Taha Zahedi Vafa

Professor Clay has deep experience advising and representing States, multinational corporations and private clients in domestic and international arbitrations, with a specific focus on disputes involving energy, telecommunications, construction and distribution.

Professor Clay also has a leading sports practice. He has advised and represented motor sport companies and professional footballers, including the French captain Kylian Mbappé against the football club Paris Saint-Germain.

A leading authority on French arbitration law, Professor Clay is frequently instructed to advise and represent clients in relation to set-aside and enforcement proceedings before the Paris Court of Appeal and the French Court of Cassation.

Professor Clay is a professor agrégé at the Sorbonne Law School (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), where he directs the International Arbitration Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution programme.  

Professor Clay has played a leading role in shaping the arbitration landscape in France. He founded Sorbonne Arbitrage, an association which acts as a central hub for the Sorbonne’s arbitration law activities. Before that, he founded the University of Versailles’ Masters Programme Arbitration and Business Law, known as the “MACI”, a genuine talent incubator, which he also directed for twelve years. At the University of Versailles, he also served as Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Law. 

Professor Clay has published a dozen books, approximately 180 articles and delivered over 150 lectures, many of them abroad.

For over twenty years, Professor Clay has written the Panorama of Arbitration Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution, published annually in the Recueil Dalloz.

A full list of Professor Clay's publications may be found here.

Professor Thomas Clay has been ranked in the category “Excellent Arbitrator” by Décideurs Magazine every year between 2010 and 2021, and subsequently in the category “Incontournable” (Top Tier) in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 (Rank 1).

He was also ranked “Excellent Lawyer in Arbitration Law” by Décideurs Magazine in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and “Incontournable” (Top Tier) from 2025 onwards. He received the 2011 Trophy for Best Arbitrator, awarded by Décideurs Magazine and the Paris Bar, and was distinguished among the Elite of the 30 Best Lawyers of the Paris Bar in 2020.

He was described by Who’s Who Legal in 2015 as a “high-qualified, reliable and efficient arbitrator”, in 2016 as a “skilful practitioner” with an “intimate understanding of French Arbitration Law”, and in 2021 as “a key figure in the market”, being referred to as “one of the most prominent sole practitioners in France” and “certainly among the very best”. He was ranked by Who’s Who Legal in 2022, 2023 and 2024 as an “Arbitration Thought Leader”.

Professor Clay was ranked by Chambers in 2023 in the category International Arbitration: Arbitrators – France, as well as in the category Most in Demand Arbitrators – Europe. He is described there as “excellent”, “very bright and talented”, “very fair, very proactive and knows the cases well”, and his extensive experience as an arbitrator in Africa is also highlighted.

Le Monde

Other publications

Special Adviser to the President (Bâtonnier) and Vice-President (Vice-Bâtonnière) of the Paris Bar (2026–2027)

Member of the Board of Directors of the Paris Bar School (École de Formation du Barreau) (2026–2027)

Vice-President of "Paris, place d'arbitrage"

Member of "Paris, place de droit"

Head and founder of "Sorbonne Arbitrage" (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)

Associate member of the International Chamber of Commerce Institute

Member of the Board of Directors of the French Arbitration Association

Member of the Institute for International Arbitration

Member of the Orientation board of the Club de l'arbitrage

Co-chair of the Italian Arbitration Association in France

Member of the International Association of Procedural Law

Member of the American Association of Private International Law

Member of the academic board of the International Academy of Law and Economics

Expert of the French Institute of International Legal Experts

Member of the Association of Law Teachers

Member of the Institute for Expertise, Arbitration and Mediation

Member of the Advisory Board of the European Court of Arbitration of Versailles

Member of the Advisory Board of the European Court of Arbitration

Member of the Venezuelan Arbitration Committee

Member of the Board of the OHADAC Regional Arbitration Center

Member of the Editorial Board of the Paris Journal of International Arbitration

Member of the "Sorbonne Private and public economic law" research department

Co-director of the "Sorbonne Sport Law" research department

Honorary Director of the University Research Team in International Arbitration Law (University of Versailles)

Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of International Dispute Settlement

Member of the Editorial Board of the Revista brasileira de arbitragem

Member of the Advisory Board of the Journal of Arab Arbitration

Member of the Scientific Board of ohada.com

Member of the Scientific Committee of the International Review of Law and Political Science (Cameroon)

Member of the Editorial Board of Arbitration and Mediation Magazine (Brazil)

Member of the Pedagogical Committee of the International School of Alternative Dispute Resolution.