Gabrielle Nater-Bass

Practice Areas

Gabrielle Nater-Bass’ practice focuses on international arbitration as well as litigation. She is an experienced party counsel and arbitrator in international commercial arbitration proceedings, both ad hoc and institutional, in matters across a wide range of industries.

Gabrielle Nater-Bass also acts as counsel in investment treaty arbitrations. In addition, she advises clients in complex multi-jurisdictional disputes before state courts, including matters involving cross-border judicial assistance proceedings and arbitration-related appeal and revision proceedings before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.

Career

Gabrielle Nater-Bass graduated from the University of Zurich in 1994 and received an LL.M. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1999. She was admitted to the Swiss bar in 1996. She is a partner at Homburger since 2006.

Professional Memberships

Gabrielle Nater-Bass is vice president of the LCIA Court and board member of the Swiss Arbitration Centre. From 2014 to 2025, she served as board member of the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA). Furthermore, she co-chairs the ICCA-ASIL Task Force on Damages in International Arbitration and is a member of SIAC Users Council and the steering committee of the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge. Gabrielle Nater-Bass is listed on the panel of arbitrators of the ICC Switzerland, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC). She served as president of the Arbitration Court of the Swiss Chambers’ Arbitration Institution (SCAI) from 2016 to 2020.

Publications

Numerous publications in the field of international arbitration.

Personal

Swiss citizen, born 1968.

Work Highlights

Note: Swiss counsel have to abide to strict confidentiality. The below two cases were published and are thus exempted from confidentiality:

Gabrielle Nater-Bass represented U.S. Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles in state court proceedings in Switzerland relating to an arbitral award by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that denied Ms. Chiles her bronze medal at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. In its decision of January 23, 2026, the Swiss Federal Supreme court upheld the request for revision and set aside the CAS award.

Gabrielle Nater-Bass chaired a USD 1.4 billion ICC arbitration between a Chinese energy investor and Ethiopia regarding a natural gas and development project. The arbitral tribunal rejected the investor's claim that Ethiopia had unlawfully terminated an exploration and development agreement, under which the Chinese investor was awarded two gas fields and eight oil blocks in the Ogadan basin in south-east Ethiopia.

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Switzerland and other civil law jurisdictions. Limited common law experience.

Languages Spoken

German, English, French, Italian.

Education

Awards