Global
Practice Areas
International Arbitration (Counsel and Arbitrator)
Career
After practising for four years in Geneva (1982-1986), Paolo Michele Patocchi further specialised in international trade law and arbitration in London (1986-1988). He then joined an international law firm in London as an associate (1989-1991). In 1992 Michele joined a national law firm in Zurich. In 1994 he joined another national law firm in Geneva where he was made a partner in 1997. He has been in charge of the International Arbitration Group of the Geneva office of that firm from 1997 until 2013. In 2014 he established Patocchi & Marzolini with Paolo Marzolini.
Whether as counsel or as an arbitrator, Michele has taken part in over 250 international arbitrations to date. He has also advised on the Swiss law of contract, the Swiss law of international arbitration and the Swiss private international law, as an expert or amicus curiae.
Paolo Michele Patocchi has been a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of Geneva (Introduction to the Common Law tradition; 1989-2006) and at the Geneva School for Translators and Interpreters (ETI; Legal Translation English/Italian,1990-1993). He has been teaching the core course on international commercial arbitration at the Faculty of Law of İ. D. Bilkent University (Ankara) since 2013.
Paolo Michele Patocchi has collaborated with the arbitral institutions of the Swiss Chambers of Commerce in the past two decades. After the arbitration rules of the Swiss Chambers were unified in 2004, he was the first President of the National Arbitration Committee and the Special Committee in charge of hearing challenges (2004-2006) and a member of the Arbitration Court of the Swiss Chambers’ Arbitration Institution from 2013 to 2016. From 2005 to 2011 he has been a non-resident member of the Arbitration Committee of the Milan Chamber of Commerce. From 2001 to 2019 he has been a member of the Board of the Swiss Arbitration Association.
Professional Memberships
CIArb, ICCA, LCIA, ASA, DIS, IBA, BIICL, AIA (Associazione italiana per l'Arbitrato)
Publications
Please see: www.patocchimarzolini.con/en/publications
Languages Spoken
English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese
Swedish, Dutch and Romanian (reading only)
Expert in these Jurisdictions
As a practising lawyer or as an arbitrator, Paolo Michele Patocchi has been called upon to work on matters involving a number of legal systems other than Swiss law, including in particular the laws of Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Egypt, England and Wales, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Latvia, the Netherlands, Palestine, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Türkiye, the UAE, the U.S.A. and Venezuela.
