Mr. Batifort has acted as counsel and advocate in over forty high-profile commercial and investment treaty arbitrations under various rules, including those of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). He has represented clients in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East in cases involving a wide range of sectors, including oil and gas, mining, telecommunications, construction, joint ventures, real estate and taxation. He also represents and advises States in inter-State disputes and other public international law matters.

Lexology/Who’s Who Legal has recognized him as a Global Leader in international arbitration and as a Global Elite Thought Leader under 45, referring to him as a “household name” and a “formidable practitioner when it comes to investment treaty arbitration.” Clients and peers highlight his “first-rate strategy and legal expertise” as well as his “‘exceptional diplomatic skills and cultural understanding’ in high-stakes international investor-state disputes.”

Legal 500 USA ranks him as a Leading Partner, noting that “Simon Batifort is an excellent lawyer, with broad knowledge and experience of public international law and international arbitration.” He is also recognized as a Rising Star in International Arbitration by Law360 and as a Rising Star in Commercial Arbitration by Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Expert Guides. Legal 500 Latin America praises his “encyclopedic knowledge of international arbitration cases and great advocacy skills."

Alongside his practice, Mr. Batifort is an Adjunct Professor at Brooklyn Law School and at Université Paris Cité where he teaches advanced courses on Investment Treaty Arbitration, and at Université Paris Nanterre where he lectures on Investor-State Dispute Settlement and Climate Change. A frequent author and speaker on issues of international arbitration and public international law, he was awarded the 2019 Smit-Lowenfeld Prize for Best Article in International Arbitration for “The New Debate on the Interpretation of MFN Clauses in Investment Treaties: Putting the Brakes on Multilateralization,” which was published in the American Journal of International Law (AJIL) and was the subject of an AJIL Unbound symposium.

An active member of leading professional organizations, he is currently Vice President of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) and previously served as an officer of the Arbitration Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA). As co-chair of the IBA Arbitration Committee’s Insolvency and Arbitration Working Group, he co-led the elaboration of the IBA Report on Insolvency and Investment Arbitration. He frequently participates as a delegate to UNCITRAL Working Group III on the reform of Investor-State Dispute Settlement.

Admitted to the bar in New York, Paris and Brussels, Mr. Batifort holds degrees in public and private international law, civil law, common law and comparative law from Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) (First in Class), Université de Montpellier and NYU School of Law, where he served as research assistant to Professor José E. Alvarez and as a graduate editor for the Journal of International Law and Politics. Prior to joining Curtis, he worked as in-house counsel for one of the world’s largest construction companies and interned at both the ICC International Court of Arbitration and the International Court of Justice.

Investment Arbitration, Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of International Commercial Arbitration (July 2025)

IBA Report on Insolvency and Investment Arbitration (September 2024) (co-editor)

Hearing What You Want: Surveying Creative Decision-Making in “The Meaning of Silence in Investment Treaties”, ICSID Review Blog (June 10, 2024) (co-author)

Affaires d’Etats Vol. 3 – Amplifying the Voices of Developing States in ISDS Reform, Kluwer Arbitration Blog (April 2024) (co-author)

The Meaning of Silence in Investment Treaties, 38(2) ICSID Review-Foreign Investment Law Journal (2023) 322 (co-author)

Reforming Substantive Investment Law: How Should We Do It?, Kluwer Arbitration Blog (June 2023) (co-author)

Affaires d’Etats Vol. 2 – Abusive Claims Against States and How to Fight Them, Kluwer Arbitration Blog (May 2023) (co-author)

Affaires d'Etats: Practical Considerations When Defending States In International Arbitration, Kluwer Arbitration Blog (May 2022) (co-author)

Unearthing FET: What Did States Intend, and Does It Matter? Kluwer Arbitration Blog (May 2022) (co-author)

5 Coming Trends to Watch For in Intra-EU Investment Claims, Law360 (February 2022) (co-author)

Psychology in Oral Advocacy: Using Science to Persuade International Tribunals, Kluwer Arbitration Blog (September 6, 2021) (co-author)

The Future of Investor-State Dispute Settlement under the Energy Charter Treaty, Kluwer Arbitration Blog (March 29, 2021) (co-author)

The Right to Raise New Arguments on Jurisdiction in Annulment Proceedings, 1 ICC Dispute Resolution Bulletin 29 (February 2021) (co-author)

Commentary of Articles 56-58 of the ICSID Convention (Replacement and Disqualification of Conciliators and Arbitrators), in The ICSID Convention, Rules and Regulations: A Commentary (Elgar Publishing, December 2019) (co-author)

The Once and Future Law of Non-Discrimination: Revisiting Most Favored Nation and National Treatment, ASIL Proceedings (March 2019)

Third-Party Funding in Investment Disputes, Chapter 16, Business Guide to Trade and Investment, Vol 2 (October 2018) (co-author)

The New Debate on the Interpretation of MFN Clauses in Investment Treaties: Putting the Brakes on Multilateralization, 111(4) American Journal of International Law 873 (2018) (co-author)

Third-Party Funding: Security for Costs and Other Key Issues, in The Investment Treaty Arbitration Review (Bart Legum ed., 2^nd Edition, 2017) (co-author)

Third-Party Funding: Security for Costs and Other Key Issues, in The Investment Treaty Arbitration Review 97 (Bart Legum ed., 1^st Edition, 2016) (co-author)

Investment Arbitration: Jurisdiction and Procedure, in The International Arbitration Review 1 (James H. Carter ed., 6^th Edition, 2015) (co-author)

Jurisdiction and Procedure in Investment Arbitration – New Developments, in The International Arbitration Review 1 (James H. Carter ed., 5^th Edition, 2014) (co-author)

Recent Trends in Investment Arbitration, in The International Arbitration Review 1 (James H. Carter ed., 4^th Edition, 2013) (co-author)