Independent Arbitrator
Maria Athanasiou is a Cypriot and British independent arbitrator based in Fribourg, Switzerland.
She has over 15 years of experience in international arbitration, and has acted as arbitrator, counsel and secretary to the arbitral tribunal in numerous international investment and commercial arbitrations.
Maria Athanasiou is listed on the arbitrator panels of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC), the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Reserve Panel, the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB) International, the Georgian International Arbitration Centre (GIAC), the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC), the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA), and the British Virgin Islands International Arbitration Centre (BVI IAC).
She studied in the United Kingdom, the United States and Switzerland and is admitted to the New York State Bar.
She holds Cypriot and British citizenships and speaks Greek and English.
Experience
Maria Athanasiou has extensive experience as arbitrator, counsel and secretary to the arbitral tribunal in international commercial and investment arbitrations. Her experience includes high-value and complex commercial and investment arbitrations, both ad hoc and under a variety of arbitration rules, including the rules of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the ICSID (Additional Facility), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Swiss Arbitration Centre, the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA), the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) , and the Belgian Centre for Arbitration and Mediation (CEPANI).
She has experience in various industries, such as mining, energy, transport, construction, infrastructure and banking.
Since 2007, she has worked as an associate and counsel in international law firms in London (Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP), Brussels (Hanotiau & van den Berg) and Fribourg (Bureau Pierre Tercier) alongside prominent arbitration practitioners.
Education
Maria Athanasiou holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Warwick (2005), a Master of Laws in International Legal Studies from the University of Georgetown Law Centre (2006) and a Master in International Dispute Resolution from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and the University of Geneva (2010).
She has been a member of the New York Bar since 2008 and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators since 2019.
She has also trained for and passed the Cyprus Bar examination in 2015.
Professional activities & recognition
Maria Athanasiou has been involved in several international arbitration associations and has held leadership positions, in particular in the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) and DELOS dispute resolution.
She has participated in over 20 conferences on international arbitration as a speaker, moderator and organiser, lectured on international investment arbitration and published articles on international commercial arbitration.
Maria Athanasiou has been continuously recognised as a Future Leader in International Arbitration by Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal) since 2021.