Bajar is Counsel and an international arbitration, investment protection and public international law specialist based in Frankfurt am Main.
Bajar is a disputes lawyer specialising in international arbitration and public international law, including in relation to investment treaty arbitration, State immunity, and Business and Human Rights.
Bajar has extensive experience representing and advising corporate clients and States in investment arbitrations under bi- and multilateral investment treaties and contracts between investors and governments or State-owned entities. He advises on issues of international economic law, with a particular emphasis on international investment law and its relations to international environmental law, business and human rights, and international taxation. Bajar also represents clients in international commercial arbitrations. His recent work includes a wide range of complex cross-border disputes, including arbitral proceedings under the ICSID Convention and the ICC, LCIA, MIAC, SCC, HKIAC, DIS, Swiss, CIETAC, and UNCITRAL Rules.
Bajar is an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Mannheim in Germany, where he teaches world trade and international investment law and arbitration.
Publications
Looking at Environmental Protection through the Lens of International Investment Law: Trends and Developments in Investment Treaty-Making and Investment Arbitration. In: German Arbitration Journal (SchiedsVZ), Issue 4, 2024.
Investment Arbitration in Legal Practice: JuS-Interview with Dr Bajar Scharaw. In: Juristische Schulung, Issue 1, 2024 (available here).
European Commission publishes Non-Paper of Model Clauses for Member States' Bilateral Investment Agreements with Third Countries. In: Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 2024.
Third-Party Funding in Investment Arbitration: Emerging Regulatory Framework and Tribunal Approaches to Disclosure and Requests for Security for Costs. In: German Arbitration Journal (SchiedsVZ), Issue 2, 2023.
Business and Human Rights. In: Juristische Schulung, Issue 1, 2023.
Counterclaims in Investment Arbitration. In: Journal for European Law Studies, Special Issue, 2021.
Sovereign Immunity in Germany. In: Lexology, 2018-2024.
Arbitration and Money Laundering. In: ICC Germany-Magazine, 10/2020.
What are Moot Courts for? In: NJW-Aktuell, Volume 44, 2019.
The (Provisional) End of Debates on Narrow Dispute Settlement Clauses in PRC First-Generation BITs? – China Heilongjiang et al. v. Mongolia. In: Arbitration International (Oxford University Press), Issue 2, 2018.
The Protection of Foreign Investments in Mongolia: Treaties, Domestic Law, and Contracts on Investments in International Comparison and Arbitral Practice. In: European Yearbook of International Economic Law Monographs (Springer, 2017) 358 pages.
Agreement between Canada and Mongolia for the Promotion and Protection of Investments – Nature, Significance and Features. In: Mongolia Focus – The University of British Colombia, 2017.
Commission Proposal for a Directive on Antitrust Damages and Recommendation on Principles for Collective Redress – the Road towards Private Antitrust Enforcement in the European Union? In: European Competition Law Review, Issue 7, 2014.
Memberships
International Law Association (ILA), European Society of International Law (ESIL), German Association of International Law, German-Australian-Pacific-Lawyers Association.
The Mongolian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has appointed Bajar as an arbitrator to the panel of arbitrators at the Mongolian International Arbitration Centre (MIAC).
Background
Bajar holds a PhD (Dr. iur.) in investment arbitration and treaty protection (summa cum laude). He obtained university degrees in law, political science and communication science in Germany. Bajar also obtained an LL.M. from the University of Queensland in Australia, where he focused his studies on international economic law and arbitration, obtained an award for outstanding academic excellence, and was added to the Dean's Honor Roll. He qualified to practice law in 2012 and is admitted to the bar in Germany (Rechtsanwalt). Bajar was a research fellow at a German university chair for public international law, international human rights, and EU law. Prior to joining Herbert Smith Freehills, he worked in another international law firm in Frankfurt in the field of international investment law and arbitration.
Bajar regularly speaks and publishes on topics related to international arbitration, international investment law, public international law, and EU law (including with Oxford University Press). He gave lectures on these topics at the Universities of Mannheim, Heidelberg, Saarbrücken (all Germany), Glasgow (UK), Kazguu (Kazakhstan), and Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia).
Experience & expertise
Selected matters
- an Asian State against a US investor under the ICSID Convention and a bilateral investment treaty in an environmental dispute in the mining sector
- a European State in an investment arbitration under the ICSID Convention and the Energy Charter Treaty in the nuclear energy sector
- several European investors in an investment arbitration against a Southern European state under the ICSID Convention and the Energy Charter Treaty in the renewable energy sector
- a European investor in an investor-State dispute with an African government in the public infrastructure sector
- a Central Asian government on immunity issues in arbitral award enforcement proceedings in England, Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the US
- a US company in a post-M&A arbitration against a German company under the ICC Rules in the IT and healthcare sector
- a German manufacturer in a construction arbitration against a Turkish company under the ICC Rules
- a German company in several CISG arbitrations against companies in South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East under the Swiss and CIETAC Rules in the steel manufacturing and trade sector
- A Swedish company against an Asian company under the HKIAC Rules in the manufacturing and industrials sector
