About us
Our Objective
The last few years have seen a dramatic increase in space activities, which are expanding not only into new fields such as space tourism but also increasingly involve commercial actors.
It is to be expected that this increase in actors involved in space activities and the corresponding congestion of at least the lower orbits, will over time lead to an uptake of space-related disputes.
Given the international, highly technical, and often confidential nature of space activities, international arbitration is a uniquely well suited dispute resolution mechanism for the space community.
The Space Arbitration Association has therefore the objective of creating room for exchange between the international arbitration and space communities. It will create a registry of articles and public documents on space-related arbitration proceedings, organize events on topics related to space arbitration, and address current issues on its blog.
The Team
Laura Yvonne Zielinski. Laura is the Founder and President of the Space Arbitration Association. She is Senior Counsel at Holland & Knight in Mexico City and specializes in commercial and investor-State arbitration, with a particular focus on Public International Law, including International Space Law. She studied at Sciences Po in Paris, Columbia Law School in New York (Parker Scholar, Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar), and completed the Strategic Space Law Course at McGill University. She is qualified to practice law in Paris, New York and Mexico. She regularly speaks and publishes on topics related to disputes in the space sector and co-founded the Space Arbitration Association in 2021. She is currently writing a doctoral thesis on Investment Protection of Space Assets under International Law under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Stephan Hobe at the University of Cologne.
Dr. Jan Frohloff. Jan is the Editor-in-Chief of the Space Arbitration Blog. He is a dispute resolution counsel at SRP in Munich, Germany, and the Editor in Chief of the Space Arbitration Association Blog. Jan’s primary practice focus are international space arbitrations. He has also published a range of articles in the field and is a regular speaker on the topic of space arbitration.
Dr. Julian Scheu. Julian is Junior Professor of Public Law, International Law, and International Investment Law at the University of Cologne. He manages the International Investment Law Centre Cologne (IILCC) and focuses on international economic law, European law, international dispute settlement, and comparative administrative law. One of his research projects concerns the application of investment treaties in outer space. He is acting as an advisor to the Space Arbitration Association.
Roman Saavedra. Roman is a Product Designer/Front-End Developer based in Mexico City. He is responsible for the product design of the Space Arbitration Association. He co-founded the Space Arbitration Association in 2021.
Tobias Meier. Tobias is an associate at Borris Hennecke Kneisel in Cologne, Germany, where he focuses on complex commercial disputes before State courts and arbitral tribunals. He is a doctoral candidate at the University of Cologne. His dissertation, written under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Stephan Hobe, addresses the role of international arbitration in resolving future space-related disputes.
Riccardo Loschi. Riccardo is a Senior Associate at LALIVE. He holds a law degree from Bocconi University (summa cum laude), and an LL.M. from Columbia Law School (Parker Scholar, Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar). He also studied international law and arbitration at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Riccardo has completed the Strategic Space Law Course at McGill University and is an active member of the European Centre for Space Law. He regularly takes part in space-related events and initiatives (e.g., IAC 2022). As part of his day-to-day job, Riccardo represents clients active in the space and high-end technology sectors before commercial and investment arbitral tribunals as well as national courts. He also advises clients and institutions on foreign direct investment-related issues. One of Riccardo’s areas of interest is the interplay between space- and technology-related activities and foreign direct investment regimes, and how alternative dispute resolution mechanisms can facilitate cross-border operations in these sectors
Vivasvat (Viva) Dadwal. Viva is an Associate in the New York City office of King & Spalding LLP. Her practice involves commercial and investment treaty arbitrations, as well as enforcement proceedings before U.S. courts. Viva studied law at McGill University and at the National University of Singapore, graduating with joint Bachelors of Common and Civil Law. Prior to law school, Viva worked for the Government of Canada, assisting with international trade and investment treaty negotiations. Viva co-leads the Research Project on Space-Related Disputes at McGill University’s Institute of Air & Space Law.
Ruvimbo Samanga. Ruvimbo is an expert in African Space Policy. She has is specializing in space law and policy research for the African and global space sector. Her research focuses inter alia on policies pertaining to GIS & Remote Sensing, National Space Initiatives and Lunar Development. She has been recognized as an African Space Leader, an Emerging Space Leader and a Young Space Leader for her contributions in policy, business, education and outreach, and looks to collaborate on space-related, capacity building research for the African and the global space sector.
Luca Erhart. Luca is a final year undergraduate law student of the double degree course English Law and Spanish Law at King’s College London and Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. He has participated in the Manfred Lachs International Space Law Moot Court Competition in 2020/21 and has been coaching the King’s College London Team in 2021/22 and 2022/23. He has also co-authored and presented a couple of conference papers surrounding space law, including a paper on space arbitration presented at the International Astronautical Congress 2022 in Paris. He acted as Conference Reporter for the Space Arbitration Association in 2022.
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