Personal bio
Baptiste Rigaudeau is a partner at Lead Up Avocats (https://www.leadup-avocats.com/?lang=en), a Paris-based boutique specialising in international arbitration, commercial litigation and mediation. His practice covers dispute avoidance and dispute resolution (https://www.leadup-avocats.com/expertises/?lang=en), with a particular focus on international arbitration (https://www.leadup-avocats.com/expertises/?lang=en), both commercial and between foreign investors and States (Investor-State Dispute Settlement, or ISDS). He has a specialist focus on mining, energy, construction and infrastructure disputes across francophone Africa and Latin America, including matters governed by the OHADA framework, alongside significant experience in banking, pharmaceuticals, hotels and telecommunications.
Baptiste has acted as counsel, tribunal secretary and arbitrator (sole, party-appointed and president) in ad hoc proceedings, in particular under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, and in institutional arbitration administered under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Abu Dhabi International Arbitration Centre (ArbitrateAD, formerly ADCCAC), the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC), the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), the Centre de médiation et d'arbitrage de Paris (CMAP), the Swiss Arbitration Centre and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), in proceedings governed by diverse procedural and substantive laws. His case experience includes acting as counsel in Gabriel Resources v. Romania (ICSID Case No. ARB/15/31), a mining dispute concerning the Roșia Montană gold project.
Beyond contentious work, Baptiste advises clients on settlement negotiations and on multi-jurisdictional disputes relating to asset tracing and recovery. He is included on the international arbitrators' lists of the Asian International Arbitration Centre, ICC France and the International Arbitration Chamber of Paris (CAIP), where he also co-chairs the Mining Arbitration Taskforce.
Before joining Lead Up Avocats, Baptiste practised for more than thirteen years within the litigation and arbitration departments of top law firms in Hong Kong, Houston, Madrid, Paris and Geneva.
Baptiste is the Global Vice Chair of Young Mining Professionals, the French Ambassador for Swiss Arbitration, a member of the Steering Committee of the under-40 group of the IBA Arbitration Subcommittee, and of the Board of AfricArb. He teaches on the LLM in Advanced International Business Litigation at UPEC, where his coursework draws on his mining arbitration practice in Africa. He has been interviewed by RFI (Radio France Internationale) on several occasions on mining licensing and arbitration disputes in Africa, and was featured by Jeune Afrique in a dossier comparing Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire as gold-mining destinations.
Baptiste is recognised in the Lexology Index 2026 (formerly Who's Who Legal) for arbitration (https://www.lexology.com/firms/1342133/baptiste_rigaudeau), published in partnership with Global Arbitration Review (GAR). He is also ranked in the Leaders League 2026(https://www.leadup-avocats.com/leaders-league-2026-arbitrators-lead-up/?lang=en) as one of the best arbitrators in France, and is listed by Best Lawyers 2027(https://www.leadup-avocats.com/best-lawyers-france-2027/?lang=en) as one of the best lawyers in international arbitration in France.
He is admitted to the Paris Bar, is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (MCIArb), and works in English, French and Spanish.