World Bank Group Sanctions Board

Maria Vicien Milburn, an Argentinian and Spanish national, has served on the World Bank Sanctions Board since July 2019, and as Sanctions Board Chair since May 2022. Mrs. Vicien Milburn has served for more than thirty-five years as an international lawyer in the United Nations System, holding such senior roles as General Counsel of UNESCO (2009-2014), and Director of the General Legal Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs (2004-2009). In these roles, she oversaw all commercial contracting, directed the conduct of all litigation and arbitration, and advised on international treaties and conventions. Mrs. Vicien Milburn currently serves as a judge and arbitrator in the context of disputes of an international character. In 2017, she was designated on the list of panelists of the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In 2018, she was appointed as Judge of the Administrative Tribunal of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); in 2020, as Judge of the Administrative Tribunal of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); and in 2022, as Judge of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She also acts as arbitrator in cases conducted under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), and the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). She is an observer to UNCITRAL Working Groups II and III on international arbitration, a member of the ICC Arbitration Commission, and an advisor to the Board of the Arbitration Court of Madrid. A graduate of the University of Buenos Aires Law School (1974) and Columbia University (LL.M., 1976), she is admitted to practice law in New York and Buenos Aires. The American Bar Association awarded her the 2013 Mayre Rasmussen Award for the Promotion of Women in International Law.

Rabab Yasseen, a Swiss national, has served on the World Bank Sanctions Board since July 2019. Rabab is a partner with the Geneva Law Firm MENTHA, and also serves as Deputy Judge to the Civil Courts in Geneva, Switzerland. She previously held positions in major Law Firms, as General legal counsel to the University of Geneva and as a consultant to the WTO/ITC. She has been acting as counsel / arbitrator (sole / chair / co-arbitrator) in both ad hoc and institutional arbitration proceedings under various rules. She was a member of the Ad Hoc Division of CAS to the XXXI Olympiad - the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. She is a member of several panels and associations, including the ICC arbitration commission where she was an active member of the task forces on “the revision of the ICC rules of arbitration”, on “States, State-entities and ICC arbitration”, on “the Emergency Arbitrator proceedings”, as well as the IBA task force drafting the “investor-State mediation rules”. She is a member of the ILA international Commercial Arbitration Committee. Rabab is also a regular delegate to the UNCITRAL Commission and Working Group II and III sessions, including those on “transparency in treaty-based investor-State arbitration” (the transparency rules and the Mauritius Convention), on the “enforcement of settlement agreements” (the Singapore Convention) and the current sessions on “the investor-State dispute settlement reform”. She has co-authored both the ITC contractual and incorporated joint-venture model agreements and their user’s guide, published in the UNCTAD / WTO Trade Law series in Geneva. Rabab holds degrees in Law, History and Literature from the University of Geneva, as well as an LL.M in international business law from King‘s College London. She is admitted to the Geneva bar and as a solicitor to the Supreme Court (England and Wales).

Philip Daltrop, a UK and German national, has served on the Sanctions Board since October 2022. He has 35 years experience as an international lawyer, mostly spent in a variety of legal, procurement and integrity functions at several multilateral development banks. He worked in Manila for the Asian Development Bank for 20 years, retiring as Deputy General Counsel in 2011 after also heading ADB’s procurement, integrity and internal audit offices. Since then he has worked as a freelance legal consultant, based in London and Jakarta, undertaking assignments in these areas for the World Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and other organizations.  Earlier in his career, he worked for a total of ten years in the London, Brussels and Tokyo offices of Allen & Overy, the legal department of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as a finance lawyer for Inter-American Development Bank, and as a project lawyer for the World Bank. He holds an undergraduate degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (First Class), and a master’s in International Human Rights Law (with Distinction), both from Oxford University. He also completed postgraduate legal examinations and training as an English solicitor in London.

Mahnaz Malik, a dual Pakistani and British national, has served on the World Bank Sanctions Board since January 2024. Mahnaz is a Barrister and Arbitrator at Twenty Essex who specialises in representing Governments and corporations in investment and commercial disputes. She is a Fellow and Trustee of Hughes Hall College of the University of Cambridge.
 

Mahnaz has over 23 years of experience advising Governments, corporations and international organisations on complex cross-border disputes. She has acted as counsel on behalf of investors, organisations and states in several investment and commercial disputes, including the Court of Sport Arbitration (CAS), UNCTRAL, ICC, ICSID, LCIA and PCA-administered arbitrations. Sector specialisms include mining, energy, steel, construction, banking and infrastructure projects. She is particularly adept with disputes relating to natural resources, sporting events, joint venture partners, shareholders, international organisations, institutional lenders, foreign investment laws and state entities.

Mahnaz’s appointment as an arbitrator in EuroGas Inc. and Belmont Resources Inc. v. Republic of Slovakia makes her one of the youngest ever appointed to an ICSID Annulment Committee (the final level of review at ICSID) since records began and the youngest woman. She has served twice as an ICSID Annulment Committee member. She serves on the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators and leading arbitration panels globally.

Mahnaz publishes, teaches and speaks extensively. Her writings are frequently cited in academic journals, arbitration awards, and examination papers and appear on syllabi. Her professional awards include the prestigious UK Financial Times Legal Innovator of the Year Award 2007 and the Law Society of England’s national award for the Trainee Solicitor of the Year 2001. She has also served as a member of the ICC Commissions on Arbitration and Anti-Corruption. After graduating with an MA in Law from Cambridge University, Mahnaz qualified as a Barrister in England and Wales, Attorney at Law in New York) and an Advocate in Pakistan. She is an Adjunct Faculty Member of the Master’s Programme in Investment Treaty Arbitration at Uppsala University, Sweden (2023-2024). 

Adedoyin Rhodes-Vivour, a Nigerian national, has served on the World Bank Group Sanctions Board since November 2020. Mrs. Rhodes-Vivour, SAN, C.Arb has practiced law for nearly 40 years specializing in International Arbitration,  Commercial law , litigation and various forms of Alternative  Dispute Resolution. She is a graduate of the University of Lagos, Nigeria (LLB, LLM) and King’s College London, University of London (M.A in International Peace and Security with merit). Mrs Adedoyin is a British Chevening Scholar and awardee of the United States Information Services (USIS) Young African Leaders Programme (1990). She is a Fellow and Chartered Arbitrator of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators United Kingdom. She is a CEDR [UK] Accredited Mediator.

Adedoyin is a practicing African International Arbitrator and  Senior Advocate of Nigeria. She was a former member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Hague, Netherlands. She is a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, ICC Arbitration & ADR Commission, member of the ICC Africa Commission and the International Commercial Arbitration Committee of the International Law Association.

She acts as an arbitrator and counsel in both ad hoc and institutional arbitrations  and is listed on the Panel and Data base of Arbitrators of various leading international arbitration Institutions. She is recognized as one of the world’s  preeminent practitioners in the field. She is recognized in publications including Guide to the World’s Leading Commercial Arbitration Experts (Expert guides) and Who’s Who Legal. She is described as an arbitrator who “garners strong praise from market sources for her first-class practice” and is adjudged as “providing clients with a wealth of expertise as both arbitrator and counsel across the financial services and energy sectors”. She is recognized as one of the women Pioneers in dispute resolution in the 2^nd Edition of Women Pioneers in Dispute Resolution published by the Deutsche Gesellschaftfur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), with the co-operation of ArbitralWomen.

Adedoyin is a Vice President of the LCIA African Users Council and member of the  Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Users Council. She is the immediate past Chairperson, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) UK Nigeria Branch, Adedoyin is a board member of the African Arbitration Association [AfAA]  She is an approved tutor of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) and is a CIARB Regional Pathway Leader for Africa. Adedoyin is a member of ArbitralWomen and Co-Chair of the Equal Representation in Arbitration [ERA] Pledge African Sub-committee. She is the author of the book “Commercial Arbitration Law and Practice in Nigeria through the cases” published by LexisNexis, South Africa.

Eduardo Zuleta, a Colombia national, has served on the World Bank Sanctions Board since November 2020. Mr. Zuleta serves as arbitrator in commercial and investment disputes, including annulment committees under the ICSID Convention. Eduardo  presently serves as Vice President of the ICC Court of Arbitration. He was appointed in 2011 to the ICSID panel of arbitrators by the Chairman of the ICSID Administrative Council and was subsequently appointed as member of the ICSID panel of arbitrators in 2018 by the Republic of Colombia. Eduardo was co-Chair of the Arbitration Committee of the IBA where he led the amendments to the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration and the adoption of the IBA Guidelines for Party Representation in International Arbitration. Eduardo is also a member of the Governing Board of ICCA, member of the Advisory Board of  the New York International Arbitration Center; past member of the court of arbitration of the LCIA and founder and past President of the Latin American Arbitration Association. Eduardo is listed as arbitrator in CIETAC, Hong Kong International Arbitration Center, Singapore International Arbitration Center and various arbitration centers in Latin America.  

Eduardo is a partner at Zuleta Abogados Asociados. He was a partner in a Colombian law firm and a partner at Baker&Mckenzie where he had an extensive practice in M&A, project finance and international finance.

Eduardo holds a law degree of Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, D.C., Colombia, where he graduated with honors, best student of class; a Master of Laws in Financial Law, by the same law school; and a Master, with merits, on commercial and investment arbitration, investment law and law of the treaties, with specialization in International Dispute Resolution, from University of London, Queen Mary.

Eduardo has written extensively on both commercial and investment arbitration and has been invited as lecturer and panelist to several law schools worldwide. He is Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center.

Michael Ostrove, a United States and French dual national, has served on the World Bank Sanctions Board since December 2021. Michael is a partner in the DLA Piper law firm and is Global Co-Chair of their International Arbitration group. He also serves as a Vice-President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration. Admitted to both the Paris and New York bars, he has over 25 years' experience with international commercial arbitrations, investment arbitrations and other public international law disputes, as well as litigation before domestic and regional courts, such as the Cour Commune de Justice et d’Arbitrage and the Court of Justice of the European Union. Michael routinely acts as lead advocate in arbitrations on behalf of Sovereign States, international organizations, commercial entities, and individuals. He has broad experience in corruption investigations on behalf of multinational corporations and state authorities. Michael sits as an arbitrator, and he is an adjunct professor teaching international arbitration in a Masters program at the Université de Paris II. He is a member of the Advisory Committee to the Wayne State University Law School Program for International Legal Studies and of the Executive Committee of the Foundation for International Arbitration Advocacy.  Michael speaks and publishes frequently on international arbitration and investment law, and he is regularly named as a leading practitioner by the specialized press. Michael earned his B.A. from Yale University, magna cum laude, and his J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, with Order of the Coif honors.