ARBITRATOR'S VITAE

Tomas Vail 

SPECIALIZATION AND PRACTICE

Energy, infrastructure and commodities disputes, Corporate and commercial disputes, Banking and finance disputes

Education

American University Washington College of Law, Juris Doctor
LL.M, Université Paris X Nanterre in International Commercial Arbitration and Private International Law
Macalester College, Bachelor of Arts
ICC Advanced Arbitration Academy for Eastern Europe
SAA/SCC International Diploma course on international arbitration for foreign arbitrators

Overview of professional experience

🔷 Tomas Vail is an international lawyer based in London. He is fluent in English, French and Russian.  

🔷 Tomas is recognised as a leading arbitration practitioner by Chambers UK, Legal 500 UK, the Private Practice Powerlist UK, Best Lawyers and Who’s Who Legal (including being recently listed as one of 15 “Most Highly Regarded” arbitration practitioners in EMEA). He has served in leadership positions of several prominent arbitration organisations and initiatives, including as an Advisory Board member of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration. He serves as a legal specialist to the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative and in this capacity presented to the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan on arbitration matters.

🔷 He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and regularly speaks and publishes on aspects of international arbitration and public international law. His recent writings include two book chapters: one on the Brčko Arbitration, in a book on non-state actors under international law (Nijhoff Brill); and a second on tribunal-appointed experts, in a commentary on the UNCITRAL Model Law (Cambridge University Press).

🔷 Further to his role as arbitrator, Mr Vail has represented clients throughout the world, most frequently in Russia and the CIS, Eastern Europe and Africa, conducting disputes under the LCIA, SCC, ICC, ICSID and UNCITRAL rules and related court litigation. He has particular experience of the petroleum and mining industries, advising on high-value disputes between energy companies and states/state-owned entities.