Melanie van Leeuwen

Languages Spoken

English, French, Dutch and German.

Practice Areas

Melanie van Leeuwen is a founding partner of Vanguard International Dispute Resolution. She co-founded in 2025 after having practised for nearly three decades at international firms based in Paris and Amsterdam. Melanie holds prestigious positions in the industry. Examples include her current tenure as Chair of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, as well as her appointment to the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators by the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

During her career, Melanie has handled over 150 commercial and investor-state arbitrations as both counsel and arbitrator in a diverse range of sectors, including energy, mining, media, technology, construction, real estate, aviation, infrastructure and defence projects.

Melanie has conducted arbitrations under all of the major institutional rules (ICC, LCIA, ICSID, SCC, ICDR, UNCITRAL, PCA, DIAC, NAI, SIAC, CEPANI and Swiss Rules), governed by a wide range of procedural and substantive laws.

She also regularly represents clients in annulment, enforcement and consolidation proceedings before the Netherlands state courts.

Melanie is admitted to practice in Paris and Amsterdam. She speaks English, French, German and Dutch and is a Dutch national.

Professional Memberships

• Chair of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR

• Co-Chair of the ICCA-IBA Joint Task Force on Data Protection in International Arbitration

• Appointed to the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators by the Kingdom of the Netherlands

• Board Member of the Swiss Arbitration Association

• Member of the LCIA

• Member of the ICCA