Laurent Jaeger has left the partnership at King & Spalding in Paris to practise as an independent arbitrator.

The French national left the firm at the start of the year to launch Jaeger Arbitration, where he is solely accepting arbitrator appointments.

He tells GAR: “It was an honour and a privilege to be part of King & Spalding’s fantastic arbitration team for more than five years.
I will miss my colleagues and friends there, but it is time for me to focus on my practice as arbitrator.”

Jaeger joined King & Spalding in 2018 after nine years at Orrick in Paris, where he had been worldwide co-head of international arbitration.

He recently led the King & Spalding team that helped the children of Indian mining tycoon Pramod Agarwal revive a US$4 billion investment treaty claim against Uruguay – by persuading the French courts to annul an award that had declined jurisdiction.

He was also part of the team that represented Spanish construction group OHLA in a €200 million dispute with an Algerian state entity.

Jaeger has heard more than 50 cases as arbitrator. He chaired an ICC tribunal that issued a €12.5 million award against Gabon over a failed project to upgrade a football stadium for the Africa Cup of Nations; and sat on a panel that issued an ICC award in favour of the Georgian road authority.

Earlier in his career, Jaeger spent a decade at the firm that became Stibbe, where he was first made partner, and nine years at Latham & Watkins after it took over Stibbe’s Paris office in 2000.

He joined Orrick in 2009, and served as co-head of international arbitration at the firm between 2010 and 2011. While there he handled several cases for Guinea, including defending it against a US$5 billion ICSID claim launched by Beny Steinmetz Group Resources over a revoked iron ore concession. The case was dismissed in 2022.

Jaeger also helped Guinea to defeat two other ICSID cases – a US$120 million contract-based claim brought by a soft drinks maker; and a US$91 million claim filed by a real estate investor.

Paris-based King & Spalding partner James Castello says: “Laurent has the kind of sharp, analytic mind that quickly cuts to the essence of any legal dispute, and that – plus his easy-going manner – have made him a prized King & Spalding colleague for the last five years.”

“I am sorry to see him leave but, given the demand for his services as an arbitrator, I understand his desire to move on to this next phase of his career.”