Berk combines practice as counsel, arbitrator, and expert in investment treaty and international commercial arbitration cases, alongside his academic career. He has over 15 years of international arbitration experience and holds a Ph.D. in International Investment Law from the University of Cambridge in the UK. His thesis “Judicial Acts and Investment Treaty Arbitration” was published by Cambridge University Press and was awarded in 2017 the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) World Business Law Prize.

 

Berk holds a tenured professor (docent) position at the Galatasaray University Law School in Istanbul, where he teaches International Investment Law and Arbitration, International Commercial Disputes, and Private International Law. He also taught at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS) of the Queen Mary, University of London.

 

Berk is a member of the ISTAC Expert Commissions on the Revision of the ISTAC Arbitration Rules and a Turkish National Committee member of the ICC. He was among the core team who drafted the ISTAC Med-Arb Rules, the world’s first-ever med-arb rules released by an arbitration institution. Berk is also responsible for all contributions regarding Turkey on the 1958 New York Convention Guide database maintained by Columbia Law School in New York, as well as the “Investment Claims” database of the Oxford University Press and, more recently, has contributed to Investment Law and Arbitration Wiki for Jus Mundi.

 

Berk is a dual-qualified lawyer, admitted to practice in England & Wales and Turkey.

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PUBLICATIONS

 

Books:

• Arbitration and Applicable Law (in Turkish, co-edited with Ziya Akıncı) (Istanbul: On İki Levha, 2021)

• Judicial Acts and Investment Treaty Arbitration (in English) (Cambridge University Press, 2018)

• Med-Arb in Turkey (in Turkish, co-authored with Ural Aküzüm) (Istanbul: On İki Levha, 2020)

• Choice of Court Agreements in Private International Law (in Turkish) (Istanbul: Vedat, 2018)

• Law Applicable to Contracts (in Turkish) (Istanbul: Vedat, 2011; second edition, 2014)

 

Articles and Presentations:

• “Peaceful settlement of inter-state energy disputes: applicable law, defence arguments, and remedies in the ICC arbitration between Iraq and Turkey” (2023) 26(4) Journal of International Economic Law 786-802

• “Recent Investment Arbitration Case Law on Judicial Expropriation” (in Turkish), in Tolga Ayoğlu / Anlam Altay / Fülürya Yusufoğlu Bilgin (eds), Prof. Dr. H. Ercüment Erdem’e Armağan (Istanbul: On İki Levha, 2023) 447-475

• “Summary and Digest on Ampal-American Israel Corp. v Arab Republic of Egypt”, in Jorge Vinuales / Michael Waibel (eds), ICSID Reports, Vol 20 (CUP, 2022) 406

• “Material Scope of Application: Definition of Investment with Reference to Cases Involving Central Asian States”, in Kiran Nasir Gore / Elijah Putilin / Kabir A.N. Duggal / Crina Baltag (eds), International Investment Law and Investor-State Disputes in Central Asia (Wolters Kluwer, 2022)

• “Summary and Digest on Poštová banka, a.s. and Istrokapital SE v Hellenic Republic”, in Jorge Vinuales / Michael Waibel (eds), ICSID Reports, Vol 19 (CUP, 2021) 690

• “Reconsideration of Proper Remedies in Investment Arbitration in Light of Recent Cases: Should the Remedy Follow the Primary Obligation” (2021) 22 Journal of World Investment & Trade 129-159

• “Summary and Digest on von Pezold v Zimbabwe”, in Jorge Vinuales / Michael Waibel (eds), ICSID Reports, Vol 18 (CUP, 2020) 360-379

• “Access to Justice Through Investment Arbitration in Cases of Refusal of Enforcement of Commercial Arbitration Awards: Is There Any Room for Autonomous Claims Based on the New York Convention?”, in Leonardo V.P. de Oliveira / Sara Hourani (eds), Access to Justice in Arbitration: Concept, Context and Practice (Wolters Kluwer, 2020) 93-105

• “The Effects of COVID-19 on Time Limits in Arbitral Proceedings’ (in Turkish), in Muhammet Özekes (ed), Legal Dimensions of the COVID-19 Pandemic (Istanbul: On İki Levha, 2020) 115-130

• “Breach of the Arbitration Agreement: Potential Remedies” (in Turkish), in Hatice Özdemir Kocasakal / Süheyla Balkar (eds), Arbitration Agreement,(Istanbul: On İki Levha, 2020) 169-183

• “Exhaustion of Local Remedies and Wrongful Judicial Acts other than Denial of Justice”, (April 2019) Transnational Dispute Management (TDM)

• “Non-treaty Claims in Investment Treaty Arbitration”, (2018) 31 Leiden Journal of International Law 59-91

• “J. Baumgartner, Treaty Shopping in International Investment Law”, (2017) 64 Netherlands International Law Review 537-539

• “Multi-Party Arbitration” (in Turkish), in Zeynep Derya Tarman (ed), Genç Milletlerarası özel Hukukçular Konferansı (Istanbul: On İki Levha, 2018) 43-71

• “Validity of Non-Exclusive Arbitration Agreements” (in Turkish), (2017/2) Galatasaray Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi (Journal of Galatasaray University Faculty of Law) 325-354

• “Ordering Cessation of Court Proceedings to Protect the Integrity of Arbitration Agreements under the Brussels I Regime”, (2016) 65(2) ICLQ 379-404

• “Interpretation of the Dispute Settlement Clause in Turkish Investment Treaties with Turkic States”, (2016) 32(1) Arbitration International 29-43

• “Nationality under International Law: Questioning the “Effective Nationality” Requirement for Natural Persons” (in Turkish), (2015/2) Galatasaray Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi (Journal of Galatasaray University Faculty of Law) 159-193

• “Remedies in Investment Treaty Arbitration”, (2015) 6(2) Journal of International Dispute Settlement 403- 426

• “Enforcement of International Commercial Arbitration Agreements and Awards in Investment Treaty Arbitration”, (2015) 30(1) ICSID Review 56-77

• “The Notion of “Investment” in International Investment Law”, (2015) 1(1) Turkish Commercial Law Review 41- 50

• “Investor’s Unlawful Act in Investment Arbitration and the Application of Contributory Fault in the Yukos v Russia Case” (in Turkish), (2015) 31(3) BATIDER 77-108

• “Does an Investment Treaty Tribunal Need Special Consent for Mass Claims”, (2013) 2(3) Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law 612-639

• “Jurisdictional Problems Concerning Shell Companies in Investment Arbitration and the Libananco Case” (in Turkish), (2012) 28(3) BATIDER 301-357

• “Doctrine of Separability: Does it have any role in the determination of the law applicable to arbitration agreements?” (Society of Legal Scholars Conference, University of Exeter), 3 September 2020

• “Provisional Measures in Arbitration”, Party Representation in Arbitration (ISTAC & Istanbul Bar, Istanbul), 1 February 2020

• “Breach of the Arbitration Agreement: Remedies and Potential Rights of Action”, Arbitration Agreements (University of Galatasaray, Istanbul), 10 May 2019

• “Extension of the Arbitration Agreement to Third Parties”, School of Arbitration (Marmara University, Istanbul), 27 March 2019

• “Is There any Room for Non-Pecuniary Remedies in Investment Treaty Arbitration”, Rethinking Reparations in International Law (University of Cambridge), 16-17 November 2018

• “Holding the State Responsible Directly for the Breach of the New York Convention in Investment Treaty Arbitration”, International Investment and Trade Agreements: Current Developments and Problems (University of Marmara, Turkey), 25 October 2018

• “Multi-Party Arbitration Proceedings” (in Turkish), Young Private International Lawyers Conference (Koç University), 1 June 2018, published in Zeynep Derya Tarman (ed), Genç Milletlerarası Özel Hukukçular Konferansı (Istanbul: On İki Levha, 2018) 43-71

• “Direct Responsibility of the State for the Breach of the New York Convention in Investment Treaty Arbitration”, Foreign Arbitral Awards International Conference (University Loyola Andalusia, Spain), 4-6 April 2018

•  “Mondialisation et Investissement en Turquie” (“Globalization and Investment in Turkey”) (in French, co-authored with Oğuz Dorken), Travaux de l’Association Henri Capitant (Journées allemandes), 23-27 May 2016, published in La mondialisation: Journées allemandes, Vol 66/2016 (2017, Bruylant) 651-665