Arbitration & mediation

Laamrani Law Firm enjoys considerable experience in mediation and arbitration and advises clients wishing to use these alternative dispute resolution methods. The firm acts in domestic and international arbitration, ad hoc or institutional, for public and private companies alike, from the opening of the proceedings through to the enforcement of the award.

A practice that predates the statute

We were designing, drafting and implementing arbitration agreements long before the Moroccan legislature endowed the Kingdom with a modern framework. The speed, confidentiality and technical proficiency of arbitrators already answered companies' needs better than any other avenue.

We have therefore accompanied the maturing of Moroccan arbitration law, from the former regime of the Code of Civil Procedure through to the reform effected by Law No. 95-17 on arbitration and conventional mediation, promulgated by Dahir No. 1-22-34 of 24 May 2022 and published in Official Gazette No. 7099. This 105-article text, modelled on the UNCITRAL Model Law, lifted arbitration out of the Code of Civil Procedure to make it a self-standing body of law. It enshrined solutions our practice was already applying: the autonomy of the arbitration clause, the arbitral tribunal's competence-competence, the framing of actions to set aside, and the recognition of international arbitration and of awards rendered abroad.

We are equally at home with the earlier regime, under Law No. 08-05, which remains applicable to arbitration agreements signed before Law 95-17 entered into force on 14 June 2022.

Employment arbitration

We have developed an employment arbitration practice applied to negotiated separations between companies and their employees, in particular their senior executives and corporate officers.

When a company wishes to part ways with an executive, conventional employment litigation is costly in more than money: public hearings, unpredictable duration, judicial uncertainty, media exposure, lastingly damaged relationships. The arbitral and settlement-based route we have structured allows a swift, confidential and final resolution, in keeping with Moroccan employment public policy.

To this is added a financial advantage for both parties: under the conditions laid down by the General Tax Code and social security regulations, the compensation fixed in this framework enjoys markedly more favourable tax and para-fiscal treatment than ordinary remuneration. That preserves the company's cash as much as the departing executive's net compensation. We structure each transaction so as to secure that regime, ensuring the instruments comply with statutory and case-law requirements.

High-stakes arbitrations

We regularly act as counsel in domestic and international arbitrations involving very substantial financial stakes: disputes between shareholders, post-acquisition litigation, banking and financial disputes, infrastructure contracts, international distribution, maritime trade.

Our involvement covers every stage: audit of the arbitration agreement, pre-dispute strategy, constitution of the arbitral tribunal and challenges to arbitrators, statements of claim and of defence, the taking of evidence, the examination of witnesses and experts, oral argument, then exequatur or actions to set aside before the state courts. It is the articulation between the arbitral proceedings and the supporting or exequatur judge that decides, in the end, the effectiveness of the award.

London, Paris, Geneva

We have conducted and pleaded arbitral proceedings in London, Paris and Geneva, under the rules and usages prevailing there, alongside or against the largest international firms.

Our expertise in international maritime arbitration is particularly well established: charterparties, bills of lading, international sales of goods, average, disputes over the performance of contracts of carriage. Practised from Morocco but turned towards the great maritime centres, it enables us to defend shipowners, charterers, shippers and insurers in arbitrations conducted in English to the standards of London practice.

Maître Abdelatif Laamrani's triple admission to the Casablanca, Paris and Montreal Bars, and his command of French, English and Arabic, allow us to plead directly, without intermediaries, in proceedings governed by different laws and legal cultures.

Unblocking what is blocked

It is as counsel to the parties, even more than as arbitrator, that we have untied disputes of exceptional significance — some of which had paralysed commercial relationships or corporate groups for years. Arbitration remains for us an instrument in the service of a solution, whether that solution takes the form of an enforceable award or of a settlement concluded in the course of the proceedings.

Conventional mediation

Law No. 95-17 also modernised conventional mediation, now endowed with a clear regime conferring on the agreement reached through mediation the force of res judicata between the parties. We advise our clients on the drafting of mediation clauses, assist them throughout the process and secure the resulting settlement agreements.

Frequently asked questions

Which law applies to my arbitration in Morocco?

Law No. 95-17, since 14 June 2022. But Law No. 08-05 remains applicable to arbitration agreements signed before that date: it is the date of the agreement that controls, not the date of the dispute.

What is employment arbitration?

An arbitral and settlement-based route for organising the separation from a senior executive or corporate officer, outside conventional employment litigation. Swift, confidential, final, and coupled with tax and para-fiscal treatment of the compensation more favourable than that of ordinary remuneration.

Do you plead abroad?

Yes. We have conducted proceedings in London, Paris and Geneva, in French and in English, including maritime arbitration to London standards.

What happens if the opposing party refuses to comply with the award?

We pursue enforcement before the exequatur judge, and defend the award if an action to set aside is brought. It is command of this state-court phase that makes the award genuinely effective.