PROPOS LIBRES ON GLOBALIZATION AND INTERNATIONAL

PROPOS LIBRES ON GLOBALIZATION
AND INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION
Interview with
Prof. Dr. Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab
Interview prepared by Prof. Marie-Claude Rigaud*
Professor Dr. Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab
Professor Dr. Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab is the chair of private
international law and professor of international arbitration at Cairo
University, vice president of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and founding partner and head of international arbitration at
Zulficar & Partners Law Firm. Prof. Dr. Abdel Wahab holds visiting
posts in the US and UK, where he teaches comparative commercial and
investment arbitration, English contract law, comparative law, online
*
Professeure adjointe et vice-doyenne de la Faculté de droit de l’Université de Montréal,
professeure associée à la Faculté de droit de l’Université de Sherbrooke et membre du
Barreau du Québec et de l’Ontario. Des remerciements sont dus à la Chaire Justice
privée et état de droit (McGill) et à Othmann Layati, étudiant en droit à la Faculté de droit
de l’Université McGill pour leur appui respectif dans la réalisation de cette entrevue.
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JOURNAL OF ARBITRATION AND MEDIATION
dispute resolution, telecommunications law, construction law and practice, oil & gas, and conflict of laws. He is member of the Court of Arbitration, LCIA; President of the LCIA Arab Users’ Council; Vice-President,
Egypt Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators; Member of the
AAA-ICDR International Advisory Committee; and the IBA Investment
Arbitration Sub-Committee. He is also a member of the International
Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) and the International Arbitration Institute (IAI); associate fellow of the Centre of Private International
Law at Aberdeen University; and fellow of the Center for Technology and
Dispute Resolution at the University of Massachusetts. He is a dispute
resolution consultant to the World Bank Group and a CEDR-accredited
mediator. He is also the co-editor-in-chief of the leading International
Journal of Online Dispute Resolution and co-editor of the leading treatise
“Online Dispute Resolution: Theory and Practice”, which received the
CPR’s 2013 award for the Best Published Dispute Resolution Work. For
a more complete version of Prof. Abdel Wahab’s curriculum vitæ, visit
our website at <http://www.ramjam.ca>.
RAM/JAM: Your professional path is a reflection of the cultural,
social and legal globalization which we have been observing in
recent times. Were you conscious of this reality as you were contemplating a career in the field of arbitration?
It is interesting to consider whether my professional career in international arbitration is a manifestation of cultural, social, and legal globalization. Surprisingly, I was conscious of this since 2000, when I started
writing my PhD thesis on the concept of public policy and globalization.
My thesis focused on the socio-cultural aspects of globalization and their
impact on an ever transmogrifying unruly horse. Ever since that time, I
became aware that a proper and sustainable entry into the world of international arbitration ought to be founded on the set of useful and novel
skills that one might derive from his cultural background, cosmopolitan
education and interaction with others on conscious and sub-conscious
levels.
Indeed, my background, studies, and conscious consideration and
appreciation of the processes of cultural interaction, enculturation, and
prudent acculturation has contributed to my international arbitration
career.