Franco Ferrari is the Clarence D. Ashley Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, where he also directs the Center for Transnational Litigation, Arbitration, and Commercial Law.
He also acts as sole arbitrator, party-appointed arbitrator and chair both in international commercial arbitrations (under many Rules, including those of the AAA/ICDR, CAM, ICC, LCIA, SIAC, and VIAC) and investment arbitrations (under ICSID Rules and UNCITRAL Rules).
He serves as expert in judicial proceedings and arbitral proceedings around the world. His areas of expertise include international commercial law (including the law of import/export sales, and long-term contracts, such as distribution contracts), the law of recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, gas price review disputes, energy disputes (including in the photovoltaic sector), post-M&A disputes, and disputes in the pharmaceutical sector.
From 2002 to 2016, Franco, who holds law degrees from Bologna University (J.D.) in Italy and Augsburg University (LL.M.) in Germany, was a chaired professor of international law at Verona University in Italy. Previously, he was a chaired professor of comparative private law at Tilburg University in the Netherlands (1995-1998) and the University of Bologna in Italy (1998-2002).
After serving as a member of the Italian delegation to various sessions of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) from 1995 to 2000, he was Legal Officer at the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, International Trade Law Division (from 2000 to 2002), where he was responsible for numerous projects, including the preparation of the UNCITRAL Digest on applications of the UN Sales Convention.
Franco has more than 300 publications in 5 languages to his name in the areas of international commercial law, conflict of laws, comparative law, and international commercial arbitration.
He is, among others things, the author and/or editor of the following books: International Investment Arbitration – in a nutshell (Westlaw, 2020, co-edited with D.B. King)); Conflict of Law in International Arbitration (Juris, 2nd ed., 2019, co-edited with S. Kröll ); Inherent Powers of Arbitrators (Juris, 2018, co-edited F. Rosenfeld); Iura novit Curia in International Arbitration (Juris, 2018, co-edited G. Cordero-Moss); Internationales Vertragsrecht (C.H. Beck, 3rd ed., 2018, co-edited with E.-M. Kieninger et al.); Encyclopedia of Private International Law (Elgar, 2017, co-edited with J. Basedow et al.); Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments (Elgar, 2017, co-edited with L. Silberman); The Impact of EU Law on International Commercial Arbitration (Juris, 2017); International Sales Law (Elgar, 2017, co-edited with C.P. Gillette); Limits to Party Autonomy in International Commercial Arbitration (Juris, 2016); Cross-Border Litigation in Europe: the Brussels I Regulation a s a panacea? (Cedam, 2015, co-edited with F. Ragno); Rome I Regulation (Sellier, 2015); Forum Shopping in the International Commercial Arbitration Context (Sellier, 2013); Conflict of Laws in International Arbitration (Sellier, 2010, co-edited with S. Kröll).
He is a member of the editorial boards of various peer-reviewed European law journals (Internationales Handelsrecht, European Review of Private Law, Contratto e impresa/Europa, Revue de droit des affaires internationales, and Arbitraje) and the former editor-in-chief of the European International Arbitration Review (2016-2019).