FABIO GIUSEPPE SANTACROCE

VCARD

email: fabio.santacroce@arblit.com
phone: +39 02 8425 4810 

EDUCATION

  • Degree in Law (Bocconi University, Milan, 2012)
  • LL.M. (University of Cambridge, 2018)

 

ADMISSIONS

  • Milan Bar

 

LANGUAGES

  • Italian, English, French (reading and listening), Spanish (reading and listening), Portuguese (reading and listening)

Fabio’s practice centres on international arbitration. He has participated as counsel, secretary or assistant to the arbitral tribunal in over 25 arbitrations across a variety of sectors (such as telecommunications, construction, energy, defence and insurance), under all major arbitration rules (ICC, ICSID, SIAC, LCIA, UNCITRAL and Milan Chamber of Arbitration), and subject to a wide range of governing laws (Italian, English, French, Swiss, Spanish, Brazilian, Polish, Greek, Albanian, Romanian laws as well as public international law). Besides his arbitration work, Fabio also acts as counsel in arbitration-related cases before Italian courts, having developed an expertise for injunctive relief, the challenge of arbitrators and post-award proceedings.

 

Fabio’s recent experience as counsel includes representing:

  • a leading German multinational group active in the defence sector in multibillion ICC arbitration proceedings brought against it by a European State;
  • the Mexican subsidiary of a prominent Italian steel-making group in a successful ICC arbitration and in subsequent annulment proceedings relating to an accident at one of the world’s largest iron production plants (amount in dispute € 70 million);
  • four prominent oil and gas companies, including ERG S.p.A., in a successful ICC arbitration, securing dismissal of all the counterparty’s claims and award of almost the entirety of the arbitration and legal costs (concluded);
  • a major Italian energy company and one of its subsidiaries in ICC arbitration arising from their acquisition of a major Italian hydro business; and
  • the Dutch subsidiary of a major French multinational active in the defence sector in ICC arbitration arising from their acquisition of an Italian company operating in the same business.

 

Fabio is recognized as “future leader” in international arbitration (Who’s Who Legal “Arbitration Future Leaders – Non Partners”), notable Italian lawyer in that field (Who’s Who Legal “Italy: Arbitration”), “rising star” of dispute resolution (The Legal 500 “Dispute Resolution – Europe, Middle-East & Africa”) and “associate to watch” (Chambers and Partner’s “Dispute Resolution: Most in Demand Arbitrators”). He has also been included in The Legal 500’s Dispute Resolution Powerlist: Italy.

 

Fabio publishes regularly with the most prestigious academic reviews. In 2014, his article “The Emergency Arbitrator: a full-fledged arbitrator rendering an enforceable award?” was named a runner-up prize for McGill University’s Nappert Prize on International Arbitration, and, in 2012, his graduate dissertation was awarded the Padovani prize by the Italian Society of International and European Law.

 

Fabio graduated summa cum laude from Bocconi University and obtained an LLM from the University of Cambridge. Before joining ArbLit, he was a member of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s International Arbitration Group and, prior to that, of Hogan Lovell’s M&A department in Milan.  He is fluent in English, and reads French, Spanish and Portuguese.

  • Milan Bar (year of call: 2015)
  • ICC YAF
  • Young ICCA
  • Young International Arbitration Group (LCIA)
  • Bocconi Students Advocacy & Litigation
  • «Thou Shalt Have the Power to Grant Interim Relief: The Reform of the Italian Regime on Arbitral Interim Relief», Co-author with Andrea Melchionda, Journal of International Arbitration 40, no. 4
    (2023): 479–494.
  • “Human Rights in International Arbitration” (Oxford University Press), Co-author with Massimo Benedettelli, forthcoming;
  • “The Applicability of Human Rights Law in International Investment Disputes» in ICSID Review – Foreign Investment Law Journal (Oxford University Press), Vol. 34(1) 2019, 136–155.
  • «Navigating the troubled waters between jurisdiction and admissibility: an analysis of which law should govern characterization of preliminary issues in international arbitration”, in Arbitration International (Oxford University Press), Vol. 33(4) 2017, 539–570.
  • «The emergency arbitrator: a full-fledged arbitrator rendering an enforceable decision?», in Arbitration International, Vol.31(2) 2015, 283-312.
  • “Efficacia ed eseguibilità delle decisioni dell’emergency arbitrator negli Stati Uniti”, Diritto del Commercio Internazionale, 2014, 2.
  • CEA, AIA-Arbit Below 40, Rovereto, October 4, 2019, “Tempora Mutantur: International Arbitration in Europe”
  • ICC YAF, Milan, December 11, 2018, “Human Rights in International Arbitration”
  • Cambridge University, March 3, 2018, “Cambridge Arbitration Day” (co-organizer)