Louis specialises in international arbitration and cross-border litigation (with a particular emphasis on fraud and conflict of law issues). He acts as counsel before major international arbitral tribunals and also regularly sits as arbitrator. He has also acted as an expert witness on English arbitration law, in proceedings in USA, Australia, Luxembourg, Germany and Cyprus. Very recently, Louis has developed an expertise as a “Privilege Master”, assisting Tribunals with questions of privilege as an independent neutral.
As a former solicitor (and solicitor advocate) Louis has conducted his own advocacy for over 35 years. He has been head of international arbitration at two major London law firms before arriving in Chambers in August 2024.
Since 2003, Louis has been the Consultant Editor of Robert Merkin’s Arbitration Law, and (since 2008) co-author of Merkin and Flannery on the Arbitration Act 1996 (he is currently working on the manuscript for the 7th edition, due for publication in 2026). Merkin and Flannery has been cited (mainly with approval!) in more than 40 decisions on the Act since 2012, including most recently in Federal Government of Nigeria v Process and Industrial Development Ltd (Robin Knowles J), and by both the majority and the minority in the Supreme Court decision Enka v Chubb in 2020.
Louis has acted or been involved in some of the biggest cases in English legal history, including Fiona Trust & Holding Corp v Privalov, Diag Human v Czech Republic, and in the Supreme Court in Halliburton v Chubb, where he represented the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators as intervening party.
He has been a regular speaker on international arbitration and civil fraud at conferences all over the world.
Louis has extensive experience of international arbitration under the major institutional rules (e.g. LCIA, ICC, UNCITRAL, Dubai International Arbitration Centre, Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, Swiss Arbitration Association) as well as his substantial High Court litigation practice. He was named as a leading international arbitration practitioner in “Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration Lawyers 2018” and is recognised as a leading individual in commercial arbitration by Legal 500, Chambers and Partners and Global Arbitration Review. In 2018 he entered the Legal 500 “Hall of Fame” in International Arbitration.
Louis has sat as arbitrator (party-appointed, sole or chair) in over 100 arbitrations since 2005.
Louis took silk in 2018 (one of only a few international arbitration solicitor practitioners to achieve that distinction).
He has been described in the directories as “a master of international arbitration and a pleasure to work with.” (Chambers and Partners, 2023) and “brilliant” (Legal 500, 2023) and most recently as “a prominent name in arbitration, fielding expertise in commercial disputes as both counsel and arbitrator”, and as “highly adept at LCIA arbitration, which forms part of his impressive advocacy experience” (Chambers and Partners, 2025).
