities, foreign direct investment, concession agreements, major infrastructure projects, and joint ventures.

Key Matters

Examples of recent work include:

Representing Dominion Minerals Corp., a listed U.S. junior mining company, in an ICSID bilingual English-Spanish arbitration concerning Dominion’s claims arising under the treaty between the United States of America and the Republic of Panama concerning the treatment and protection of investments arising out of Dominion’s investment in a copper and gold concession in western Panama.
Representing a Luxembourg company as part of a German public company in a US$2B dispute with a Saudi Arabian joint venture partner in a DIFC-LCIA arbitration pending in Dubai, UAE.
Secured a multimillion-dollar victory in a final award on behalf of a Turkish consortium comprised of three of the largest engineering and construction companies in Turkey in an ICC arbitration in Zurich arising out of a supply contract dated 10 June 2010 that was concluded between the consortium and one of the largest manufacturers of tunnel boring machines, which was to supply the consortium with a tailor-made tunnel boring machine, together with related services for use in the excavation of a six-kilometer tunnel as part of the Eskişehir Köseköy high-speed railway project on the segment between Istanbul and Ankara in Turkey.
Representing two scions of a very well-known private bank in Geneva, Switzerland, in an arbitration proceeding ad hoc in Switzerland in a bilingual French and English arbitration against the former partners of the private bank for having concealed and misappropriated the claimants’ rights to participate as partners in the bank, capital that had been set aside for their entry into the partnership, and their family’s good will dating back to Napoleonic times.
Represented Professional Football Club CSKA-Sofia JSC in an appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in which our client – one of the most prominent football clubs in Bulgaria – was adverse to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).
Represented a listed U.S. company in the medical aesthetics business in a London based LCIA arbitration against PRC respondents which had, inter alia, set up a competing businesses in China and in Hong Kong, operated a confusingly similar website, and infringed his client’s patents and trademarks. In support of these arbitrations, obtained three freezing injunctions (known as Mareva injunctions) from the Hong Kong courts against the respondents’ properties.
Represented a private equity fund in its defense of claims brought against it in the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre by the PRC corporate group which purchased an automobile component manufacturer in a transaction that spanned three continents.
Represented a major oil and gas company and its holding company in two arbitrations arising out of alleged breaches of a Shareholders Agreement and Sale and Purchase Agreement between a major English oil and gas company and its joint venture partner, which formed one of the largest oil and gas production companies in the world.
Represented Virasa Technologies on a US$700M ICC arbitration in Singapore brought by Korean industrial manufacturer and Hyundai affiliate KCC in relation to a technology transfer agreement for monosilane based polysilicon production technology used in the making of photovoltaic solar panels.
Represented a Swiss engineering company against a German engineering and construction company in an arbitration in Zurich, Switzerland under Swiss law for the supply and erection of eight air-cooled condensers at four combined cycle power plants in the United States.

Capabilities

Litigation/Trials

International Arbitration

Commercial Litigation & Disputes

Key Matters

Examples of recent work include:

Representing Dominion Minerals Corp., a listed U.S. junior mining company, in an ICSID bilingual English-Spanish arbitration concerning Dominion’s claims arising under the treaty between the United States of America and the Republic of Panama concerning the treatment and protection of investments arising out of Dominion’s investment in a copper and gold concession in western Panama.
Representing a Luxembourg company as part of a German public company in a US$2B dispute with a Saudi Arabian joint venture partner in a DIFC-LCIA arbitration pending in Dubai, UAE.
Secured a multimillion-dollar victory in a final award on behalf of a Turkish consortium comprised of three of the largest engineering and construction companies in Turkey in an ICC arbitration in Zurich arising out of a supply contract dated 10 June 2010 that was concluded between the consortium and one of the largest manufacturers of tunnel boring machines, which was to supply the consortium with a tailor-made tunnel boring machine, together with related services for use in the excavation of a six-kilometer tunnel as part of the Eskişehir Köseköy high-speed railway project on the segment between Istanbul and Ankara in Turkey.
Representing two scions of a very well-known private bank in Geneva, Switzerland, in an arbitration proceeding ad hoc in Switzerland in a bilingual French and English arbitration against the former partners of the private bank for having concealed and misappropriated the claimants’ rights to participate as partners in the bank, capital that had been set aside for their entry into the partnership, and their family’s good will dating back to Napoleonic times.
Represented Professional Football Club CSKA-Sofia JSC in an appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in which our client – one of the most prominent football clubs in Bulgaria – was adverse to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).
Represented a listed U.S. company in the medical aesthetics business in a London based LCIA arbitration against PRC respondents which had, inter alia, set up a competing businesses in China and in Hong Kong, operated a confusingly similar website, and infringed his client’s patents and trademarks. In support of these arbitrations, obtained three freezing injunctions (known as Mareva injunctions) from the Hong Kong courts against the respondents’ properties.
Represented a private equity fund in its defense of claims brought against it in the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre by the PRC corporate group which purchased an automobile component manufacturer in a transaction that spanned three continents.
Represented a major oil and gas company and its holding company in two arbitrations arising out of alleged breaches of a Shareholders Agreement and Sale and Purchase Agreement between a major English oil and gas company and its joint venture partner, which formed one of the largest oil and gas production companies in the world.
Represented Virasa Technologies on a US$700M ICC arbitration in Singapore brought by Korean industrial manufacturer and Hyundai affiliate KCC in relation to a technology transfer agreement for monosilane based polysilicon production technology used in the making of photovoltaic solar panels.
Represented a Swiss engineering company against a German engineering and construction company in an arbitration in Zurich, Switzerland under Swiss law for the supply and erection of eight air-cooled condensers at four combined cycle power plants in the United States.