Experience of
Dr Dorothee Schramm FCIArb

Solid track record in international arbitration.

Dorothee Schramm has handled more than 70 high-value contract disputes as arbitrator and advocate in many countries around the world under a large variety of arbitration rules and applicable laws (both civil law and common law). 

She has 20 years of arbitration experience in many different industries, with a special focus on technology, engineering and life sciences, including pharmaceuticals, medtech and biotech. She has resolved disputes over a large variety of technical, legal, and business issues arising under many different commercial agreements.

In this context, she also developed several innovative arbitration tools, including an interactive tool that helps clients build the best dispute resolution clause for any given contract, an algorithm that determines a net claim value reflecting the client’s overall risk based on the likelihood of different litigation outcomes, and a self-calculating tool that helps companies calculate damages for complex claims.

Dorothee has an impressive understanding of technology, industry and business. She is a true professional, culturally astute and a pleasure to work with.
(Benedetto Vigna, CEO of Ferrari)
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Main Industries

Dorothee Schramm has particular experience with the technology, life sciences, engineering, energy, metals, and sports industries in different countries. Some recent representative cases are listed below; further representative cases are available upon request. The selection of representative cases includes cases handled by Dorothee Schramm at her previous firms.

• Acting as co-arbitrator in an international arbitration between a Spanish and a Belgian defence company concerning technical defects of high-performance ammunition and its compatibility with NATO standards under a contract governed by Swiss law.

• Acting as sole arbitrator in an international arbitration between a global company and its Egyptian distributor concerning the distribution of complex and high-value robots under Swiss law.

• Acting as presiding arbitrator in an international arbitration between Romanian and Czech parties concerning the transfer of a software business and the validity of the related business transfer agreement and shareholder agreement under Romanian law.

• Acting as sole arbitrator in an international arbitration between a French company and a German company concerning exclusivity rights for the distribution of electronic products under German law.

• Securing as counsel a victory for a global semiconductor company in an international arbitration against a German party concerning ownership and utilization rights for important patents arising from a joint R&D project under Belgian law and involving parallel patent infringement suits under German and Italian law.

• Successfully representing a global semiconductor company in an international arbitration against a technology company based in Hong Kong concerning the purchase of WLAN devices under Swiss law.

Other relevant experience as counsel includes advising and issuing an official legal opinion on how to implement and conclude arbitration agreements on a platform for issuing and transferring electronic financial instruments on the blockchain, the cross-licensing of important semiconductor technology, and a design proposal agreement relating to the technology design of a data centre.

Further relevant experience is set out in the “Engineering” section.

• Acting as sole arbitrator in an international arbitration between a Bulgarian company and an Indian company concerning the supply of vaccines.

Acting as sole arbitrator in an international arbitration between a Spanish company and a Swiss company concerning the termination of a Swiss-law governed distribution agreement for an important drug due to the commercial effects of reference pricing in Spain.

Acting as sole arbitrator in an arbitration between two Swiss companies concerning the acquisition of pharmaceutical products under an Asset Purchase Agreement and the related transitional supply and/or distribution of products in various countries.

Acting as sole arbitrator in an international arbitration between a German company and a Polish company concerning technical defects and GMP non-compliance of a filling line for vaccination vials under a contract governed by Swiss law.

Acting as sole arbitrator in an international arbitration between an Egyptian distributor and a U.S. medtech company concerning the termination of a distribution agreement for medical robotic systems under Swiss law.

Acting as co-arbitrator in an international arbitration between a Chinese manufacturer and a CIS pharma company relating to the sale of medical glass vials under Swiss law.

Successfully acting as counsel for a leading U.S. diagnostics company in an international arbitration against a Swiss company concerning the termination of a distribution agreement under Massachusetts law and related competition law defence.

Successfully acting as counsel for a leading global healthcare company in an international post-M&A arbitration in the aftermath of the sale of a pharmaceutical business.  The arbitration concerned earn-out obligations under a share purchase agreement under French law and an indemnity arising from litigation against a generic under the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Hatch-Waxman Act.

Other relevant experience includes Dorothee Schramm helping clients negotiate complex R&D collaboration agreements.

Acting as presiding arbitrator in an international arbitration between a Spanish company and parties based in the UAE relating to a shareholder agreement under UAE law for the construction of a reverse osmosis desalination plant in the UAE.

Acting as presiding arbitrator in an international arbitration between Chinese, Spanish and U.S. parties regarding an EPC Contract under Egyptian law for the construction of a food storage facility.

Acting as co-arbitrator in an international arbitration between an Austrian company and a UAE company concerning consortium agreements under Swiss law relating to the construction of several water desalination plants in the UAE.

Acting as sole arbitrator in an international arbitration between Saudi Arabian and Turkish companies concerning payment claims arising out of several contracts for the construction of a combined cycle power plant under Swiss law.

Acting as presiding arbitrator in an international arbitration between Polish companies and an Italian company concerning technical defects and contract penalties arising from the sale of packaging machines under Polish law.

Acting as sole arbitrator in an international arbitration between a German and a Hungarian company relating to the construction of two industrial filtration plants under German law.

Acting as sole arbitrator in a Swiss-law international arbitration between a Turkish engineering company and a French architecture company regarding the construction of a food processing plant under Swiss law.

Acting as sole arbitrator in an international arbitration between German and Polish parties concerning technical defects of a manufacturing line under Swiss law.

Securing a €620 million arbitral award for a nuclear energy company and successfully defending against counterclaims of €120 million arising out of the cancellation of a nuclear power plant project under Bulgarian law. This work won the Sidley team The American Lawyer 2017 Award for “Global Dispute of the Year: Commercial Arbitration (Europe)”.

Successfully representing a Turkish construction company against a Korean company in an international arbitration relating to claims for delays and cost overruns under a FIDIC EPC “Silver Book” contract under English law for the refurbishment of an oil refinery in Turkey.

Successfully representing a Turkish construction company against a South-Eastern European state-owned entity in an international arbitration over a joint-venture agreement under Swiss law relating to the construction of a hydro power plant.

Acting as sole arbitrator in an international arbitration between Saudi Arabian and Turkish companies concerning payment claims arising out of several contracts for the construction of a combined cycle power plant under Swiss law.

Acting as sole arbitrator in an international arbitration between a Bosnian company and Austrian entities relating to the supply of heavy fuel oil under Swiss law.

• Acting as co-arbitrator in an international arbitration concerning post-M&A claims under English law between Eastern European petroleum companies.

Representing a Peruvian gas liquefaction plant in two international arbitrations against a South American consortium operating a gas field concerning gas pricing and the re-exportation of LNG under a gas sales agreement governed by New York law.

Securing a €620 million arbitral award for a nuclear energy company and successfully defending against counterclaims of €120 million arising out of the cancellation of a nuclear power plant project under Bulgarian law. This work won the Sidley team The American Lawyer 2017 Award for “Global Dispute of the Year: Commercial Arbitration (Europe)”.

Successfully defending a leading multinational company in an international arbitration against a claim brought by a Cypriote company arising out of a Swiss-law contract for the manufacture and sale of the core equipment for a combined cycle power plant project in Russia.

Representing a German energy company in an international arbitration against a Swiss company concerning a service agreement under Swiss law relating to a feasibility study for a nuclear power project.

Successfully representing a Turkish construction company against a Korean company in an international arbitration relating to claims for delays and cost overruns under a FIDIC EPC “Silver Book” contract under English law for the refurbishment of an oil refinery in Turkey.

Successfully representing a Turkish construction company against a South-Eastern European state-owned entity in an international arbitration over a joint-venture agreement under Swiss law relating to the construction of a hydro power plant.

Further relevant experience is set out in the “Engineering” section.

Acting as sole arbitrator in an international arbitration between Swiss and Chilean companies concerning a parent guarantee under Swiss law relating to a sale of iron ore fines under English law.

• Securing as counsel a victory in an international arbitration relating to the breach of a supply agreement for raw materials used in aluminium production governed by Swiss law. After the client was awarded US$70 million, Dorothee Schramm successfully defended the award in setting aside proceedings before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.

• Securing a US$275 million award for an aluminium company and successfully defending against over US$800 million in counterclaims in an international arbitration concerning a barter agreement with an important State-owned entity for raw materials and aluminium end products. Amongst other issues, the dispute involved allegations of corruption and complex issues of Swiss, English, BVI and Russian law.

• Successfully representing a Swiss company against a Turkish company in an international arbitration concerning the purchase of steel under Swiss law.

• Acting as counsel in an international arbitration relating to the privatization of, supply of raw materials to and purchase of end products from a large state-owned steel producer, with a multitude of contracts governed by Swiss, Slovak and Servian law.

• Representing the German organizer of a prestigious car racing series in an international arbitration against an Asian company concerning the termination of a major sponsoring agreement under German law based on technical and regulatory changes.

• Representing as lead counsel South African athletic World Champion and Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya in high-profile setting aside proceedings before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court against the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s award upholding controversial regulations requiring certain female athletes to lower their natural testosterone levels through hormonal drug intervention (see the story here).

• Deciding a disciplinary case concerning errors in composing panels and in judging international gymnastics competitions in Australia.

• Other relevant experience of Dorothee Schramm includes an international arbitration concerning a media rights agreement for a major sporting event and further work as member of the Disciplinary Commission of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation (GEF).

• Acting as presiding arbitrator in an international arbitration in the shipbuilding sector concerning a Share Purchase Agreement under Bulgarian law between German and Bulgarian companies.

• Acting as presiding arbitrator in an ad-hoc international arbitration in the real estate industry between Polish companies and a Luxembourg company concerning the sale of a business in Poland under Polish law.

• Acting as emergency arbitrator for a Swiss-seated international arbitration between Cyprus and Latvian companies concerning an anti-suit injunction to stop litigation in Latvia.

• Acting as sole arbitrator in an international arbitration between individuals based in the U.S. and Switzerland relating to a loan agreement under Swiss law that involved money laundering allegations.

• Acting as sole arbitrator in an international arbitration between Dutch and French companies relating to a partnership agreement under French law under which the partners jointly provided services for an academic system reform in an African country.

• Successfully representing a U.S. multinational grocery company in an international arbitration against a German home appliances manufacturing company concerning the termination of a cooperation agreement governed by Swiss law, including questions of performance and cease-and-desist orders.

• Successfully representing a U.A.E. company in an international arbitration against a Swiss company concerning a compensation under a sales contract under English law for the sinking of a chartered vessel.

• Successfully representing an Israeli company in an international arbitration against a Kenyan company regarding a joint-venture agreement under Swiss law relating to the wet lease of aircrafts and traffic rights for air cargo operations.

Brilliant and incisive, Dorothee is that rare lawyer who can parse the most complex economic, legal and technical issues in Life Sciences business disputes, bringing to the table a global mindset, deep industry knowledge and a razor-sharp focus on the key-turning issues.

(Scott Bass, founder of Sidley Austin’s Global Life Sciences practice in the US, Europe and Asia)

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Representative Types of Disputes

Dorothee Schramm has resolved a large variety of commercial disputes that raised complex legal, technical, quantification and business issues. Her experience includes the following common types of disputes:

Types of disputes
  • Breach of contract disputes
  • Construction disputes
  • Disputes over alleged competition law violations
  • Disputes over contract terminations
  • Disputes over corruption and/or money laundering allegations
  • Disputes over cost overruns
  • Disputes over delays
  • Disputes over drug pricing
  • Disputes over exclusivity rights
  • Disputes over GMP violations
  • Disputes over IP
  • Disputes over the quantification of damages
  • Disputes over supply disruptions
  • Disputes over technical defects
  • Gas pricing disputes
  • Payment disputes
  • Post-M&A disputes
  • Shareholder disputes
Dorothee is one of the best lawyers that I have worked with in my long career. She combines excellent analytical skills with a strong business sense and professional poise.

(Elke Sauter, Vice President and Legal Counsel, Firmenich SA)

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Representative Types of Contracts

Dorothee Schramm has resolved disputes arising under many different commercial agreements. Her experience includes the following common types of contracts:

Types of contracts
  • Asset Purchase Agreements
  • Barter Agreements
  • Business Transfer Agreements
  • Charter Party Agreements
  • Collaboration Agreements
  • Consortium Agreements
  • Contracts for Works
  • Corporate Guarantees
  • Cross-licensing Agreements
  • Design Agreements
  • Distribution Agreements
  • EPC Contracts
  • Framework Agreements
  • Gas Sales Agreements
  • Joint-Venture Agreements
  • Licensing Agreements
  • Loan Agreements
  • Manufacturing Agreements
  • Media Rights Agreements
  • Partnership Agreements
  • R&D Agreements
  • Sales Contracts
  • Services Agreements
  • Share Purchase Agreements
  • Shareholder Agreements
  • Sponsoring Agreements
  • Supply Agreements
  • Third Party Funding Agreements