BA LLB UCT 
LLM University of Notre Dame

Bio

Lise Bosman is based at the Peace Palace in The Hague, as Executive Director of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) and Senior Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). She also serves as President of the International Arbitration Court of the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA).

Lise joined the Department of Commercial Law in 2004 to develop a new course in commercial arbitration, and was appointed an Adjunct Professor in 2007. She is Co-director of the UCT Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Unit (which she co-founded in 2022).

Lise is the General Editor and contributing author to Arbitration in Africa: a Practitioner's Guide; General Editor of the ICCA International Handbook on Commercial Arbitration; and General Editor of the UCT Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Collected Papers. She has worked extensively in the development of international arbitral practice across the African continent, and is a founding member of the Board of the African Arbitration Association. Her areas of specialization are: international commercial arbitration law and practice; the practice and development of international arbitration in Africa; international investment law; investor-State arbitration; and State-State arbitration.

Teaching

Commercial Arbitration

Publications

• General Editor and contributing author, “Arbitration in Africa: a Practitioner's Guide”, including chapters on “South Africa” and “Southern Africa and the Model Law” (Kluwer Law International, Second Edition 2021)
• General Editor, ICCA International Handbook on Commercial Arbitration (seven-volume loose-leaf collection of arbitration law and practice in over 80 jurisdictions) (2014-)
• L. Bosman and S. Kimani, “Approaches to investor-state dispute resolution in Eastern Africa: Rwanda, Kenya and Mauritius” in Acta Juridica 2018: Foreign Direct Investment (Juta and Company, Pty. Ltd), pp. 115-150
• Author, “The PCA’s Contribution to Dispute Resolution in Africa”, 25(2) Stellenbosch Law Review (2014) 308-327
• Author, D. Williams et al, “The Court’s Role in Supporting Arbitration during the Course of the Arbitral Proceedings (the “Juge d’Appui”): a Practical Application” in International Bureau of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (ed.), MIAC 2012: An African Seat for the 21st Century (2013)
• Author, “In conversation with Piet Sanders on “The Work of UNCITRAL on Arbitration and Conciliation”: “Quo Vadis the UNCITRAL Model Law in Southern Africa?,” Tijdschrift voor Arbitrage, (4) 2012 (September 2012), p. 211
• Earlier articles, including "Rethinking Discovery in International Arbitration", ICC Bulletin, vol. 12, no. 1 (2001)
• Series Editor, Permanent Court of Arbitration Award Series (2010-)

Other professional activities

• President, International Arbitration Court of Arbitration Foundation of South Africa (AFSA) (2025-present)
• Court Member, AFSA International ArbitrationCourt (2021-2025)
• Member of Board and Co-founder, African Arbitration Association (2018-2022)
• Founding Member, ICCA Working Group on African Arbitral Practice (2016-present)
• Member, Court of Lagos Chamber of Commerce International Arbitration Centre (2015-2026)
• Advisory Board, Hague Project Peace and Justice (2015-)
• Advisory Board, African Commercial Law Foundation (2015-2020)
• Editorial Board, Tijdschrift voor Arbitrage (2012-2025)
• Member of Advisory Board, Africa International Legal Awareness (2011-2015)
• Member of Advisory Board and Founding Co-chair, Young ICCA (2010-2014)
• Fellow, South African Association of Arbitrators

Drafting Committees: 

• Revision of AFSA International Arbitration Rules (2020-2021)
• Drafting Committee: “CIArb Centenary London Conference Principles” for a safe arbitral seat (Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, 2015)
• Drafting Committee: Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Arbitration Rules (2012)

Congresses and conferences 

• Co-organiser, 20th-27th ICCA Congresses (2010-2026)
• Co-host #ArbFest (2023-2026)
• Co-host UCT Arbitration Day (2024-present)

Other selected recent speaking engagements:

• November 2025: CPR Africa Arbitration Day Inaugural “AAD-NY Award for Excellence in African Arbitration,” delivering lecture on “Arbitration in Africa: Building Credible and Competitive Arbitral Seats”
• November 2025: CPR Africa Arbitration Day panel on “Emerging Trends and Opportunities for Growth Identified by the 2024 SOAS Arbitration in Africa Survey”
• April 2025: Paris Arbitration Week panel on “Commercial and investment arbitrations involving Africa in the context of global geopolitical and economic developments: A sectoral overview”
• June 2024: London International Disputes Week panel on “Resolution of Africa-related investment disputes - regionalisation or internationalisation?” (Three Crowns/ OALP)
• April 2024: Johannesburg Arbitration Week Opening Plenary presentation on “New arbitration seats: from emerging hub to established regional centre”; panel on “The future of investment disputes in SADC”
• March 2024: Keynote Address Saudi Centre for Commercial Arbitration Conference, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on “New arbitration seats: from emerging hub to established centre”
• November 2023: guest lecture to Hague University of Applied Sciences on “Arbitration in Africa”
• June 2023: Keynote Address on “Dispute Avoidance and Dispute Management in African Energy Disputes”, International Law Summits, 6th Annual Conference on Energy Arbitration & Dispute Resolution in Middle East and Africa, London
• May 2023: presentation to Arbitral Women on “Arbitral Appointments in International Arbitration”
• April 2023: Bocconi University Conference “Assessing the Past, Envisioning the Future”, speaker on panel “A 360 degree view of investment arbitration from stakeholders” , Milan
• January 2023: Queen Mary- BICCL African Arbitration Day, moderator of panel on “Need to reform Substantive Standards of Investment Protection in Africa?”, London
• 2021-2022: guest lectures to University of Stellenbosch LLM programme
• June 2022 and October 2020: guest lectures on “The Evolution of ISDS Reform with reference to African States”, University of Pretoria, South Africa
• November 2021: SOAS Conference, Casablanca, on ISDS reform
• April 2021: moderator of Panel “Current Initiatives and Proposals on ISDS Reform at Multilateral Levels” (African Arbitration Association Virtual Conference on “Reform and Innovation in International Dispute Resolution: African Perspectives”)
• October 2020: closing remarks to Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and Chinese Academy of Arbitration Law (CAAL) International Symposium on “Digital Economy: Cross-border Trade Regulation and Online Dispute Settlement”
• July 2020: training session on “The application of the 1958 New York Convention” to the Ghanaian judiciary
• April 2020: guest lecture on “International Settlement of Investment Disputes”, University of Antwerp
• September 2019: presentation on “International Arbitration and the New York Convention”, ICCA New York Convention Roadshow, Yerevan, Armenia
• September 2019: presentation on “Public Sector Management of Investment Disputes” at conference on “Investment Disputes in Armenia”, American University of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
• April 2019: presentation on “AfAA’s contribution to judicial capacity-building and transparency around decision-making on the NYC” at AfAA 1st Annual Conference on “The Coming of Age of International Arbitration in Africa”, Kigali, Rwanda
• June 2019: presentation on “ICCA and its Work”, Glasgow, Scotland
• May 2019: ICCA New York Convention Roadshow, Edinburgh, Scotland
• March 2019: presentations on “ICCA and its Work”, Johannesburg (Webber Wentzel and Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyer)
• October 2018: Keynote Address on “ICCA: its history and vision” at Scottish Arbitration Training Day, Edinburgh, Scottish Arbitration Centre
• March 2018: presentation on “The role of arbitral institutions: strategies to develop gender parity”, Arbitral Women, London
• October 2017: Second Biannual Roundtable of ICAMA, Abuja, Nigeria, moderator of panel on “Growing and Sustaining Arbitration and ADR in Africa: Historical Background and Policy Objectives and Issues”
• [Earlier speaking engagements omitted]

Website links

• International Council for Commercial Arbitration
• Permanent Court of Arbitration