The ICC International Court of Arbitration learned with great sadness of Stephen R. Bond’s passing on 29 May 2020, in Paris.

Stephen was a highly distinguished and greatly respected advocate and arbitrator, who made invaluable contributions to the international arbitration community wherever he practiced, be it in London or Paris, in prestigious law firms or at the ICC International Court of Arbitration. Each and everyone of us has learnt from him.

He studied law at Brown University and Columbia Law School and was admitted to practice in New York and Paris. He worked for the office of the Legal Adviser of the United States Department of State and the United States Mission to the United Nations in Geneva as Counselor for Legal Affairs. He also received the U.S. State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award.

Stephen joined the ICC as Secretary General of the ICC International Court of Arbitration for six years (1985-1991), before becoming the U.S. member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration for two consecutive terms (1994-1999). As Vice-Chairman of the ICC Working Group that drafted the 1998 ICC Arbitration Rules, he is one of the fathers of modern ICC arbitration. Stephen also took the initiative of this publication, the ICC Court Bulletin, which has for the first time opened the Court’s curtains and set the ground for further evolutions in the direction of greater transparency.

During his tenure at the ICC, he supervised the work of the ICC Secretariat with rigor and authority. He has led the Secretariat from the somewhat artisanal culture that still existed in the eighties to a more managerial organization, to the great benefit of predictability, uniformity and efficiency. But beyond these achievements, he is remembered by all those who worked with him for his kindness, openness, humanity and subtle sense of humor.

Stephen never hesitated to share his experience and involve younger generations of lawyers into the practice of international arbitration. In fact, he was the first one to propose that junior lawyers be given the opportunity to join the Secretariat to serve as Deputy Counsel beside senior Counsel with the view to enhance and expand the legal knowledge and backgrounds of the different teams of the Secretariat.

Stephen was a leader, an innovative thinker and has been a mentor to many of today’s most experienced arbitration practitioners. Under his leadership, the Court has expanded his footprint to new horizons and has become the truly global organization that it is today.

The ICC is greatly indebted to Stephen, whose legacy is one of the foundations of our successes of today. On behalf of the entire Court and its Secretariat, I would like to extend to his wife Bruna and their children Catherine and Matthew our words and thanks and gratitude to a friend and a colleague who will be immensely missed.