Georg Scherpf

Full Profile

Georg works with the firm’s Global Arbitration Group representing clients in commercial and investment arbitrations. He also sits as arbitrator and advises clients both under German and English law.

His commercial arbitration track-record covers a broad range of legal issues and sectors including international trade (CISG), corporate disputes, such as joint venture/post-M&A, and energy.  In the energy sector, Georg has considerable experience in handling arbitrations involving renewable energy sources (PV, CSP, hydropower, wind) as well as conventional sources such as nuclear, coal, oil & gas. He has represented clients in arbitrations involving several large-scale offshore construction projects. Georg has represented clients in ad hoc arbitrations seated in Germany, England, Switzerland, Austria, France, Turkey, and Singapore and under various institutional rules (DIS, ICC, LCIA, VIAC, AAA, SIAC, FOSFA, GAFTA, and SCAI). Georg has a particular regional focus on disputes relating to investments and business transactions in Scandinavia, the Baltics, the wider CIS region, and the Western Balkans.   

His public international law experience includes advising clients in relation to bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and multilateral investment treaties including the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). He has acted for investors in several complex treaty cases (ICSID, UNCITRAL and ad hoc) relating to infrastructure and energy investments in Spain, Czech Republic, Albania, Ukraine, and Germany. Closely related to his investment arbitration work, albeit of commercial nature, is his dispute work in the field of political risk insurance and climate change litigation.  

Georg studied law at Humboldt University Berlin (1st State Exam), completed his legal training and bar admission also in Berlin (2nd State Exam) and subsequently studied law at King’s College London (LL.B.). He practises as a German attorney (Rechtsanwalt) and a solicitor (England and Wales). Between 2013 and 2016 he was Regional Co-Chair of the DIS40, the German forum for young arbitration practitioners, and from 2016 to 2018 European Representative of the Young International Arbitration Group (YIAG). Georg regularly publishes academic articles, contributes to legal commentaries and speaks on international dispute resolution and arbitration. He has most recently contributed to the ICSID Rules and Regulations 2022: Article-by-Article Commentary (Editors Happ/Wilske), published with Hart/Nomos/Beck. 

Georg has been awarded a “Top Lawyer” for Arbitration by German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche in 2023 and 2022. Clients and peers praise him as “astute and results-driven” with “a sharp mind who is very able at thinking outside of the box” (Who’s Who Legal Arbitration - Future Leaders), he is commended for his “attention to detail” and “vigilance” whilst clients were also impressed with his cross-examination skills (GAR 100 - Global Arbitration Review). Georg was also recognized as a 2021 “Rising Star” in Arbitration by Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Expert Guides. He was also top ranked in Germany in his Who’s Who Legal peer group 2023. Georg is also recommended for “Arbitration and Mediation” in the 2023 edition of Best Lawyers in Germany / Handelsblatt.

For more information, please see our brochure Arbitration Germany.

Experience

• Representing a multi-national consortium in a complex, multi-party offshore wind construction arbitration relating to a project in the North Sea under the DIS-Rules  
• Representing a Middle Eastern petrochemical distributor in a dispute against a multinational petrochemical world market leader (DIS-Rules)
• Representing and advising a contractor in a dispute (arbitration) relating to a wind park in the strait of Taiwan
• Representing a Baltic state-owned energy company in ad-hoc arbitration proceedings under English law and seated in London regarding a shale gas tender 
• Representing an Austrian client in a multi-jurisdictional dispute involving, among others, a VIAC arbitration seated in Vienna 
• Advising a client in contentious setting-aside proceedings of an international arbitral award before the Higher Regional Court of Cologne  
• Representing a German energy utility in an ICC proceeding relating to an offshore wind park in the North Sea (post-M&A) 
• Counsel for a German utility in an ICSID proceedings against Spain relating to renewable energy investments (PV and onshore wind)
• Representing German investors in ad hoc arbitration against the Czech Republic relating to renewable energy investments (PV-Investments)
• Representing a world market leader in road construction in an ICC proceeding (post-M&A) relating to a large divestment, involving issues of sanctions and export control. Advising the same client in protracted enforcement proceedings in multiple jurisdictions 
• Representing an Austrian rail company in parallel SIAC arbitrations (later consolidated) relating to a failed large-scale rail construction project in Asia
• Counsel in proceedings for a Swedish Investor in a multi-billion ICSID proceedings against Germany relating to the phasing-out of nuclear energy  
• Representing a Greek family-owned oil company in an ICSID proceedings against Albania following an investment in oil processing infrastructure in the port of Durres 
• Representing a Turkish engineering company in ad hoc arbitration proceedings seated in London and in parallel litigation before the English High Court obtaining a successful decision under section 67 Arbitration Act 1996
• Advising a Belgian engineering firm in an ICC arbitration relating to a submarine power cable dispute
• Representing a German client in a multi-million euro DIS arbitration (post-M&A) in new media against a large online retailer    
• Sitting as Arbitrator under the LCIA, DIS rules as well as ad hoc (sole, chair and party appointed)

Selected Publications

• Another “Bleak House” – the decision of the German Federal Supreme Court on the inadmissibility of Intra-EU ICSID Arbitrations. In Arbitration International, 4 December 2023, Oxford University Press. Authors: Georg Scherpf and Simon Hermes

• Are we turning French? A comparative perspective on the BGH Decision of 9.3.2023, in German Arbitration Journal (German Arb. J.). SchiedsVZ 01/2024, C.H. Beck. Authors: Georg Scherpf, Victor Gontard and Dr Katia Rener

• Co-author of the ICSID Rules and Regulations 2022: Article-by-Article Commentary (Editors Happ/Wilske) published with Hart/Nomos/Beck. 
   
• Co-author of the Commentary on the 2018 DIS-Arbitration Rules (Editors Hennecke/Menz) published with C.H.Beck (to be released 2024)
   
• Investment Protection and Arbitration in the CIS Region
  German Arbitration Journal (German Arb. J.). SchiedsVZ 01/2020, 9. C.H. Beck. 
  Georg Scherpf, Nikita Kondrashov
   
• DIS Arbitration – Rules for Improved Efficiency, published in Expert Guides
  Georg Scherpf 
   
• Country Chapter: Germany – 2016 and 2017
  Global Arbitration Review, "The European Arbitration Review"
   
• Case Note: Home Department v Raytheon Systems
  German Arbitration Journal (German Arb. J.). SchiedsVZ 10/2015, 253. C.H. Beck. 
  Georg Scherpf, Shantanu Majumdar
   
• A Review of German Arbitration Law in 2014 and 2015
  Global Arbitration Review, Edition "EMEA Arbitration Review 2015"
  Dr Richard Happ, Georg Scherpf and Tim Rauschning
   
• The Revised LCIA Arbitration Rules 2014
  German Arbitration Journal (German Arb. J.). SchiedsVZ 11/2014, 227. C.H. Beck. 
  Georg Scherpf, Shantanu Majumdar
   
• A Review of German Arbitration Law in 2012 and 2013
  Global Arbitration Review, Edition "EMEA Arbitration Review 2014"
  Karolin Hoffmann, Dr Richard Happ, Dr René-Alexander Hirth, Georg Scherpf
   
• Kluwer Arbitration Blog
  Are the Prague Rules Suitable for Investment Arbitration?
  Georg Scherpf, Trinidad Alonso
   
• Jus Mundi Blog
  Total Recall? – Witness Evidence in International Arbitration
  Georg Scherpf 
   
• Proposed Amendments to the ICSID Regulations and Rules – A Necessary Update
  Georg Scherpf, Antonios Politis
   
• Full, Partial or Plausibility Review? – Public Policy and the Level of Scrutiny Applied by German Courts
  Georg Scherpf, Antonios Politis, and Benedikt Kaneko
   
• The American Review of International Arbitration (ARIA-Blog, Columbia Law School)
  Third-Party Notices: The Participation of Non-Parties in Arbitral Proceedings based on “Intervention Agreements”
  Georg Scherpf, Antonios Politis, and Benedikt Kaneko