Babak is a member of the ADR Chambers National Specialized Commercial Arbitration Panel. He is also a member of the ADR Chambers general panel of mediators and arbitrators and a panel member of ADR Chambers International.
Babak was born on 22 February 1966 in Tehran, Iran. He was educated in Europe (Aiglon College in Villars, Switzerland and Ecole Active Bilingue J.M. in Paris, France), the United States of America (Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois) and Canada (Moncton, McGill and Montreal Universities) and he has both Canadian and French citizenships. Babak is fluent in English, French and Farsi.
Babak has practised law in both common and civil law jurisdictions. After practising law in Toronto, Zurich, and London, England, Babak is now the co-head of the Dispute Resolution Group at BCF LLP in Montreal. During the year 1998, Babak was counsel to an Ontario software company located in Toronto, Ontario. In addition to advising this company on a variety of commercial matters, Babak assisted this company with the expansion of its international business in the United States, Europe and South America. During the year 1999, Babak was a Senior Legal Advisor and Team Leader at the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant (World War II) Accounts in Switzerland. During the year 2000, Babak was counsel to a large multi-national insurance company during the negotiations of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC) dispute resolution process. In 2001, Babak was a delegate of the Government of Canada at the meetings of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group on Arbitration, which took place in Vienna, Austria. The focus of these meetings was the preparation of a Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation, which was adopted in June of 2002.
Babak has represented and continues to act for domestic and international private and state parties before institutional and ad hoc tribunals in a variety of disputes, including new technology, pharmaceutical, oil & gas, telecommunication and construction. Babak has also acted as sole and party-nominated arbitrator in a number of international and domestic disputes. Babak has appeared and continues to appear as counsel before various Canadian courts.
Babak is the past Editor-in-chief of The Globetrotter (The Canadian Bar Association International Law Section Newsletter), the Editor of Carswell's Handbook of International Dispute Resolution Rules (1999 - Thomson Publishing), and a co-author of The Osler Guide to Commercial Arbitration in Canada (2006 - Kluwer Law International). He has written and lectured extensively in the fields of domestic and international commercial arbitration law. Babak was a part-time lecturer at the University of Zurich and at the University of Montreal, where he taught international commercial arbitration and where he was also the coach of that University's team participating annually at the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Competition in Vienna, Austria. Babak is currently teaching a domestic and international dispute resolution course at the University of Sherbrooke.
Babak is on the arbitration roster of ADR Chambers and he is the Chair of the CBA Annual CLE Program on International Commercial Arbitration in Canada. He is a member of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), a member of the ICC roster of arbitrators in Canada and a member of the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA), where he was the founder and co-chair of "Groupe ASA des Jeunes Praticiens de l'Arbitrage" (Young Swiss Arbitration Practitioners Group). Babak is a founding member of the Young Canadian Arbitration Practitioners (YCAP) and a member of the International Bar Association (member of the executive of the mediation committee and the Past Chair of the IBA Mediation Subcommittee on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation). Babak is the Editor of the IBA Mediation Committee Newsletter and a member of the Editorial Board of Dispute Resolution International, a journal which will be published by the Dispute Resolution Section of the Legal Practice Division of the IBA. Babak was the chair of ICCA (International Council for Commercial Arbitration) Montreal 2006 Organizing Committee Inc., which hosted the 18th ICCA Congress in Canada. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Arbitration Congress and a member of the Equivalence Committee of the Quebec Bar.
In a 2006 article entitled, "Leading lights 45 under 45", Babak was identified by Global Arbitration Review as one of 45 leaders under 45 in the field of International Commercial Arbitration. Since then, Babak has been selected by his peers to be among The International Who's Who of Commercial Arbitration and The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers. In February of 2007, in an article entitled "Canada's Arbitration Practices - Rated", Babak was listed by Global Arbitration Review as being "Highly Regarded" among Canada's Top 21 arbitration names for international work. Babak is also listed in the 2007 issue of The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as a leading practitioner in arbitration and the Premiere and 2008 Edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada.
Babak is married and has three children.
Representative Work:
- Counsel for a Romanian distribution company in a licensing dispute resolved pursuant to the International Arbitration Rules of the Zurich Chamber of Commerce and seated in Zurich.
- Counsel for a Polish company in a licensing dispute resolved pursuant to the ICC Arbitration Rules and seated in Geneva.
- Counsel for a Middle-Eastern state company in an ad hoc arbitration involving oil & gas/construction issues and seated in London, England.
- Counsel for a European biotechnology company in an ad hoc arbitration seated in Paris.
- Counsel for a Multi-national technology company in an ad hoc arbitration seated in Toronto.
- Counsel to a Multi-national company in an international sport-related dispute seated in London, England.
- Co-counsel to a Canadian fashion company in an ICC arbitration seated in Ontario.
- Co-counsel to a French Multi-national company in a very complex ICC arbitration seated in Montreal.
- Counsel to a Canadian construction industry manufacturer in a software dispute governed by the provisions of Book VII, Title I of the Quebec Code of Civil Procedure and seated in Montreal.
- Counsel for a Canadian Government Agency in an ad hoc international commercial arbitration proceeding commenced against a South American Government agency and seated in Miami.
- Advising counsel to Air France before the Quebec Court of Appeal.
- Counsel to Dell Computer Corporation before the Quebec Court of Appeal in a leading matter concerning class actions, consumer disputes and arbitration. Dell was successful before the Supreme Court of Canada.
- Counsel to bioMerieux Inc. before the Quebec Superior Court and the Quebec Court of Appeal.
- Counsel to Louis Dreyfus S.A.S. before the Quebec Superior Court in annulment proceedings relating to ICC awards.
- Counsel to Illinios Tool Works Canada before the Quebec Superior Court.
- Sole Arbitrator in an ICC case seated in Montreal.
- Sole Arbitrator in an ICC case seated in Baltimore, Maryland.
- Party-nominated Arbitrator in a local purchase and sale dispute seated in Montreal.
- Party-nominated Arbitrator in an UNCITRAL case seated in Ontario.
