Charles NAIRAC
Charles Nairac is the Global Co-Head of White & Case's International Arbitration Practice. He advises on commercial and investor-state arbitration, with a focus on the construction and energy industries.
Charles offers his clients the benefit of his comprehensive experience. He has resolved difficult cross-border disputes from Africa and Latin America to the Middle East and Central Eastern Europe, supporting a wide range of clients from governments to the owner of a family business. A citizen of Mauritius, the United Kingdom and France, Charles is fluent in English and French, and is able to handle complex arbitrations in either language. He has been involved in international commercial and investment arbitrations under most of the major institutional rules, as well as in ad hoc arbitrations.
Charles also accepts nominations as arbitrator, and recently served as a party-appointed arbitrator in a complex construction dispute involving a project in Central Asia. He is a member of a number of organizations with worldwide recognition, among which are Africa International Legal Awareness (Advisory Board), Paris, the Home of International Arbitration, IBA (Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Subcommittee), the ICC Task Force on "Financial Institutions and International Arbitration" and "Maximizing the Probative Value of Witness Evidence".
Before joining White & Case LLP in 2001, Charles started his career doing M&A and finance work in a boutique firm, and then served as in-house legal adviser for a French bank in Singapore. While Charles' practice focuses exclusively on arbitration, this personal experience with transactional work and in the day-to-day business of a major company has given him an excellent understanding of the environment in which his clients operate.
Charles is recognized in leading legal directories such as Chambers, The Legal 500, the International Who's Who of Construction Lawyers and the Global Arbitration Review 100. He also teaches international arbitration at Sciences-Po Paris, Université de Paris I, Université Paris II and Université de Nancy.
