Professor Dr. Hamid Reza Nikbakht Fini joined the Tribunal in July 2009. Professor Nikbakht graduated from the former National University of Iran (currently Shahid Beheshti University) with an LLB degree, and continued his academic studies at Exeter University in the U.K., receiving an LLM in 1986 and after that a Ph.D. in early 1991, both in international commercial law (sale of goods, state contracts, and arbitration).
Professor Nikbakht began his academic career in 1991 as an assistant professor in the Faculty of Law at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. His areas of expertise include private law, international commercial law, international arbitration, and private international law. Prof. Nikbakht is the founder of LLM and Ph.D. courses in the field of International Commercial and Investment Law in Iran.
He continued his academic career at Shahid Beheshti University as an associate professor from 1999 and was promoted to the position of the full professor in 2006.
As a full professor of law, his main field of interest and research course covers private law, in particular contract and tort, private international law and conflict of laws of the European Union (comparative conflict of laws); international jurisdiction of the courts and litigation in civil and commercial matters; international commercial arbitration; commercial law of Iran, and international trade law. He has taught these subjects mainly at the master (LLM) and doctoral (Ph.D.) programs for more than 30 years. He has been supervisor and advisor for more than 100 LLM dissertations and Ph.D. theses, majority of which have been in the field of international commercial law, predominantly in national and international arbitration.
