Professor Yarik Kryvoi (British Institute of International and Comparative Law) and Professor Anna Petrig (University of Basel) are co-directors of the Arbitration Lab.
Professor Yarik Kryvoi is a co-director of the Arbitration Lab. He is the Senior Fellow in International Economic Law and Director of the Investment Treaty Forum at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law in London. He is also an Of Counsel at Keidan Harrisson in London.
Before moving to academia, Professor Kryvoi practised law with Freshfields in London, Morgan Lewis & Bockius in Washington, DC and Baker & McKenzie in Saint Petersburg. His main areas of expertise include International Arbitration, International Investment Law, Russian and Eurasian Law, Reforms and Government Excellence, Economic Crimes, Corruption and Bribery.
Professor Kryvoi is currently engaged in various law reform and capacity-building projects for the United Nations, governmental agencies and academic institutions. He is listed as an arbitrator by several institutions, including the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, the Asian International Arbitration Centre and the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration.
He conducted training on international arbitration at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Practicing Law Institute, and for the UK and other governments, universities and law firms. He also participates in the meetings of the UNCITRAL Working Group III: Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform.
Professor Kryvoi has authored several articles and monographs, primarily in the area of international dispute resolution and has also conducted several empirical studies in partnership with leading law firms. His recently published works include Private or Public Adjudication? Procedure, Substance and Legitimacy (Leiden Journal of International Law, 2021), International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (Kluwer Law International, 2023, forthcoming), Public and Private Governance of Cybersecurity: Challenges and Potential (Cambridge University Press 2023, forthcoming).
He is also a co-chair of an expert group convened by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime tasked with analysing the allegations of corruption in investor-state disputes.
Professor Kryvoi is also a creator of online courses International Investment Law and Dispute Resolution and the Annual ISDS Update.
Professor Anna Petrig holds the Chair of International and Public Law at the University of Basel, Switzerland. Prior to her current appointment, she served as a professor at the University of Zurich. She has been a visiting researcher and professor at numerous universities and research institutes, including serving as a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at SOAS University of London in 2025.
Anna has been awarded a Ph.D. in the field of the Law of the Sea and International Human Rights Law from the University of Basel and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, where she studied as a Fulbright scholar. She is a member of the Bar of the Canton of Berne (Switzerland) and of the New York State Bar (USA). Her broad legal experience includes work in private practice, the courts, and the Legal Division of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Her articles and book chapters cover a wide range of ocean-related topics, including armed conflict at sea. She has authored several monographs and textbooks in the area of Public International Law, the Law of the Sea, International Human Rights Law and Criminal law. She has presented her research at institutions across Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and Australia. Anna has provided expert advice, oral evidence and legal counsel on maritime-related matters to the Swiss Government, the UK House of Lords, NGOs and international organisations, notably on the use of private security on board ships, the protection of underwater cultural heritage, arms trade at sea and human rights at sea.
She has been a member of the Swiss delegation and the Delegation of the Comité Maritime International (CMI) to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Anna was sitting as Judge ad hoc for Switzerland on the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Cases 27 and 29. Since 2024, she has been one of the Swiss members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. Anna is listed as one of the Swiss experts for the Moscow Mechanism of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights since 2023.
Anna currently acts as a board member of the Swiss Maritime Law Association and the Swiss Society for International Law; and is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Swiss branch of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War. Anna is Co-Rapporteur of the Committee on Protection of People at Sea of the International Law Association (ILA) and Chair of the EU-funded project BlueRights (Life, Liberty and Health: Ensuring Universal Protection of Human Rights at Sea, COST Action CA23103). Since 2025, she has been a member of the Drafting Committee working on the update of the 1994 San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflict at Sea.
Team
Rebekka Gigon is dealing with project management at Arbitration Lab. She a Swiss lawyer with extensive experience as a research associate and assistant in academic and legal environments. She currently works in the team of Professor Anna Petrig at the Faculty of Law, University of Basel, and at OfficePieth with Professor Mark Pieth.
Her core responsibilities include managing academic publications from initial concept to final publication, organizing high-level conferences, and supporting teaching activities. She holds a law degree from the University of Basel (lic. iur. cum laude) and has completed further training in mediation, coaching, and solution-focused communication. Rebekka is known for her ability to quickly grasp complex issues, her structured and empathetic working style, and her strong organizational and interpersonal skills.
Dr. Paula Borowska is also dealing with project management at Arbitration Lab. She has taught at the University College London and King’s College London. She has also worked at The Brilliant Club, an organisation that builds strong relationships with schools, universities, and PhD researchers to support less advantaged pupils across the UK.
She is a social scientist with a PhD in Sociology from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London. Her research focuses on religion, social capital, and civil society, and she authored the book Evangelicals in a Dictatorship: Protestants, Social Capital and Civil Society in Belarus.
Aakarsh Banyal is an India-qualified lawyer and currently pursues the MPhil in Law at the University of Oxford. He previously read for the BCL at Oxford, graduating with distinction. His work focuses on international investment law, the international law of the sea, and international dispute settlement.
Aakarsh was part of the inaugural cohort of the Basel Winter Arbitration School in 2022 and also participated in the London Summer Arbitration School the same year. He completed his undergraduate law degree at Symbiosis Law School, graduating first in his class and receiving the Chancellor’s Gold Medal as the Best Outgoing Student of the University.
Malhar Vinod Satav is law student at National Law School of India University in Bengaluru. He holds a Diploma in International Arbitration, having completed the requirements of the London Summer Arbitration School and Basel Winter Arbitration School (2025). At Arbitration Lab, he works closely with Professors Yarik Kryvoi and Anna Petrig on research, course development, and the organisation of flagship programmes, including the London Summer Arbitration School.
He has supported courses on arbitration, careers, and public international law, and co-edited leading publications such as M.P. Jain on Indian Constitutional Law. With internships at top firms and work alongside eminent arbitrators and judges, Malhar’s research spans arbitration, constitutional law, queer rights, and climate change.
