Who we are
Seven Summits Arbitration (7SA) is a disputes specialist firm dedicated to international arbitration. The collective experience of our partners covers all major industry sectors and the entire arbitral process. They have acted as counsel in high-stake disputes, served as arbitrator and tribunal assistant, and headed a team at the ICC International Court of Arbitration, the world’s leading arbitral institution.
The founding partners of 7SA, Gustav Flecke-Giammarco and Gebhard Bücheler, spent their formative professional years in Paris, the heart of international arbitration. After additional years with leading dispute resolution practices in Germany, they reunited in Munich in 2017 to establish 7SA—a modern firm offering high quality legal services at competitive rates.
7SA combines the expertise and cross-border track-record clients expect from a leading international law firm with the flexibility and efficiency of a boutique practice. Passion and perseverance are the core values of 7SA, and our lawyers excel at responding to your needs.
Gebhard Bücheler (Partner)
Qualified to practice law in New York and Germany, Gebhard serves as counsel and as arbitrator. Gebhard has advised a broad range of clients across many industries, including energy and natural resources, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and financial services. He has acted in many investment and commercial disputes, including high-value post-M&A arbitrations, price revisions under some of Europe’s largest gas import contracts, and disputes arising from other long-term contracts such as IP-licensing agreements.
The European Commission has included Gebhard in the list of individuals suitable for appointment as arbitrators and trade and sustainable development (TSD) experts in disputes under the EU’s trade agreements with third countries. Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration describes Gebhard as a “Global Leader” who is “highly experienced in investor-state cases[,] has deep analytical skills, and is well prepared and always timely”. Holding law degrees from Columbia Law School and LMU Munich, including a doctorate, Gebhard teaches international law at LMU Munich and regularly guest lectures at the University of St. Gallen.
Professional Background
Since 2017 • Seven Summits Arbitration, Munich
2013 – 2017 • Wach + Meckes LLP, Munich
2010 – 2013 • Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, Paris
2010 • New York bar admission
2007 • German bar admission
Before his admission to the German bar, Gebhard also worked with Hogan Lovells (then Lovells) in Alicante, Spain, and the United Nations in New York.
Education
2013 • PhD (LMU Munich, Fakultätspreis)
2008 • LLM (Columbia Law School)
2007 • Second State Exam (Munich Higher Regional Court)
2004 • First State Exam (LMU Munich, German National Merit Foundation)
Recent speaking engagements
Conflicts of Interest – A comparative look at the arbitration practice in Spain, Germany and Iberoamerica (Part 3), CIAM-CIAR / CEIA / DIS, 10 September 2025, Berlin
Investment Protection in Times of Armed Conflict, Munich Advanced Course in International Law (MACIL), 12 August 2025, Munich
The Modernized ECT and the International Rule of Law: Progress or Peril? Lunch Lecture at LMU Munich, 16 January 2025, Munich
State Responsibility and Attribution, Uppsala University’s Master’s Programme in Investment Treaty Arbitration, 13 January 2025, Uppsala
International Comity as a Bar to the Enforcement of Decisions by International Tribunals? Lunch Lecture at LMU Munich, 19 December 2024, Munich
Recent publications
Proportionality, Standards of Investment Protection, and Sustainable Development in Research Handbook on Investment Law and Sustainable Development (Edward Elgar, 2025) 164-198, with Eric Belgorodski
Germany: Investor-State Arbitration – Laws and Regulations 2022, in International Comparative Legal Guides (Global Legal Group, 2021), with Gustav Flecke-Giammarco & Martina Magnarelli
Arbitrating in Uncertain Times – Institutional Responses to COVID-19, SchiedsVZ 2020, 133-138, with Gustav Flecke-Giammarco and Lena Zahner
Arbitration Procedures and Practice in Germany, in Practical Law (Thomson Reuters, 2018), with Gustav Flecke-Giammarco
Die Behauptung trotz Nichtwissens—Der „Vortrag ins Blaue hinein” zwischen Verfassungsrecht und Rechtsmissbrauch, in Fairness – Justice – Equity, Festschrift für Reinhold Geimer zum 80. Geburtstag (Beck, 2017), with Karl Wach
Gustav Flecke-Giammarco (Partner)
Before founding 7SA, Gustav practised with the litigation and arbitration group of Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek in Düsseldorf and headed the case management team responsible for arbitrations seated in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Benelux and the Nordic countries at the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris. During his tenure at the ICC Secretariat, Gustav supervised over 850 proceedings, including investment treaty and emergency arbitrator cases, and was involved in the scrutiny of 450 awards. Gustav also served on the drafting committee for the 2018 DIS Arbitration Rules and co-edited The DIS Arbitration Rules – An Article-by-Article Commentary (Kluwer Law International).
Professional Background
Since 2017 • Seven Summits Arbitration, Munich, Partner
2015 – 2017 • Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek, Düsseldorf, Senior Associate
2011 – 2015 • ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris, Counsel
2009 – 2011 • ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris, Deputy Counsel
2009 • German Bar Admission
Gustav is a member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR and the Editorial Board of the JOIA.
He guest lectures at the Universities of Bonn and Roma Tre, the Swiss Arbitration Academy and Swiss International Law School.
Education
2009 • Second State Exam (Munich Higher Regional Court)
2006 • Mediator for Business Disputes (Wirtschaftsmediator (MuCDR))
2006 • First State Exam (Universities of Passau and Pavia, LMU Munich)
Recent Speaking Engagements
The Governing Law of an Arbitration Clause: Recent Decisions Across Legal Systems, ArbIt/AIA Workshop, hosted by Roma Tre University, 20 February 2020, Rome
Post-M&A Disputes & Emergency Arbitration, YAR 2.0 conference, 11 October 2019, Lisbon
New DIS Rules – Bucking the Trend to Succeed in a Changing Market?, CEMAJ-Conference New Developments in International Commercial Arbitration, 9 November 2018, Neuchâtel
Recent Publications
Arbitrating in Uncertain Times – Institutional Responses to COVID-19, SchiedsVZ 2020, 133-138, with Gebhard Bücheler and Lena Zahner
The DIS Arbitration Rules – An Article-by-Article Commentary (Kluwer Law International, 2020)
Keeping Up With The Times: Arbitrating Small And Mid-Sized Claims Under The 2018 DIS Rules, with Gebhard Bücheler (Expert Guides Commercial Arbitration, 2019)
Julien Berger (Associate)
Before joining Seven Summits Arbitration in 2024, Julien worked in the international arbitration group of a leading Anglo-American law firm.
Qualified to practice law in Germany since 2023, Julien completed his legal clerkship at the Higher Regional Court of Berlin. He also gained experience at the foreign affairs department of the German Federal Chancellery (Bundeskanzleramt) and at the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) in Rome.
Holding a doctorate in international law from the University of Potsdam, Julien has published extensively in the fields of international investment law, constitutional law, and public international law. His monograph International Investment Protection within Europe – The EU’s Assertion of Control was published by Routledge in 2020.
Julien graduated from Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas, and the University of Oxford. His native languages are French and German and he is fluent in English.
Professional Background
2024 • Seven Summits Arbitration, Munich, Associate
2023 – 2024 • Hogan Lovells, Munich, Associate
2023 • German bar admission
Education
2022 • Second State Exam (Berlin Higher Regional Court)
2019 • PhD (Universität Potsdam, Fakultätspreis)
2019 • Magister Juris (University of Oxford)
2015 • Maîtrise (Université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas)
2015 • First State Exam (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Recent Speaking Engagements
• International Commercial Arbitration Training, hosted by the Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration (NCIA) and the African German Arbitration Cooperation, on 3 and 4 June 2026.
• Arbitration Training for Rwanda Commercial High Court Judges, hosted by the Kigali International Arbitration Centre and the African German Arbitration Cooperation, on 28 and 29 May 2026.
• Arbitration Training workshop, hosted by the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration and the African German Arbitration Cooperation, on 29 and 30 April 2026.
Julien has taught several courses on constitutional law, public law and legal methodology as a teaching assistant at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
Recent Publications
Die institutionelle Gefährdetheit des BVerfG, Deutsches Verwaltungsblatt, 138 (2023), p. 973 – 978.
Einführung in den internationalen Schutz der Menschenrechte und seine Bedeutung für das nationale Recht, Juristische Schulung 2022, p. 216 – 220 (with Lena Riemer).
The End of Intra-EU Investor-State Arbitration, German Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 64, 2021, p. 285-317.
International Investment Protection within Europe – The EU’s Assertion of Control, Routledge, London/New York, 2020.
Intra-EU Investor State Arbitration: The Uncertainty Continues – Unpacking the Advocate General’s Opinion in Case C-284/16 (Achmea), German Arbitration Journal/SchiedsVZ 2017, p. 282-291.
Isabel Burlingame (International Associate)
Before joining 7SA in 2025, Isabel served as a judicial law clerk at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and US District Court for the District of Rhode Island. She also gained substantial trial and appellate experience as a Legal Fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.
Isabel earned her J.D. from Boston University School of Law and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dickinson College, both magna cum laude.
Professional Background
2025 • Seven Summits Arbitration, Munich
2023-2025 • American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, Boston
2024 • Colorado bar
2022-2023 • United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, Providence
2022 • Massachusetts bar
2021-2022 • Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Boston
Education
2021 • Juris Doctor (Boston University)
2015 • Bachelor of Arts (Dickinson College)
Recent Speaking Engagements
Isabel teaches a tutorial in Business Law at the School of Management of Technical University of Munich
Elisa Bisi (Junior Associate)
Prior to joining 7SA, Elisa trained as a court translator and interpreter while working as a freelance translator.
Educated in Italy, the United States, Sweden, and France, Elisa graduated from the University of Trieste with a Master’s degree in Law (Laurea in Giurisprudenza) and a Bachelor of Arts in Legal Translation, both magna cum laude.
Professional Background
2026 • Seven Summits Arbitration, Munich
2024-2025 • SCD Avvocati & Partners, Genoa
2023-2024 • Seven Summits Arbitration, Munich
2019-2023 • Freelance Translator
Education
2024 • Law Master’s degree (University of Trieste and Tulane Law School)
2020 • Bachelor of Arts degree (University of Trieste and University of Gothenburg)
Recent Speaking Engagements
AA40’s Mentorship Series, University of Trieste, 29 April 2026