Marie STOYANOV

Marie is the Global Co-Head of Arbitration at A&O Shearman, based in Paris. She specialises in commercial and investment treaty arbitration. She has advised and represented clients in arbitrations throughout the world, both ad hoc and under all the major institutional rules, including the ICC, LCIA and ICSID Rules in which she has particular expertise.

Marie has substantial experience across all market sectors but her practice focuses particularly on infrastructure, energy, and natural resource disputes, with expertise in disputes arising across the African continent.

With clients that include both international investors and sovereign States, Marie regularly appears as advocate before renowned international tribunals arguing extremely complex cases, often with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake. Marie also sits as an arbitrator herself and has written and spoken regularly about international investment and arbitration.

In addition, Marie has also advised various clients on how best to structure their investment in Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia, in order to take advantage of protections offered by investment treaties and foreign investment laws.

After graduating from ESSEC, Marie studied law and was admitted to the Paris bar in 2003. As a French qualified lawyer, she is naturally used to working in all civil-law environments, in particular those whose law is directly derived from French law (e.g. Algerian law, Egyptian law, Moroccan law, UAE law).

A member of the Executive Board of the European Federation for Investment Law and Arbitration (EFILA), Marie is also an Advisory Board member of the publication Investment Claims, which is published by Oxford University Press.

Marie is a recognised by leading legal directories, including Chambers, Legal 500 and « Best Lawyers ». “Marie is an excellent arbitration lawyer. She was excellent in cross-examinations, smart and pleasant.” (Chambers Global, International Arbitration, 2024).