Farouk, a senior associate 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 and telecommunications sectors. He is often called upon by clients to provide strategic advice in respect to disputes raising matters of force majeure, taxation, international sanctions, and claims by competing governments.
Farouk’s most recent experience includes:
- Representing an oil and gas major in an arbitration against a CIS State
- Advising an oil and gas major regarding its rights and obligations under LNG share and purchase agreements and charterparty agreements relating to the sale and transport of LNG from a CIS state
- Advising an oil and gas major in relation to the occurrence of a force majeure event affecting its investments in a Sub-Saharan African State
- Representing a concessionaire in an LCIA arbitration under a concession agreement against a European State
- Advising an oil and gas major in relation to its investments in a Latin American State, including its rights under relevant bilateral investment treaties and concession agreements
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 has just returned to Three Crowns following a secondment at TotalEnergies’ legal department in Paris.
Farouk was recognised by Who’s Who Legal as an Arbitration Future Leader for 2023 as “one of the strongest arbitration intellectuals in the London market” and in 2022 as “a brilliant lawyer who combines academic chops with common sense”. 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. While in London, he was part of the firm’s Global Business and Human Rights and Global Sanctions Teams. Farouk was previously a legal counsel at the PCA in The Hague, where he administered appointing authority requests, investor-State, and commercial arbitrations. He was also the Court’s acting representative in Mauritius, where he focused on promoting the Court’s activities and casework in Africa. In addition, Farouk has litigation experience before Quebec courts. Prior to qualifying in Quebec in 2010, Farouk trained at the legal departments of Bombardier in Montreal and Société Générale in Paris.
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 Contributory Fault under International Law, ICSID Review, Oxford University Press (2020), Non-Compensatory Damages in Civil and Common Law Jurisdictions: Requirements and Underlying Principles, Global Arbitration Review Guide to Damages (2016, 2020), Civil Society in Investment Treaty Arbitration, Brill Njihoff (2018), and State-Owned Enterprises as Claimants before ICSID: Is the Broches Test on the Ebb?, BCDR International Arbitration Review, Kluwer Law International (2017).
Farouk is a native Arabic and French speaker, also speaking Spanish and Italian fluently. He is a member of the Quebec and Paris Bars.