Jennifer YOUNAN

Jennifer Younan is a partner in the International Arbitration and the Public International Law practices. She is also a member of the Firm’s Energy Innovation and Global Sanctions teams.

Jennifer has 20 years of experience advising and representing companies, State-owned entities and States in investment treaty and commercial arbitrations. Jennifer has notably participated in several of the largest international disputes submitted to arbitration, securing historic victories for the Firm’s clients, including a $ 50 billion award for the majority shareholders in the former Yukos Oil Company (the largest award ever rendered by an arbitral tribunal). Her experience covers a wide range of industry sectors and types of disputes, including energy (oil & gas, power, nuclear, renewables), mining & metals, banking & finance, infrastructure/transportation and construction, as well as disputes arising from business combination transactions (mergers & acquisitions and joint ventures) and general commercial matters. Jennifer has particular expertise in investment and energy-related disputes in emerging markets, as well as disputes having a Russian nexus, and is well known for advising on cutting-edge and topical issues in the field of public international law. She also sits as arbitrator.

Jennifer is a member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, the Editorial Board of the ICC Dispute Resolution Bulletin and the ICC Task Force on addressing issues of corruption in international arbitration. She is also a former Australian Government Delegate to the UNCITRAL Working Group II on Arbitration and Conciliation.

Jennifer is recognized as a Global Market Leader by Chambers & Partners, a Leading Lawyer in The Legal 500 and a Global Leader and Thought Leader (France) in Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration.
In its 2023 ranking of Global Market Leaders in Arbitration, Chambers & Partners notes that clients have described Jennifer as “incredibly impress[ive]”, observing that “her attention to client service is among the best in the business” and “[h]er legal advice is creative and practical”. They also describe Jennifer as a “strategic thinker” and “a truly outstanding lawyer”, “with a wealth of experience representing clients in significant arbitrations”, as well as being “good at leveraging technical knowledge” and “a great project manager and team leader”.

Other directories have noted that Jennifer “is highly regarded for her first-rate arbitration practice” and enjoys “a strong reputation in the international arbitration market where she is well known for her work handling complex commercial and investor-state arbitration proceedings”. Hailed as “[o]ne of the leaders in arbitration”, she is described as “masterful”, “a real star”, “a brilliant individual” with “an exceptional legal mind” and “multi-industry expertise”, as well as “one of the finest, most distinguished and refined arbitration lawyers”.

Jennifer is admitted to practice in New South Wales (Australia), England and Wales and Paris.