Biography

Educational/ Current position / Professional Experience

Degrees and qualifications

• Ph.D. in Law, summa cum laude, Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), 1983
• Degree in Economics, cum magna laude, Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), 1978
• Special Degree in European Law, cum magna laude, University of Utrecht, 1977
• Law Degree, cum magna laude, Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), 1976

Professional experience
2000 – present

• Founder & senior Partner, Philippe & Partners law firm, member of the Brussels Bar and Luxembourg Bar
• Experienced Arbitrator
• Extraordinary Professor at the Catholic University of Louvain and at the ICHEC
• Lecturer at the University of Paris X Nanterre
• Member of the Scientific Committee of the CEPANI (Belgian Center for Arbitration)
• Editor-in-Chief of the Law Journal Droit des Affaires

Lawyer since 1977
Scientific activities concerning arbitration

• Lecture arbitration at the University of Louvain and I supervised several thesis on the topic, among other things, the annulment of awards and the violation of public policy, a concept that varies in content; I supervised also a thesis on confidentiality in arbitration
• Member of the working group revising the arbitration law in Luxemburg (think tank for arbitration)
• Member of the scientific committee of the Belgian center of Arbitration (CEPANI)
• Member of the working group at the ICC on climate change and arbitration
• Member of the and member of management board of the Luxemburg Arbitration Association ( LAA)
• Arbitrator of the Slovak Chamber of Commerce court of arbitration

Annulement proceedings

Denis has carried out more then ten annulment proceedings in relation to national and international arbitral awards and is a regular advisor on this issue. For instance, Denis has just been appointed by the European Union in an annulment procedure brought against the EU by a Cypriot company (confidentiality rule applies).
Several annulment proceedings in relation to in national arbitrations or in international arbitral awards concerning exclusive sales concessions ; a very important subject in Belgium because the law is a matter of public policy, substantially protects the distributor, and retains the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts to the exclusion of arbitration.

Arbitration Experience

Denis has acquired an experience in arbitration since decennia.

As arbitrator:

• • Co-arbitrator in ICC proceedings more than ten times since 1988 (share purchase agreement for the sale of a bank in Luxemburg by a Middle East holding company in 2018; joint venture contract in 2000 between a Lithuanian company and a Norwegian company,…)
  • Sole arbitrator in ICC proceedings (important EPCM contract dispute in 2015)
  • Sole arbitrator in Luxemburg Chamber of Commerce proceedings (sales of technically sophisticated goods)
  • Chair of six arbitral tribunals (two ad hoc arbitrations and four CEPANI arbitrations)

As counsel:

• At least 50 hearings as counsel in national and international arbitration (building contract, distribution contract, sales contract) in various countries of the world

Publications and Speaking Engagements

• « Arbitration, Tortuous and concurrent liability in tort and contract », Liber amicorum : 50 years of solutions, CEPANI 1969-2019, Wolters Kluwer, 2019, pp. 265-282.
• “Modernisation of the Belgian Law on Arbitration”, DAOR, Kluwer, 2014, pp.5-20.
• “Contrats internationaux et arbitrage”, sous la direction de Marcel FONTAINE et Denis PHILIPPE, CRIDES, Droit économique Centre Jean Renauld, Larcier, 2014.
• Conference for the in house lawyers on « the drafting of the arbitration clause » 5 October 2020

Analysis on arbitration awards.

PHILIPPE (D.), « Demande reconventionnelle – Soumission – Délai – Retard – Application de l’article 747 du Code judiciaire – (non)-Violation », note sous sentence arbitrale n° 22210 du CEPANI, in Recueil de sentences arbitrales du CEPANI, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 2015, pp. 137-155.

PHILIPPE (D.), « La force majeure et le hardship », in Les principes UNIDROIT relatifs aux contrats de commerce international (ed. 2010) et l’arbitrage. Actes du colloque du CEPANI du 24 mai 2011, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 2011, pp. 97 à 124.

PHILIPPE (D.), « La responsabilité précontractuelle dans une cession de titres, note d’observation », Recueil de sentences arbitrales du CEPANI, 2007.

PHILIPPE (D.), « Les clauses et les procédures de résolution des conflits », Annales du droit luxembourgeois, vol. 20, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 2010, pp. 107 à 181.

In preparation

Arbitration and Unidroit principles (to publish in the Czech yearbook of Arbitration 2020, ed prof Belohlavek).