Daniel Madani

DANIEL MADANI, a Swiss qualified attorney, represents multinational companies and other private parties in commercial and investment arbitrations involving a number of different applicable laws and seats of arbitration.

Daniel has acted as counsel before international arbitral tribunals in commercial and investment disputes involving a variety of sectors and activities, including construction and engineering projects and sports and entertainment broadcasting arrangements. These arbitrations have been conducted under the arbitration rules of several major international arbitral institutions, including the Swiss Arbitration Centre (Swiss Rules of International Arbitration) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), as well as ad hoc arbitration under Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

Prior to joining Sidley, Daniel worked with two leading Swiss law firms in Zurich and Geneva, where he advised both public and private companies on Swiss corporate and tax matters. Daniel also worked as an analyst at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, where he researched the impact of geopolitical risks on international commercial transactions and the various tools available to investors to protect themselves from such risks.

Daniel holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Law from the University of Geneva (graduating first in his class for both degrees). He also holds an LL.M from the University of Cambridge and spent a semester as an exchange student at Harvard Law School.

Examples of Daniel’s work include advising:

• Acting as tribunal secretary in a commercial arbitration concerning a dispute about the logistics and shipping of Covid-19 related medical equipment (seat in Geneva, Swiss law, ICC Rules).
• Representing a global sports and entertainment broadcaster in an investment arbitration against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (seat in London, UNCITRAL Rules).
• Representing a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company in reaching a favorable settlement in a dispute relating to the development of a novel ophthalmologic treatment with a French laboratory (seat in Geneva, Swiss law, ICC Rules).
• Representing a U.S. multinational IT group in reaching a favorable settlement in a dispute relating to the integration of a tailor-made global software solution for a leading Swiss private bank (seat in Zurich, Swiss law, Swiss Rules).
• Crown Bioscience in its acquisition of the IndivuServ business unit of Indivumed GmbH.
• A foreign telecom operator in the acquisition of one of the major Swiss telecom operators.
• A robotics company, part of a larger foreign conglomerate, in its acquisition by a Swiss-based entity.
• An asset manager in a transfer of seat transaction towards Luxembourg.
• A large fair and show organizer in its restructuring during the Covid pandemic.
• A biomedical company in a financing round for the development of a COVID-19-related drug.

Some of the above matters were handled by Daniel prior to joining Sidley.

• During law school, Daniel volunteered several hours a week in an organization protecting the rights of asylum seekers. There, he advised asylum seekers and represented them in front of Swiss federal courts.