L. Yves Fortier, CC, OQ, QC, LLD

Biography

L. Yves Fortier has been Chairman of the firm since January 1992 and is recognized as one of the top arbitrators in the world.

Mr. Fortier has served as Chairman or party-appointed arbitrator on more than 100 arbitral tribunals, either ad hoc or constituted by different arbitral institutions, including the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (Paris), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the Hong Kong International Arbitration Court (HKIAC), the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CITAC), the American Arbitration Association, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the Zurich Chamber of Commerce, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the Canadian Commercial Arbitration Centre, the British Columbia International Commercial Arbitration Centre and the ADR Chambers International Panel. From 1984 to 1989 he was a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague.

From July 1988 until January 1992, Mr. Fortier took leave from his law practice to take up an appointment as Canada's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. During his term at the United Nations, Mr. Fortier was Canada's Chief Delegate to the 43rd, 44th, 45th and 46th Sessions of the UN General Assembly. In September 1990, he was elected Vice-President of the 45th General Assembly. From January 1989 to December 1990, Mr. Fortier served as Canada's Representative on the Security Council of the United Nations and in 1989 he was President of the Council.

As a trial lawyer Mr. Fortier has pleaded important cases before all court jurisdictions in Canada and before domestic and international arbitral tribunals. He has also served as counsel to many Royal Commissions and Commissions of Inquiry in Quebec and Canada.

Year of Call

• Quebec Bar 1960

Law School

• B.C.L., McGill University, 1958

EDUCATION

• B.Litt. (Rhodes Scholar), University of Oxford, 1960
• B.A., Université de Montréal, 1955

Selected Client Work

ACTING FOR A PARTY

• Lead Negotiator for the Government of Quebec with the Innu Nation (2006-    )
• Personal representative and mediator of the Secretary General of the United Nations in the Equatorial Guinea and Gabon boundary dispute (2003-2008)
• Lead counsel for the Government of Nova Scotia before the international tribunal which was constituted to determine the offshore boundary between the province of Nova Scotia and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador (2001)
• Lead counsel for the Government of Canada in the Supreme Court of Canada Reference concerning Quebec (1998)
  Appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations as his Special Envoy to Malaysia (1997)
• Counsel for Canada in the mediation of the Canada-US Pacific Salmon dispute (1995)
• Canada's Chief Negotiator in the Canada-US Pacific Salmon Treaty negotiations (1993)
• Special Negotiator for the Government of Quebec with the Cree Nation (1993)
• Legal Advisor to the Commission on Global Governance in Geneva (1992-1995)
• Counsel for Canada before the ad hoc International Tribunal which was constituted to determine the maritime boundary between Canada and France in the North Atlantic (1991)
• Canada's Chief Negotiator in the Canada-France fishing dispute (1987-1989)
• Counsel for Canada before the International Court of Justice at The Hague in the Canada-US Gulf of Maine Maritime Boundary case (1984)

ADJUDICATOR (INTER ALIA)

• Judge ad hoc of the International Court of Justice in the boundary dispute between Colombia and Nicaragua (2002)
• Chairman of Panel F3 of the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva (Iraq-Kuwait) (1999)
• Arbitrator and Senior Claims Judge on the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Accounts in Switzerland (1998)
• Judge ad hoc of the International Court of Justice in the land and maritime boundary dispute between Bahrain and Qatar (1997)
• Member of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Ireland v United Kingdom (the MOX Plant Case)
• Member of the international arbitral tribunal in the Eurotunnel dispute (France-Manche v UK and France)
• Chairman of Panel "C" of the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva (Iraq-Kuwait) (1993)
• Has served as Chairman or party-appointed arbitrator on more than 30 Investor-State International Tribunals
  
  

Publications

• "Interim Measures: An Arbitrator's Provisional Views" Fordham Law School Conference paper, to be published by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2008
• "Arbitrating in the Age of Investment Treaty Disputes" The University of Southern Wales Law Journal, Vol. 31, No. 1, 2008
• "Entre l'arbre et l'écorce (Between a Rock and a Hard Place): Can International Commercial Arbitration Deliver on Environmental Disputes?", in Ndiaye and Wolfrum (eds.), Liber Amicorum Judge Thomas A. Mensah, 159, The Netherlands: 2007
• "Arbitrability of Disputes" in Gerald Aksen, Karl Heinz Böckstiegel, Paolo Michele Patocchi, and Anne Marie Whitesell (eds.), Global Reflections on International Law, Commerce and Dispute Resolution: Liber Amicorum in Honour of Robert Briner, ICC Publishing S.A., 2005
• "Indirect Expropriation in the Law of International Investment: I know It When I see It, or Caveat Investor" (co-author: S. Drymer), Asia Pacific Law Review, Vol. 13, No. 1 (p. 79), 2005
• "Caveat Investor: The Meaning of 'Expropriation' and the Protection Afforded Investors under NAFTA" News from ICSID, Vol. 20, No. 1, Summer 2003
• "Third-Party Intervention and Document Discovery" (co-author: S. Drymer), Journal of World Investment, Vol. 4, No. 3 (p. 473), 2003
• "A Mature Exercise of Sovereignty" Osgoode Hall Law Journal, Vol. 40 (p. 426), 2002
• "The New, New Lex Mercatoria, or Back to the Future" Arbitration International, Vol. 17, No. 2 (p. 121), 2001
• "International Arbitration and National Courts: Who Has the Last Word?" in A.J. van den Berg (ed.), International Arbitration and National Courts: The Never Ending Story, ICCA Congress Series No. 10, New Delhi: March 2 - 4, 2000, Kluwer, 2001
• "The LCIA Mediation Procedure" in A.J. van den Berg (ed.), Yearbook Commercial Arbitration Yearbook, Vol. 25 (p. 557), 2000
• "The Last Word in International Commercial Arbitration in this Millennium" Arbitration - Journal of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Vol. 65, No. 4 (p. 335), 1999
• "The Occasionally Unwarranted Assumption of Confidentiality" Arbitration International, Vol. 15, No. 2 (p. 131), 1999
• "The Minimum Requirements of Due Process in Taking Measures Against Dilatory Tactics: Arbitral Discretion in International Commercial Arbitration - A Few Plain Rules and a Few Strong Instincts" in A.J. van den Berg (ed.), Improving the Efficiency of Arbitration Agreements and Awards: 40 Years of Application of the New York Convention, ICCA Congress Series No. 9, The Hague: Kluwer Law International (p. 396), 1999
• "La diplomatie et l'arbitrage" Revue québécoise du droit internationale, Vol. 11 (p. 327), 1998
• "Law and Economics of Dispute Resolution in the Canada-United States Context: The Canadian Perspective" Canada-US Law Journal, Vol. 17 (p. 231), 1999

Speaking Engagements

• "The New York Convention: 50 Years" IBA Post-Conference Welcoming Address, United Nations Headquarters, New York: 2008
• "The Promise of International Commercial Arbitration: Is it Delivering and Can it Continue to Deliver?" LCIA / Ogilvy Renault Symposium, 2004
• "The Principle and Practice of Arbitrability: Do We Have the Ability to Deal With the Consequences?" International Economic Dispute: A Wider Perspective, paper delivered at the LCIA Colloquium, Cambridge, UK: 2004
• "International Commercial Arbitration in Canada: A Brief Introduction" LCIA / ICSID Symposium, Washington: 2003
• "Ethics in International Commercial Arbitration" LCIA / ICSID Symposium, Washington: 2003
• "Les exigences minimales de la procédure équitable dans la mise en oeuvre de mesures visant à contrer des tactiques dilatoires" 14th CICA Conference, 1998
• "Party Autonomy in International Arbitration" presentation to the International Arbitration Club, 1998
• "Les droits de l'homme: Perspective onusienne / Human Rights: View from the United Nations" paper delivered at the Faculty of Law, McGill University, 1990

Rankings and Recognitions

• Named top arbitrator in the world by The American Lawyer/Focus Europe Arbitration Scorecard (2007)
• Walter S. Tarnopolsky Human Rights Award granted by the International Commission of Jurists (2008)
• Advocatus Emeritus, Quebec Bar, (2007)
• Officer of the Ordre National du Québec (2006)
• Companion of the Order of Canada (1994)
• President's Award, Canadian Bar Association (1993)
• Médaille d'Or du Barreau du Québec (1992)
• Doctor of International Studies honoris causa, Université Laval (2008)
• Doctor of Commerce honoris causa, Ryerson University (2004)
• Doctor of Laws honoris causa, Law Society of Upper Canada (1989), Acadia University (1992), University of British Columbia (1993), Université de Montréal (2000), McGill University (2006)
• Named Director Emeritus for Excellence in Corporate Governance in Quebec (2007)

Memberships and Activities

• Fellow, Institute of Corporate Directors of Canada, member of the Advisory Council, Quebec Chapter
• Former President, London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) (1998-2001)
• Honorary Vice-President, LCIA
• Canadian Bar Association, National President (1982-1983), Founding Director, Law for the Future Fund
• American Bar Association (honorary member)
• International Commission of Jurists (Canadian Section)
• International Bar Association
• Union Internationale des Avocats
• ICC Institute of International Business Law and Practice
• International Law Association (Canadian Branch)
• American College of Trial Lawyers (member, Board of Regents, 1992-1996)
• The College of Commercial Arbitrators
• The CPR International Panel of Distinguished Neutrals
• The International Arbitration Club
• American Society of International Law
• Former Member, the C.D. Howe Institute
• Patron, Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR)
• Patron, International Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development
• Trilateral Commission (member of the North American Executive Committee) (1993-2003)

Directorships

• Director, Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Limited (2007- )
• Director, Nova Chemicals Corporation (1998 - )
• Former Director and Chairman of the Board, Alcan Inc. (2002-2007)
• Former Governor and Director, Hudson's Bay Company (1997-2006)
• Former Director, Royal Bank of Canada
• Former Director, Nortel Networks Corporation and Nortel Networks Limited
• Former Director, TransCanada PipeLines Limited
• Former Director, DuPont Canada Inc.
• Former Director, Manufacturers Life Insurance Company
• Former Director, Jannock Inc.
• Former Director, Les Entreprises J. René Ouimet Inc.
• Former Director, Patino Mining Corporation
• Former Director, Westinghouse Canada Inc.
• Former Governor, McGill University
• Former Director, Montreal Neurological Institute and Clinical Research Institute of Montreal
• Former Director, International Peace Academy
• Former Director, United Nations International School
• Vice-Chairman, the Historica Foundation of Canada
• Director, Canadian Institute for Advanced Legal Studies
• Executive Board of the International Association of Permanent Representatives to the United Nations
• Former Trustee, International Accounting Standards Board (IASC) (2000-2007)