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Viraj Bhide

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Overview

Education

  • Master’s Degree in Litigation, Arbitration and ADR, University of Paris II Pantheon-Assas
  • LLM, University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne
  • Indian Law Degree, University of Mumbai

Leadership Positions

Assistant Editor, Journal of International Arbitration (2025 – Present)

Viraj Bhide (LL.M.) is a multilingual lawyer with extensive experience in cross-border litigation and arbitration across a range of industry sectors. 

Over the past 15 years, he has advised both sovereigns and private parties on matters of private and public international law. He has also handled IP/IT litigation, representing several large clients in copyright cases and software-related disputes (in French courts).

 In parallel, Viraj teaches international dispute resolution on a leading master’s program at Queen Mary University of London. In that capacity, Viraj was responsible for developing a year-long course on investment treaty arbitration, which he has also taught since 2018.

 Viraj first qualified as an attorney in India (2011), and subsequently requalified and practised as an attorney at the Paris Bar (between 2014 and 2020).

Representative Cases

  • Advising a State-owned corporation on enforcement proceedings in France arising out of an ICC award
  • Advising a group of companies on preliminary steps under applicable BITs before the notification of disputes in relation to Coronavirus-related measures
  • Advising a sovereign on updated specifications for its passports in accordance with European law and the Montreal Convention
  • Counsel for a telecom infrastructure service provider in claims against a State-owned mobile telephone services provider (ad-hoc arbitration)
  • Counsel for a shipbuilder in a case involving the failed integration of an ERP software (Paris Commercial Court)
  • Advising a Florida company in the conclusion of an agreement with a popular celebrity for the creation and promotion of a global cryptocurrency representing the celebrity
  • Advising a design studio in claims against an Italian entity under an agreement containing a pathological ICC clause
  • Counsel for an Indian marketing agency in a case involving claims against a listed French media group for unpaid invoices
  • Counsel for a French national in a case involving unfair trade practices against a Dutch-Russian software developer (Paris Commercial Court)

Prior Affiliations

  • Lexing Avocats (Paris)
  • Betto Seraglini (Paris)

Bar and Court Admissions

  •  Bar Council of India (since 2011)
  • Paris Bar (from 2014 to 2020)
  • Not admitted to practice U.S. law

Languages

  • English (fluent)
  • French (fluent)
  • Hindi (reading and speaking)
  • Marathi (reading and speaking)

Publications

  • Remy Gerbay, Viraj Bhide & Mohamed Mahayni, “Stateless Law as a Psycho-Social Phenomenon: A Short Contribution to International Arbitration Theory”, in ACHIEVING THE ARBITRATION DREAM: LIBER AMICORUM FOR PROFESSOR JULIAN D.M. LEW KC 23 (Stavros Brekoulakis, Romesh Weeramantry & Lilit Nagapetyan eds., 2023)
  • Viraj Bhide, Game Theory and the Law - Plea Bargaining (January 2007). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1013189 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1013189
  • Viraj Bhide, “European Monetary Policy and Climate Change” (Blog Droit Européen, November 2019)
  • Viraj Bhide, “Why Mises Opposed a Global Government for Managing Trade” (Mises Wire, August 2019)