Biography: Arbitration

Wolfgang Peter is a founding partner of Python & Peter, one of Switzerland's major law firms, where he heads a team specialising in international commercial and investment arbitration. As well as serving as an arbitrator, Dr Peter represents major companies from Europe and overseas as counsel in large and complex international arbitrations.

He has acted, up to November 2011, in a total of 202 international arbitrations involving M&A; finance and banking; international trade; joint ventures and industrial cooperation; agency and distribution; licensing transfer of technology and natural resources.

Further to his arbitration practice Dr Peter has been retained as counsel in numerous Swiss and cross-border mergers and acquisitions as well as corporate finance and IPO transactions. He was a member of the board of several companies in the field of finance and industry.

Wolfgang Peter in addition held top management executive positions: he was CEO of the Breguet Watch Group from 1987 to 1995 and managing director of Montres Jaquet-Droz SA from 1995 to 2000.

Prior to founding P&P in 1982, Dr Peter was an adviser to Switzerland's minister of justice and police. He studied business administration, political science and law at the universities of Lausanne, Geneva, Harvard and Frankfurt and holds doctorate degrees in business administration (Lausanne) and in law (Frankfurt). He has written various articles on business law and international commercial arbitration, and the second edition of his study Arbitration and Renegotiation of International Investment Agreements was published by Kluwer in 1995.

Dr Peter is a member of the Geneva, Swiss and International Bar Associations, the London Court of International Arbitration (president of the European Users' Council), the Swiss Arbitration Association (member of the executive committee) and the Geneva Association of Business Law.