Overview
Professor Loukas Mistelis is a partner in Steptoe’s London office focusing on international commercial arbitration, investor-state disputes, and public international law. He is also the Clive Schmitthoff Professor of Transnational Commercial Law and Arbitration at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London.
Loukas represents corporations, financial institutions, sovereign states, and state-owned entities as counsel and expert in complex cross-border disputes, and he regularly sits as an arbitrator in proceedings administered by the world’s leading arbitral institutions.
He is known for handling high-value disputes involving energy, natural resources, construction and infrastructure, aviation, banking and finance, privatization, defense contracts, and other strategic commercial arrangements. His experience spans ad hoc arbitrations and proceedings under the ICC, ICSID, LCIA, PCA, UNCITRAL, SCC, Swiss Chambers, VIAC, DIAC, and other institutions’ rules, as well as emergency arbitrator proceedings. He has advised and appeared in matters involving parties from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Combining extensive disputes experience with academic insight, he advises clients on highly technical and sensitive matters. His work includes representing multinational companies in disputes arising from major engineering and construction projects, acting for sovereign and state-linked parties in investment and concession disputes, and serving as an expert on arbitration, treaty, and international commercial law issues.
Loukas is widely recognized as a leading figure in international arbitration. He has long been ranked by Chambers and recognized by Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal), including as a Global Elite Thought Leader in international arbitration, and is also featured in the Legal 500 International Arbitration Powerlist. He has been part of teams recognized by Global Arbitration Review, including the 2022 GAR Award for innovation, and is also a widely published author and frequent speaker on international dispute resolution.
- Athens Bar Association, Greece
- Foreign Registered Lawyer, SRA, England and Wales
- Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
- LLB (Hons), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece)
- MLE (Magister Legum Europae), Leibniz University Hannover, Germany, magna cum laude
- Certificate in International and Comparative Human Rights, Strasbourg, France
- Certificate in Japanese International Trade Law, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan
Areas of Work
Representative Matters
Counsel
- Lead Counsel representing a major multinational in an ICC arbitration arising out of the Engineering Procurement and Construction (ECP) of an offshore pipeline
- Lead Counsel representing a national oil company in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in PCA arbitration arising out of earthworks contract
- Lead Counsel representing Malta in an ICC Arbitration arising out of a Concession in the healthcare sector
- Counsel in ICC arbitration proceedings between a major US finance corporation and its main agent in Greece arising out of the termination of an agency agreement
- Lead counsel in ICSID arbitration case Krederi v Ukraine
- Counsel in a dispute between a Greek company and a Saudi company in relation to a joint venture agreement and a de-merger (mediation and arbitration)
- Expert counsel advising Nigeria in relation to a failed privatization process
Expert
- Expert in ICSID annulment proceedings – Vivendi v Argentina II
- Expert in two investment arbitration proceedings (ICSID and PCA) – Carrizosa v Colombia
- Expert in ICC consolidated arbitration proceedings arising out of contract for the construction of a major hydro-electric plant in Chile (scope of arbitration agreement and non-signatories)
- Expert in VCCA arbitration proceedings (extension of arbitration agreement to non-signatories / alter ego) in a dispute relating to buy-out / squeeze out of shareholders
- Expert in ICC arbitration proceedings on the issue of quantification of damages under the UN International Sales Convention (CISG)
Arbitrator
- Chair in ICC arbitration proceedings between a construction company and a national roads authority
- Chair in ICC arbitration proceedings between a European country and a US aeronautical engineering company
- Chair in ICC arbitration proceedings between Moroccan party and a Nigerian party arising out of a fintech contract
- Sole arbitrator in two ICC arbitration proceedings between a consortium of construction companies and an Eastern European Highways Authority arising out of a FIDIC contract
- Co-arbitrator in ICC arbitration proceedings relating to an LNG tolling contract
- Co-arbitrator in LCIA arbitration proceedings between a CIS company, a Czech company and two individuals arising out of a post-M&A
- Co-arbitrator in SCC arbitration proceedings between two Eastern European parties arising out of a lease agreement
- Co-arbitrator in LMAA arbitration proceedings between two shipping companies controlled by Greek and Italian parties
- Co-arbitrator in PCA arbitration proceedings between a European construction company and a municipal water and sewage authority in East Africa.
Noteworthy
- Chambers UK, International Arbitration: Arbitrators (2025-2026)
- Legal 500 UK, Dispute Resolution: International Arbitration (2026)
- Lexology Index, Thought Leaders: Arbitration (2017 – 2026)
- Legal 500, International Arbitration Powerlist (2019, 2022, 2024)