Youssef & Partners

Obtained a positive result for Veolia in a waste management dispute

This Egyptian full-service firm was set up by Karim Youssef in 2016 after he had spent more than five years as partner at Amereller in Cairo and Dubai, where he headed the Middle East arbitration practice. Before that, he practised for two years at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

Youssef has worked as counsel and expert witness in high-profile commercial and investment arbitrations, often relating to public contracts awarded by states in the region. He's a member of the advisory committee of the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA) and the editorial board of the Journal of Arab Arbitration. He sits as arbitrator in CRCICA, DIAC and ICC arbitrations.

The firm's other arbitration partner is César Ternieden, who joined in 2020 from Shahid Law Firm. 

It takes pride in having an unusually large proportion of female lawyers compared with its competitors in the region.

Who uses it?

The firm has advised the Arab African International Bank, the Arabian Cement Company and its parent Grupo Cementos La Unión, Veolia Proprete, IGI-Group, CTIP Oil & Gas, Kuwait’s KGL, Egypt Kuwait Holding Company, the Arab Contractors Company and Egyptair.

Track record

Together with Crowell & Moring, Youssef & Partners helped a consortium led by Kuwaiti logistics group KGL win a US$490 million ICC award against the Damietta port authority over a terminated concession. The Egyptian courts set aside the award, but the team pressed on with a related ICSID claim against Egypt before the parties negotiated a global settlement worth US$260 million in 2022. 

Youssef helped Egyptian television station CBC prevail in a claim against Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef, who has been described as Egypt’s answer to US comedian Jon Stewart. He has also successfully defended the Egyptian branch of a major energy conglomerate in a dispute over the supply of power generators.

The firm helped developer Al Kholoud obtain an US$89 million settlement that brought an end to an UNCITRAL case against Egypt arising from the judicial unwinding of a Mubarak era privatisation of a steam boiler manufacturer in the wake of the 2011 revolution.

Recent events

Youssef & Partners reports recently winning a favourable award for France’s Veolia against an Egyptian regional government in a dispute over a waste management contract for the city of Alexandria.

It helped a high-net-worth individual and his family secure the dismissal of claims worth US$275 million in a Geneva-seated ICC arbitration, also winning costs. 

The firm is advising investors on prospective investment claims against Lebanon arising out of the state’s debt and default crisis in 2020.

It says it is also representing a major Spanish conglomerate in arbitration proceedings and related court litigation in the UAE against a government entity.

Spanish investors Cementos La Unión and Aridos Jativa continue to use the firm as they seek to partially annul an ICSID award that held Egypt liable but declined to award any of the €240 million they sought in damages.

The firm provided expert evidence in a multibillion-dollar dispute between a number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals.

Youssef was appointed to the inaugural 22-member arbitration committee of the British Virgin Islands’ International Arbitration Centre in early 2022.

Partner Mahmoud Moharram, who had been with the firm since 2019, left the firm in 2021 to become general counsel at the Sovereign Fund of Egypt. 

Client comment

Crowell & Moring partner George Ruttinger says Youssef was “instrumental” as co-counsel in a successful ICC arbitration. “He is a well-known arbitrator in his own right, so he was a great resource to us in framing our arguments to the tribunal in a persuasive manner.”

One arbitrator says the firm demonstrated “legal strength and procedural efficiency” as counsel, while Youssef is “certainly an outstanding practitioner in international arbitration thanks to its strong legal background and advocacy skills”.

Dubai-based Watson Farley & Williams counsel Soraya Corm-Bakhos, who appointed Youssef & Partners as local co-counsel to a since-settled commercial arbitration at the CRCICA, says the firm is “excellent in all respects: friendliness, responsiveness and quality of advice”.

Youssef is “extremely knowledgeable on matters of Egyptian law” while partner César Ternieden “delivers clear, efficient and commercially sound advice”, she says.

Another well-known partner at a GAR 30 firm says Youssef & Partners was “excellent in all respects” when acting as expert witness on Kuwaiti law.