Piero Bernardini passed on 2 August 2020, in Rome.

With him, one of the last grand old men of international arbitration has gone. Piero was one the best arbitrators of his times, an accomplished advocate and a professor whose writings have passed the borders of Italy and become known and discussed globally.

He has served under all arbitration rules, as co-arbitrator and presiding arbitrator, in over 200 cases. His contribution to investment law has been immense, as arbitrator or member of ICSID annulment Committees, such as in landmark cases as Fraport II, Philip Morris v Uruguay and EDF v Romania. His name remains linked to some of the most important international disputes of the last decades.

Piero was one of the founders of modern international arbitration law, and his doctrinal works on issues related to both investor-State and commercial arbitration are still widely discussed in academic forums and before international courts and arbitral tribunals. Also, his articles and books on Italian law and international arbitration have been of great importance for the evolution of the discipline in Italy. As former Head of the legal department of ENI, he had an intimate knowledge of the business world and a deep understanding of the expectations of the users of international arbitration, which has enlightened his practice as an arbitrator and a counsel.

Piero, after obtaining his Doctorate (magna cum laude) at the University ‘La Sapienza’ of Rome and becoming an Avvocato before the Court of appeal of Rome, and the Court of Cassation, the highest level of the Italian Bar, joined the prestigious law firm of Ughi e Nunziante and became a Professor at the Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali (LUISS) ‘Guido Carli’ of Rome, where he taught from 1985 to 2006.

Piero’s contribution to the ICC is invaluable. He was Vice-President of the Court from 1998 to 2005, under the presidency of Robert Briner, a period during which the Court has undergone a remarkable process of modernization, which has set the basis for its future successes. He has been a Council member of the ICC Institute of World Business Law from 1984 to 2003. Piero did not see all arbitral institutions on the same footing; he was a true ICC believer, and for this, the Court is particularly indebted to him.

The Italian arbitration community, of course, also has an immense debt to Piero. Piero was acutely aware of the idiosyncrasies and archaisms that have long plagued arbitration in Italy. He has put all his weight to modernize Italian arbitration, both as a leading voice in his country and as the President of the Associazione Italiana per l’Arbitrato from 2012 to 2016. He succeeded. The rise of a modern generation of Italian arbitration practitioners, opened to the world, fluent in English and in many other languages, and familiar with international best practices, as well as the dynamism of associations such as Arbit and the rise of a culture of transparency and diversity, is a testament to what the Italian arbitration community owes to Piero.

Piero was one of the fathers of the modern practice of international arbitration. He was also a man of perfect integrity and impeccable ethics, and a true gentleman, always truthful and available to his friends and colleagues. He will continue to inspire us not only as a thinker and a practitioner, but also for his human qualities and high moral values.

On behalf of the Court, I express our most sincere condolences to his wife Maria Luigia, his children Stefano, Fabio, Alessandra and Giovanni, his friends and his colleagues.