Seminar on “Collaborative Contracts in Construction Projects”

Virginie Colaiuta is a partner of the London office of LMS Legal LLP.  She acts as counsel, advocate and arbitrator in international arbitration proceedings deriving from construction and energy projects, also based on bilateral or multilateral investment treaties.

Virginie is admitted to practise in England & Wales (Solicitor), in New York, USA (Attorney at Law) and in France (Avocat à la Cour).

She also teaches “Investment treaty arbitration” and “Conflicts of laws” in relation to construction projects at the Centre of Construction Law and Dispute Resolution of King’s College London and is the Vice Chair the International Construction Projects Committee of the International Bar Association.

Virginie is a current member of the Executive Board of the Italian Society of Construction Law.

She is considered a “Thought Leader” by Who’s Who Legal and is recommended as an expert by Legal 500.

Professional Experience

• Partner, LMS Legal LLP, London (United Kingdom), March 2018-present
• Visiting Fellow, King’s College London, London (United Kingdom), September 2018- present
• Partner, Brown Rudnick LLP, London (United Kingdom), 2017- 2018
• Partner, Pinsent Masons LLP, London (United Kingdom), 2011- 2017
• Partner and Counsel, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, Paris (France), 2007 -2010
• Of Counsel, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Paris (France), 2005-2007
• Associate, Coudert Brothers LLP, Paris (France), 1999-2005
• Trainee, Rome (Italy), 1997-1999

Education

• Doctorat en Droit (LL.D.)
  Law School of the University Panthéon-Assas-Paris II, Paris, France
  (currently enrolled)
  Doctoral Thesis: “Procedural Public Policy in International Arbitration”

• Master of Laws (LL.M.)
  University of Chicago Law School, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., 1997

• Laurea in Giurisprudenza (equivalent to a J.D. degree)
  Law School of the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy, 1994

Bar Admissions

England & Wales Law Society (English Solicitor)

New York, NY, USA (Attorney at Law)

Paris, France (Avocat à la Cour)

Additional Activities:

Visiting Fellow, King’s College London, Construction Law Centre, London, UK.  Lectures on “Investment treaty protections in relation to construction projects” and “Conflicts of laws aspects relating to construction projects” 2018-present.

Vice Chair of the International Construction Projects Committee of the International Bar Association 2021-present.

Chair of the Editorial Board of the law magazine “Construction Law International”, a publication of the International Construction Projects Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA) 2019-2021.

Executive Board Member of the Italian Society of Construction Law 2020- present.

Lecturer, Master of Business Engineering (MBE), International Construction: Practice and Law, University of Stuttgart, Germany, “Defects and Liability under French law”.

Languages:

Italian (native), French (native), and English (fluent), Spanish (Working Knowledge)

Publications:

• The Similarity of Aims in the American and French Legal Systems with Respect to Arbitrators’ Powers to Determine Their Jurisdiction”, 18^th ICCA Congress “International Arbitration 2006: Back to Basics?”, 13 ICCA Congress Series 154, 2006, p. 154.
• “Acceleration of works and penalties for delay in France in construction projects”, 2010 International Construction Law Review, P. 27
• “When does a violation of the domestic law of the host state amount to a violation of a public international law principle in determining protection of investors’claims?” in Energy Dispute Resolution: Investment Protection, Transit and the Energy Charter Treaty, Graham Coop (Editor), Juris Publishing, Inc., 2011, p. 3.
• Differences between civil law and common law jurisdictions in the construction sector, in Donald Charrett (Editor) “Global challenges, shared solutions”, Sydney NSW Society of Construction Law (Australia), 2013.
• “Construction contracts as ‘investments’ for the purposes of investment treaty arbitrations”, Van het Gebaande Pad, the Liber Amicorum in honour of Arent van Wassenaer, Instituut voor Bouzrecht, 2016.
• “The protection of legitimate expectations relating to investments in infrastructure projects,” in Liber Amicorum en l’honneur de William Laurence Craig (LexisNexis, 2016), p. 57.
• “Recent reform of the French Civil Code”, Construction Law International, Vol. 12, Issue 1, March 2017, p. 35.
• “The effect of Brexit on the construction industry”, Civil Engineering Surveyor, October 2017, p. 44.
• “How construction and engineering companies may rely on international treaties to recover damages incurred when conducting business abroad”, Civil Engineering Surveyor, November 2017.
• “Construction contracts as ‘investments’ for the purposes of investment treaty arbitrations” (with W. L. Craig), in Transnational Construction Arbitration”, Renato Nazzini (Editor), Taylor & Francis, 2017, p.98.
• “Expropriation of contractual rights in investment treaty arbitration”, in Transnational Construction Arbitration” (with Marco Bollini), Renato Nazzini (Editor), Taylor & Francis, 2017, p.111.
• Risk relating to ground conditions under French and English law, Construction Law International, Vol. 16, Issue 1, March 2021, p. 28.