Karim A Youssef

CEO & Chairman, Youssef & Partners

Dr Karim A Youssef, JSD, is the managing partner and head of international arbitration and international law practices at Youssef & Partners in Cairo, Egypt. His practice focuses on commercial arbitration, investment treaty arbitration and international law. Karim has acted as counsel, party-appointed or presiding arbitrator in more than 85 international arbitrations under a variety of rules, including ICC, CRCICA, DIAC, LCIA, UNCITRAL and ICSID rules. He has also acted in ad hoc arbitrations governed by national laws. Karim represents regional and international clients in high-profile local and regional disputes and large-value claims, across a wide array of industries and key sectors. Highlights of Karim’s counsel work include representing investors in investment treaty claims, including in Cementos La Union SA & Aridos Jativa SLU v. The Arab Republic of Egypt and, previously, representing the CBC channel in commercial claims against Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef. Karim also acts as counsel or arbitrator in some of the largest commercial claims arising from the Arab Spring, including in disputes concerning the post-2011 unwinding of privatisation transactions during the Moubarak era.

He holds rankings in Chambers Global, Egypt – Dispute Resolution (Star Individual, 2021) and Who’s Who Legal: International Commercial Arbitration – Egypt (2014–2017). Karim was educated at Yale Law School (receiving LLM and JSD degrees), the University of Paris and the University of Cairo.