Jalal (Jil) El Ahdab is a partner at Bird & Bird, in the Dispute Resolution Group in Paris. He is the Head of the Arbitration Practice in France and a member of the Dispute Resolution practice in the UAE and Morocco (and soon KSA), where he offers his clients his longstanding and cross-border expertise in managing international disputes and arbitrations, especially in international business law, notably in Europe, Africa and the MENA region, focusing on international disputes and foreign investments. Jalal acts as counsel, arbitrator, mediator and expert in various sectors such as construction, telecoms, ports, airports, energy, life sciences, sports and more. He has a 25-year experience in the field and was involved in around 250 matters (over 50 as an arbitrator). From an institutional standpoint, Dr. Ahdab is a former member of UNCITRAL (2013/18), of the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC (2015/21), and a former chair of the IBA Arab Regional Forum and of the IBA Mediation Committee (2019/22). He currently sits as a CAS arbitrator (since 2011), and is the Chair of the CIMAC Court in Morocco, as well as the Chair of the Advisory Board of the MCCI/MARC in Mauritius, and a member of the Advisory Board of VIAC in Austria. At last, he chairs (VC) the European Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (since 2018) and is a member of the ICC Commission. Dr. Ahdab is qualified to practice in Beirut, Paris and New York, and is equally fluent in Arabic, English and French. Jalal has released a book on French Arbitration Law, written (in French) jointly with Sorbonne Professor Daniel Mainguy and published with LexisNexis (2021). He has also co-written the 3rd edition of the book on “Arbitration with the Arab countries” with Kluwer (2011). Detailed bio available on the following link: https://www.twobirds.com/en/our-lawyers/j/jalal-el-ahdab