VAUGON Isabelle

Founder of the law firm VP Legal, Isabelle Vaugon has been registered with the Paris Bar since 1989. She has over thirty years of experience in the fields of arbitration and international litigation.

Isabelle is a mediator and arbitrator, fluent in French, English, and Spanish, and is listed with numerous national and international arbitration and mediation institutions.

In 2005, she established the International Arbitration and Litigation department, as well as the ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) department at the law firm FIDAL, the leading business law firm in France, where she served as head until 2022.

She advises and supports her clients before national and international arbitration tribunals, as well as before judicial courts in France and abroad. She is also by their side in alternative dispute resolution procedures (mediation, conciliation, Dispute Boards, Early Case Evaluation).

Through her participation in numerous international arbitrations, both ad hoc and institutional (ICC, SCC, UNCITRAL, ICSID, CMAP), involving disputes governed by a wide range of applicable laws, she has gained extensive experience in mining and oil law—particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America—as well as joint ventures, international commercial contracts, and distribution agreements.

In the context of commercial litigation, she has deep expertise in post-acquisition disputes, unfair competition (parasitism, defamation), product compliance, patent infringement, and the implementation of judicial expert evaluations. She also defends her clients in criminal business law proceedings.

Co-author of two studies in partnership with the American Arbitration Association (AAA) on the economic benefits of alternative dispute resolution methods for businesses (particularly mediation and arbitration) and best practices in organizing corporate legal departments, she has frequently spoken at conferences and symposia on these topics.

As a professor at Sciences Po, HEC, and Paris II in a joint program with Yale University, she also trains her clients' in-house legal teams in mediation and arbitration.

With her extensive cross-disciplinary experience, Isabelle Vaugon also advises clients on strategic matters, helping them navigate their projects to anticipate and manage risks.

Isabelle Vaugon has been appointed Co-President of the Permanent Mediation Committee and President of the Working Group on Expert Protocols for Integration into Mediation Processes, at the Hague Court of Arbitration for Aviation (HCAA).