Ismail Selim

Director , The Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA)

Dr Ismail Selim is the director of the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA), president of the International Federation of Commercial Arbitration Institutions and chair of CIArb Egypt and vice-president of the African Arbitration Association (AfAA).

He graduated with an LLB from Cairo University in 1997 and an LLM in international business law from the Institute of International Business Law (IDAI) in 1999. He obtained his master’s degree in public administration from the École Nationale d’Administration in 2001 and a certificate in international commercial arbitration from Queen Mary University of London in 2005. In 2007, he completed an internship programme at the ICC International Court of Arbitration. In 2009, he earned his PhD, with highest honours, from Burgundy University and defended his thesis on International Public Order in the favour of arbitration. The thesis was published by Edition Universitaire Européenne.

Dr Selim started his career in the judiciary before joining Zulficar & Partners as a partner in 2009. In May 2015, he joined Nour & Selim in association with Al Tamimi & Company as partner and head of dispute resolution. In parallel to his former judicial career, Dr Selim was seconded to the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration from 2003 to 2007, where he acted as Legal Advisor. Dr Selim has also been a member of CRCICA Advisory Committee since 2016.

A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and a member of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), Dr Selim has taught private international law at the IDAI since 2011. He has also taught comparative international arbitration law on the LLM business law Arab world and Middle East course at Panthéon-Sorbonne University since 2018 and is a fully approved tutor in CIArb Approved Faculty List (AFL) since 2018.

Fluent in Arabic, French, and English, with basic knowledge of Chinese, Dr Selim has published several articles in learned Egyptian and International journals and was a speaker in several national and international conferences, especially in the field of arbitration and ADR.

Dr Selim has consistently been appointed as presiding arbitrator, sole arbitrator and co-arbitrator and has acted as counsel under various rules, including the CRCICA, ICC, DIAC, DIFC-LCIA, ADCCAC, BCDR, UNCITRAL, CAS and Swiss Rules in various fields. He also provides expert opinions on Egyptian, Libyan, Yemeni and Kuwaiti laws in arbitration and international proceedings. Dr Selim was appointed by the CAS as presiding arbitrator and co-arbitrator to hear sports disputes arising during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. He is also a certified mediator at the London School of Mediation and has served as mediator under the rules of the Investors Disputes Settlement Centre (GAFI- Egypt).

Internationally. Dr Selim has experience as an expert for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where he participated in the review and preparation of the draft Iraqi Arbitration Law. He has also delivered workshops on international arbitration to multiple stakeholders in Iraq, enhancing the capacities of relevant parties in understanding international arbitration practices.