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)

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Qualified to practice law in New York and Germany, Gebhard serves as counsel and as arbitrator. Gebhard has advised a broad range of public and private 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.

Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration describes Gebhard as “a leading practitioner in the German market” with “huge experience in international arbitration”. His publications include the monograph Proportionality in Investor State Arbitration (Oxford University Press). Holding law degrees from Columbia Law School and LMU Munich, including a PhD in international investment law, 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, Partner

2013 – 2017 • Wach + Meckes LLP, Munich, Associate

2010 – 2013 • Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, Paris, Associate

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

Proportionality as a General Principle of Law in Investor-State Arbitration, 44th Annual Austrian Symposium on Public International Law, 13 June 2019, Rust

The Sorrows of the Young Arbitrator (The New Silk Roads), 11th ICC YAF-YAAP Joint Conference, 13 April 2019, Vienna

Mandatory Law Provisions and Procedural Issues in Commercial Agency Disputes, DIS40, 10 October 2017, Zurich

Recent publications

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, with Gustav Flecke-Giammarco (Thomson Reuters, 2018)

Die Behauptung trotz Nichtwissens—Der „Vortrag ins Blaue hinein” zwischen Verfassungsrecht und Rechtsmissbrauch, in Fairness – Justice – Equity, Festschrift für Reinhold Geimer zum 80. Geburtstag, with Karl Wach (Beck, 2017)

Gustav Flecke-Giammarco (Partner)

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Gustav acts as counsel and arbitrator in multifaceted domestic and international arbitrations, involving a wide array of matters under many different laws. His institutional track record includes cases under the ICC, DIS, VIAC, SCC, FAI and SCAI Rules. He has extensive experience with ad hoc arbitrations (domestic and UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules), and sits as chair, co-arbitrator, sole arbitrator and emergency arbitrator at various seats throughout Europe. Gustav’s main areas of expertise include construction and engineering, post-M&A, international sales, licensing, distribution, energy (including oil and gas) and infrastructure projects.

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)

Martina Magnarelli (Associate)

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Martina joined Seven Summits Arbitration in 2019. Before that, Martina worked in five other jurisdictions across Europe, including as legal counsel for Siemens SAS in Paris, in the international arbitration group of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in Vienna, and at the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris. Martina has experience in commercial and investment arbitration in various fields and industry sectors, including infrastructure projects, satellites and communications, post-M&A, IP licensing, pharmaceuticals, as well as energy and natural resources.

Martina is the author of Privity of Contract in International Investment Arbitration: Original Sin or Useful Tool? published by Kluwer Law International in 2020. A graduate from LUISS Guido Carli University, Rome, Martina holds an LLM degree in international and European economic and commercial law as well as a PhD from the University of Lausanne. Martina is an Italian-qualified lawyer and a member of the Munich Bar.

Professional Background

2019 • Seven Summits Arbitration, Munich, Associate

2017-2018 • Siemens SAS, Paris, Legal Counsel

Education

2020 • PhD in International Investment Law (University of Lausanne)

2015 • LLM In International and European Economic & Commercial Law (University of Lausanne)

2013 • Law Master’s degree (LUISS Rome and University of Copenhagen)

Recent Speaking Engagements

Privity of Contract in International Investment Arbitration, University of Lausanne, LL.M in International Business Law (Prof. Andreas R Ziegler’s course on investment arbitration), 3 June 2021, Lausanne

Recent Publications

Irreconcilable perspectives like in an Escher’s drawing? Extension of an arbitration agreement to a non-signatory state and attribution of state entities’ conduct: privity of contract in Swiss and investment arbitral tribunals’ case law, Arbitration International (2020) pp. 1–12, with Andreas R. Ziegler

Privity of Contract in International Investment Arbitration: Original Sin or Useful Tool?, International Arbitration Law Library Series Volume 52 (Kluwer Law International 2020)

Live and Learn: Emergency Arbitration in Post–M&A Disputes, YAR – Young Arbitration Review (Edition 36, January 2020) pp. 8–13, with Gustav Flecke-Giammarco