Hervé Le Lay
“Strategic mind”
“He is very pragmatic and understands well the needs of his clients”,
“He adapts to different cultures very easily, he would be go to lawyer for multidisciplinary disputes”,
“His advice is always comprehensive and easy to understand”
WWL- Arbitration 2022
“Strategic mind”,
“Excellent expertise in sports arbitration”.
WWL- Arbitration 2021
“Hervé Le Lay stands out among peers for his rapid grasp of both legal issues and commercial priorities of a case.”
WWL- Arbitration 2019
“Peers ‘would definitely recommend’ Hervé Le Lay for his outstanding expertise when it comes to energy and infrastructure disputes”
WWL- Arbitration 2018
“A pleasure to work with, always available, credible, knowledgeable”
Legal 500 -Arbitration 2021
“Hervé Le Lay is a very sharp lawyer and a strategic thinker who understands the differences and complexities in different jurisdictions and can easily adapt himself and the case strategy to any hurdles”
Legal 500 -Arbitration 2018
Hervé Le Lay is a partner of MCL Arbitration.
He is an attorney at the Paris bar, acting both as counsel and arbitrator in international disputes.
A seasoned commercial disputes practitioner, Hervé has been involved in numerous arbitrations under the rules of major arbitration institutions (ICC, LCIA, SCC, UNCITRAL, etc.), in disputes relating to a broad spectrum of industries and areas (construction, post-M&A, shareholders and JV disputes, media, energy, international sales, product liability, agency, insurance-reinsurance, mining, etc.).
He regularly sits as arbitrator and is notably a member of the ICC’s French Committee list of arbitrators, and of the panels of arbitrators of the CAS, KCBA International, AIAC and BVI IAC.
He also litigates before French national courts in commercial and civil disputes, judicial expert proceedings and enforcement proceedings.
Hervé Le Lay is an experienced sport-related disputes specialist. He is an arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (General list and Football list) and has been involved in some 40 CAS arbitrations as presiding arbitrator, sole arbitrator, co-arbitrator or ad hoc clerk. He has experience with a broad spectrum of sport related matters, both commercial (TV rights, licensing, M&A, transfer agreements, sponsoring contracts, etc.) and regulatory/disciplinary (anti-doping, match fixing, transfer of players, elections in federations, football specific regulations, etc.), before sport adjudication bodies as well as non-specialized forums such as the ICC and French courts.
Hervé is fluent in English, French and Spanish and has a basic knowledge of Portuguese. A French national, he has lived in Brazil, Panama, Turkey, Canada, Switzerland and Belgium.
Hervé is a graduate of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Université Paris Ouest. In addition to his practice, Hervé is a lecturer on International Arbitration in the Economic Law DESU program of Aix-Marseille University.
Prior to joining MCL Arbitration, he was a partner at US firm. Brown Rudnick LLP.
Hervé Le Lay’s notable experience includes:
Sole arbitrator in an ICC in relation to a franchising dispute in the hospitality sector between Greek and Lebanese investors and companies
Applicable Law: Greek Law
Seat: Paris, France
Language: English
Counsel in an ICC arbitration in relation to a construction dispute in the Middle East between a Turkish company and French/ Iraqi companies
Applicable Law: French Law
Seat: Paris, France
Language: English
Counsel in an ICC arbitration in relation to a post M&A dispute in the TV broadcasting sector between a Dutch company and an English company
Applicable Law: English Law
Seat: Paris, France
Language: English
Counsel in a CAM arbitration in the energy sector between a US company and Canadian/Spanish insurers
Applicable Law: Spanish Law
Seat: Madrid, Spain
Language: English/Spanish
Sole arbitrator in an ICC arbitration relating to the reinsurance industry
Applicable Law: OHADA Law
Seat: Paris France
Language: French
Counsel in 4 parallel ICC arbitrations in relation to a shareholder dispute in the energy sector between a French company and German companies
Applicable Law: French Law
Seat: Paris, France
Language: English/French
Sole arbitrator in an ICC arbitration between a Chinese and a Spanish company over the international sale of agrifood products
Applicable Law: Spanish Law
Seat: Paris, France
Language: English
Sole arbitrator in an ICC arbitration over the construction of a steel plant custom made furnace between a Czech company and a Romanian company
Applicable Law: French
Seat: Paris, France
Language: English
Sole arbitrator in a dispute over the construction, installation startup and training of two manufacturing lines between an Italian company and a Saudi company
Applicable Law: Italian Law
Seat: Paris, France
Language: English
Counsel in Judicial expert proceedings in a dispute over the construction of a power plant in France
Applicable Law: French Law
Seat: French commercial court
Language: French
Counsel in an ICC arbitration relating to a M&A and licensing dispute over 22 TV channels and broadcasting rights of sporting major events
Applicable Law: French Law
Seat: Paris, France
Language: English
Counsel in an industrial risk dispute before French courts over a fire in a petrochemical complex
Applicable Law: French Law
Seat: Paris, France
Language: English
Counsel in an ICC arbitration relating to the termination of a mining concession between a West African State and a Indian/French company
Applicable Law: Local West African State Law and OHADA Law
Seat: Paris, France
Language: French
Counsel in 8 LMAA arbitration relating to Chartering contracts for a fleet of bulk carriers between Jordanian/Saudi companies and an Algerian company
Applicable Law: English Law
Seat: Paris, France
Language: French
Counsel in an ICC arbitration relating to a post M&A and licensing dispute over 22 TV channels and broadcasting rights of sporting major events
Applicable Law: French Law
Seat: Paris, France
Language: English
Counsel in enforcement proceedings relating to a Russian judgement relating to a takeover scheme and fraud in the banking sector
Applicable law: French and Russian Law
Seat: France courts (first instance, appeal and cassation)
Language: French
Counsel in an ICC arbitration relating to mining, railroad and mining concessions between a West African State and UK company
Applicable Law: Local West African State Law and OHADA Law
Seat: Paris, France
Language: French
Counsel in French Court proceedings regarding a dispute over sponsorship agreement between Dutch companies and a French football club
Applicable law: French Law
Seat: French courts (first instance and appeal)
Language: French
Counsel in an ICC Arbitration in relation civil fraud and a management agreement in the banking sector between a Saudi bank and a French bank
Applicable Law: Saudi Law Law
Seat: Geneva, Switzerland
Language: English
Counsel in an ad hoc arbitration in relation a reinsurance dispute between a Danish company and a Turkish company
Applicable Law: English Law
Seat: London, UK
Language: English
Counsel in an ICC arbitration in relation a shareholder dispute between Jordanian/Saudi companies and an Algerian company
Applicable Law: Algerian Law
Seat: Paris, France
Language: French
Counsel in an ICC arbitration relating to a Shareholder dispute over the operation and the financing of the extension of a cement plant between a Saudi company and an Algerian company
Applicable Law: Algerian Law
Seat: Paris, France
Language: French
Counsel in an ICC arbitration relating to the termination of a mining concession in Tunisia
Applicable Law: Tunisian Law
Seat: Geneva, Switzerland
Language: English and French
Counsel in an ICC arbitration relating to the termination of a mining concession in Bolivia between the Bolivian State and an Indian company
Applicable Law: Bolivian Law
Seat: Bolivia
Language: Spanish
Counsel in various annulment and enforcement proceedings of arbitral awards before French Courts
Sole Arbitrator, presiding arbitrator, co-arbitrator or ad hoc clerck in multiple (+40) CAS arbitrations relating to commercial disputes (agent contracts, transfer agreements, employment agreements, etc.) and regulatory disputes (doping, match fixing, FIFA RSTP, UEFA Financial Fair play, elections, etc.)
Arbitration Guide -France, International Bar Association, March 2024 https://www.ibanet.org/document?id=France-country-guides-arbitration
Kraydon: La naturaleza del rol de la CCI en el proceso arbitral, (w/ Y. Concha Takeshita) Iurgium (Club Español e Iberoamericano del Arbitraje), N.°50/2024
Schooner: Una ampliación indeseable del control de la competencia arbitral, (w/ A. Mourre), Spain Arbitration Review/Revista del Club Español del Arbitraje, N.°47/2023
Interview of Maître Hervé Le Lay, Jurisportiva.fr, (March 2021).
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Rappels et précisions sur le contradictoire, le mécanisme de la déduction défavorable et sur le recours à l’équité en matière d’évaluation du préjudice (note sous Cour d’Appel de Paris, Pôle 5/Ch. 16, 1er déc. 2020), Revue de l’Arbitrage – Comité Français de l’Arbitrage,2021- N° 1
Interview on UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules and CAS, So Foot, Nov. 2018:
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Contributor, Investing Across Borders Guide, The World Bank, 2010 and 2012 editions
Arbitrages ordinaires pouvant être soumis au Tribunal Arbitral du Sport, (w/ W. Sternheimer), TAS/CAS Bulletin, No. 1, 2012:
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“Le projet inclusif porté par les Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques de Paris”, IDEF/Fondation pour le Droit Continental and CAS conference on “Sport et Responsabilité Sociétale – Les leçons des Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques de Paris”, French Senate, November 2024.
“Le système International de règlement des litiges sportif”, Conférences d’actualité du CEDIN, Université Paris Nanterre, November 2024.
“Old and new territories for arbitration: Energy, construction, Fintech – How does arbitration fit with different industries?”, Queen Mary University CCLS Alumni Conference, Paris, October 2024.
“Accompagner la coopération juridique et des affaires dans la zone Amérique Latine, la place de l’avocat”, Semaine de de l’Amérique Latine et des Caraïbes, Ordre des Avocats de Paris, May 2024.
“The protection of Athlete’s rights in antidoping proceedings”, SAM Conference, Madrid, May 2024.
“Sports, Arbitration and the Olympics”, Comité Français de l’Arbitrage (CFA), Paris, March 2024.
“From contracts to arbitration: new challenges of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) in the International Business Environment”, Paris Session of the China Arbitration Week 2023, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), September 2023.
“Sports Arbitration”, Thought leadership session, BVI IAC / Paris Arbitration Week, Paris, March 2022.
“Player’s Contracts: Topical Litigious Issues in View of CAS Case Law”, BİLGİ University Sports Law Disputes in Turkey and Europe Webinar, Istanbul, November 2021.
” Fight Club: Concurrent delays in construction projects”, AIJA Construction Disputes Conference, Vienna, October 2021.
“Execution of Monetary Decisions”, The Morgan Sports Law Football Conference, June 2021.
Moderator, “Dealing with cultural and practice differences between counsels”, Paris Arbitration Week, April 2019.
“Is Sports Arbitration in Turmoil Following the Seraing, Mutu & Peichtein Rulings?”, AIJA Sports Law Conference, Paris, December 2018.
“Is There a Viable Alternative to Arbitration to Improve Justice in Sport?”, AIJA Sports Law Conference, Paris, December 2018.
“Gender equality in international dispute resolution”, ICC Istanbul Arbitration Day, February 2018.
“Res Judicata – Parallel Proceedings and Contradictory Awards”, AIJA Conference, Stockholm, June 2017.
“Third party financing in international arbitration”, ICC YAF Conference, Istanbul, May 2017.
“The future of sport arbitration and on the intervention by state courts in different countries into sport”, AIJA Conference, Lausanne, April 2017.
Chair, Roundtable on International Arbitration, The Law Firm Network Global Meeting, Singapore, June 2016.
“Arbitration of commercial sports-related disputes at the CAS”, The Law Firm Network Regional Meeting, Zurich, October 2014.
“Legal review of federation’s decisions through the Court of Arbitration for Sports – Jurisprudence and latest development”, AIJA Sports Law Seminar, Dublin, October 2014.
