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For more than two decades, Ms. Niuscha Bassirihas been acting as arbitrator (including emergency arbitrator) and counsel in numerous international arbitrations under the major arbitral institutions and arbitration rules (CEPANI, DIAC, DIFC-LCIA, DIS, ICC, ICSID, LCIA, NAI, PCA, Swiss Rules, SCC, SIAC, UNCITRAL, Vienna Rules), including ad hoc (for a list of selected arbitrator and mediator mandates, see below).
The arbitrations in which Ms. Bassiri has been involved concern States, State entities, international organizations and private entities, spanning a multitude of sectors, in particular construction (including FIDIC and MDB), infrastructure and renewables. She has also acted in industries such as banking, energy (including Energy Charter Treaty), entertainment, finance, food and beverage, highways, insurance and reinsurance, luxury and leisure, maritime equipment, metallurgical industry, mining, nuclear power plants, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, railways, real estate, satellites, shipping, solar power plants, steel, telecommunication, third-party funding, transportation, watches, wind parks, and yachts and relating to diverse legal issues including climate, consultancy, corruption, distributorship, fraud, investment, joint ventures, licensing, patents, post-M&A, sales of goods, sanctions and shareholding.
Ms. Bassiri’s matters have been conducted at various seats and governed by a variety of substantive and procedural laws (including those of Afghanistan, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, England and Wales, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Jersey, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Mongolia, Netherlands, New York, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE (DIFC) and Zimbabwe).
Ms. Bassiri appeared as part of the counsel team representing the Russian Federation (until February 2022) in an ECT case and the Republic of India (until August 2024) in taxation and telecommunication matters in a series of post-investment arbitration setting aside, revocation and enforcement proceedings before State Courts in Belgium and the Netherlands. As a mediator, Ms. Bassiri successfully concluded an ICC mediation in an international post-M&A matter.
In January 2026, Ms. Bassiri was elected Vice-President of the DIS (Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit e.V.), the German Arbitration Institution. She is currently the Co-Chair of the IBA (International Bar Association) Task Force on “The Nationality of the Arbitrator as a Proxy for Independence and Impartiality”.
Ms. Bassiri is Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center and member of the faculty of the Geneva LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement (MIDS), teaching the New York Convention. She was also a member of the faculty of the University of Miami White & Case International Arbitration LL.M. program as well as a Visiting Fellow at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law. She taught International Commercial and Investment Arbitration in the special course at the National Law University of Delhi. She co-founded and lectured in the master’s program of the ICHEC Business and Management School in Brussels on International Commercial Law and Dispute Resolution for 12 years.
Ms. Bassiri is also the Co-Chair of the ICC Advanced Arbitration Academy for Western Europe, after having previously acted in that role for Eastern Europe. For several years, Ms. Bassiri has been a faculty member of the CIArb’s Virtual Diploma on International Commercial Arbitration program. Ms. Bassiri was the Founding Chair of the Delos Dispute Resolution’s Writing Awards Course. As a member of the ICC Task Force Addressing Issues of Corruption in International Arbitration, she is a Coordinator of one of the tracks focusing on the use of AI for detecting red flags, co-authoring a report on the same.
Ms. Bassiri is regularly invited as a keynote speaker at conferences and a panelist in roundtable discussions regarding a variety of issues in international arbitration. She publishes widely on topics such as efficiency in investment arbitration, EU consumer law and arbitration, enforcement of awards rendered in ODR, default arbitration proceedings, institutional rules’ nationality requirements, arbitrators and their online identity on social media and settlement facilitation in arbitrations. Ms.Bassiri is co-editor and author of various landmark books, amongst them International Arbitration and the COVID-19 Revolution, as well as Arbitration in Belgium, the sole English-language commentary on the Belgian arbitration law. Ms. Bassiri is also a co-author in the leading German language commentary on the ICC and DIS Rules, now in its second edition.
Ms. Bassiri is a member or listed in various panels and lists of arbitrators, including the Abu Dhabi International Arbitration Centre, ASA (Swiss Arbitration Association), BVI International Arbitration Centre, CEPANI (Belgian Center for Arbitration and Mediation), DIS (German Arbitration Institute), HKIAC (Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre), India International Arbitration Centre, LCIA (London Court of International Arbitration), NAI (Netherlands Arbitration Institute), SIAC (Singapore International Arbitration Centre) and in many arbitration directories.
The arbitrations and mediations in which Ms. Bassiri has been involved concern state entities and private entities alike, spanning a multitude of sectors, in particular construction (FIDIC and MDB), infrastructure and renewables. She has also acted in industries such as banking, climate, energy (Energy Charter Treaty - ECT), entertainment, finance, food and beverage, highways, infrastructure, insurance, luxury and leisure, maritime equipment, metallurgical industry, mining, nuclear power plants, oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, railways, real estate, satellites, shipping, solar power plants, steel, telecommunications, third-party funding, transportation, watches, wind parks and yachts and relating to diverse legal issues including corruption, distributorship, investment, joint ventures, licensing, patents, post-M&A, sales of goods, sanctions and shareholdings.
Ms. Bassiri’s matters have been conducted at various seats, governed by a variety of substantive and procedural laws (including those of Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Egypt, England and Wales, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Iran, Jersey, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Netherlands, New York, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE and Zimbabwe).
Ms. Bassiri has received many professiona laccolades, recognizing her as one of the best in international arbitration, including Chambers and Partners, Leaders League, Lexology (formerly Who’s Who Legal) Arbitration, Legal 500 Arbitration Powerlist, Expert Guides Women in Business Law—Arbitration, GAR 100, among others. Since 2014, she has been praised in Lexology—Arbitration. Already in 2016, she was ranked in the top 20 practitioners worldwide by Who’s Who Legal: Future Leaders – Arbitration, described by peers and clients as an “extremely sharp arbitrator and counsel”. Since 2018, Lexology—Arbitration has acknowledged Ms. Bassiri as a Global Thought Leader.
The arbitration community acknowledged Ms. Bassiri’s arbitrator career by describing her as an “elegant and skillful arbitrator” who has deep “experience in international commercial arbitration and construction” disputes and is an “excellent arbitrator; top speaker and extremely knowledgeable in investment arbitration”. Peers, counsel and arbitrators, describe Ms. Bassiri to be “[h]ighly recommended for her leading investment and commercial arbitration expertise” and as a “very smart and hard-working lawyer” and a “brilliant arbitrator”, who is “sharp, quick and attentive to details”, “has an abundance of hands-on experience” and “excellent experience in investment arbitration and energy-related disputes”. Further, “Ms. Bassiri is able to handle tricky situations as arbitrator with finesse and sound judgment”. Observers of her work also state that “her skills as an arbitrator are so polished she shines.” In 2025, peers have described her as “simply brilliant” and “an excellent practitioner with experience involving Central and Eastern Europe.” In the Lexology Index 2026, peers testify that she is “extremely experienced” and has “significant input to the practice of arbitration”, “a clever and well-prepared arbitrator” and “an exceptionally effective communicator”.
Cologne, Brussels (E-List)
German, Iranian
+32 475 78 31 35
Avenue Louise 231, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
"Extremely sharp arbitrator and counsel"
"Elegant and skillful arbitrator"
"[h]ighly recommended for her leading
investment and commercial arbitration expertise"
"brilliant arbitrator"
"excellent experience in investment
arbitration and energy-related disputes“
"handles tricky situations as arbitrator
with finesse and sound judgment"
"Europe Guide 2025 Band 3 – International arbitration: most in demand arbitrators"
"Belgium – Dispute resolution: arbitration"
“Simply Brilliant”
"An excellent practitioner with experience involving Central and Eastern Europe"
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