Farouk, a counsel in our London office, advises clients on arbitrations governed by the ICC, ICSID, LCIA, and UNCITRAL rules, with a focus on complex commercial and investor-State disputes in the oil and gas sector.
In addition, Farouk has acted as arbitrator in proceedings under the auspices of the ICC and PCA. He is a member of the ICC Bulletin Editorial Board.
Farouk also completed a secondment at TotalEnergies’ Exploration and Production’s legal department in Paris.
Farouk was recognised by Lexology Index as an Arbitration Future Leader for 2025, described as “a gifted practitioner with strong investment treaty experience and excellent litigation instincts” and “one of the finest arbitration lawyers of his generation”. He has been listed as a recommended lawyer for international arbitration and a “Rising Star” in public international law in The Legal 500 UK’s 2023 guide and recognised in The Legal 500 UK’s 2022 Arbitration Powerlist.
Prior to joining Three Crowns, Farouk was an international arbitration associate in the London office of a leading global firm, working as well in Riyadh and Dubai as a member of the firm’s Corporate and M&A teams. Farouk was previously a legal counsel at the PCA in The Hague. In addition, Farouk has litigation experience before Quebec courts.
He is a Visiting Assistant Professor of International Law at Leiden University’s Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies.
Farouk holds a PhD degree in public international law from Leiden University and was a visiting scholar at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in civil law from the University of Ottawa and an LLM from the University of Montreal.
Farouk regularly publishes on commercial and international law matters. His peer-reviewed publications include Standards of protection: the state’s sovereign right to regulate and its limits, Global Arbitration Review Guide to Telecoms Arbitration, 3rd Edition (2024), and Contributory Fault under International Law, ICSID Review, Oxford University Press (2020).
Farouk is a native Arabic and French speaker, and also speaks Spanish and Italian fluently. He is qualified in Quebec, Paris, and England & Wales (Solicitor).
Bar and court admissions
Languages
Arabic
English
French
Italian
Spanish
"He is a gifted practitioner with strong investment treaty experience and excellent litigation instincts"
Lexology Index
Representing a consortium of oil and gas majors in parallel contract and treaty disputes against a CIS state
Representing the contractor in an ICC arbitration in relation to an infrastructure project in Central America
Representing three ENI subsidiaries in an ICSID arbitration against the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Representing an oil and gas major in two parallel arbitrations against a CIS state
Representing a consortium of private equity and sovereign investors in a shareholder dispute involving an investment in an Asian life insurance business
Representing a group of investors in two parallel UNCITRAL arbitrations against the State of Libya arising under the France-Libya BIT and the Investment Agreement of the Organisation of Islamic Conference in relation to claims arising out of investments in the real estate sector
Representing a concessionaire in an LCIA arbitration under a lottery concession agreement against a European State
"Farouk is an accomplished arbitration practitioner with good judgement and strong advocacy skills"
Lexology Index
"He is one of the finest arbitration lawyers of his generation"
Lexology Index
- Licence in Civil Law (LLL), University of Ottawa
- Masters in Law (LLM), University of Montreal
- Doctorate in Law (PhD), Leiden University