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Professor. Dr. Kaj Hobér

Professor. Dr. Kaj Hobér

Practice Overview

Россиян Версион

Kaj Hobér holds long distinguished and highly regarded reputation as a  leading figure in the field of international arbitration.

He has acted as counsel to numerous corporations and governmental agencies in general commercial and corporate law matters throughout his professional career. Kaj is also widely regarded as  an arbitrator and has been appointed to panels of large scale arbitral disputes in more than 200 international arbitrations, commercial as well as treaty based, (including many chairmanships) across a variety of tribunals which include the SCC, ICC, ICISD and the LCIA, amongst others.

Kaj has over thirty years of experience dealing with the legal aspects of East-West trade, advising clients from both sides in a variety of transactions including, inter alia, joint ventures, industrial cooperation agreements, turn-key contracts for various types of plants, construction and civil engineering contracts, licensing and other transfer of technology agreements, countertrade transactions, privatization transactions, oil and gas projects, different capital markets transactions, trading in Russian securities, loan transactions, and mergers and acquisitions.

During the early 1990’s Kaj was deeply involved in privatization matters in Eastern Europe, primarily in the Russian Federation and the Baltic States.  During his time in the Russian Federation Kaj worked as a legal advisor to the equivalent of the privatization ministry drafting legislations and regulations for the privatization of state-owned enterprises, including in the oil and gas sector.

Kaj has represented both Western, Central East European and Russian parties in international arbitrations taking place in Stockholm, Moscow, London, Paris, Vienna, Washington D.C., and elsewhere. He has also been involved in a large number of oil arbitrations, relating primarily to Northern Africa, the Middle East, China and the former Soviet Union.

Since 2016, Kaj has been Chairperson of the board of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. He was the resident manging partner of Mannheimer Swartling’s in Moscow between 1997 and 2000.

Kaj is multi lingual and is able to conduct hearings (both written and oral) in Russian as well as in English.

  • Research assistant at the University of Uppsala, Department of Law, spring 1977.
  • Law clerk at the District Court of Uppsala, Uppsala, 1978-1980.
  • Junior judge at the Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm, 1980-1982.
  • Lecturer in Soviet and East European Law as well as International Arbitration Law at the University of Uppsala, since 1980.
  • Professor of East European Commercial Law, Uppsala University 9 June 1997- 30 June 2009.
  • Commissioner at the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva, 1998-2003.
  • Arbitrator at the Appeals Tribunal of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, 2001-2006.
  • Arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, 2002-2008.
  • Arbitrator at the ad hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport during the Torino Olympic Games of 2006.
  • Professor of International Law, Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP) at the University of Dundee 2010.
  • Professor of International Investment and Trade Law at Uppsala University, from 1 May 2012.
  • Associate, Wetter & Wetter, Stockholm, 1982-1983.
  • Associate, White & Case, Stockholm as from 1 October 1983.
  • Partner, White & Case, Stockholm, as from 1 June 1989.
  • Partner Mannheimer Swartling, Stockholm, 17 January 1994 – 31 December 2014.
  • Associate Member of 3 Verulam Buildings, London from 1 January 2015.
  • the Austrian Federal Chamber of Commerce, Vienna,
  • the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, Moscow,
  • the Chamber of Commerce of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg,
  • the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, Kiev,
  • the American Arbitration Association and
  • the ICSID Arbitration Center, Washington D.C.
  • the International Arbitration Court, Almaty,
  • the Chamber of Commerce & Industry of The Kyrgyz Republic, Bishkek
  • the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, Beijing
  • the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center
  • the Recommended Arbitrators of the Court of Arbitration at the Polish Chamber of Commerce
  • the Panel of Arbitrators Kuala Lumpur (KLRCA)
  • 2001 edition of International WHO’S WHO of Professionals.
  • Defenses to Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in the United States. 48 Nordisk Tidskrift for International Ret 38-57 (1978).
  • Protection of Foreign Trade Marks in the Soviet Union. Nordisk Immateriellt Rättsskydd 392-412 (1978). (Also published in 14 Texas International Law Journal 367-388 (1979).)
  • “The Doctrine of Separability under Swedish Arbitration Law, including Comments on the Position of and Soviet Law”, Svensk Juristtidning 257-271 (1983).
  • Party Substitution under Swedish Arbitration Law, Yearbook of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce 43-52 (1983).
  • Legal aspects of Soviet Foreign Trade. (A 3-part article published in Swedish in Affärsrätt under the following titles:
    (i) Hur man lyckas i affärer med Sovjet (How to succeed in doing business with the USSR), Affärsrätt 1/1985, 25-29;
    (ii) Att förhandla med ett sovjetiskt utrikeshandelsföretag (Contract negotiations with a Soviet Foreign Trade Organization), Affärsrätt 2/1985, 28-30;
    (iii) Finns det kaviar för västländer? (Is there caviar for Western countries? – An overview of the legal aspects of countertrade), Affärsrätt 4/1985, 30-32).
  • Mothandel allt vanligare inom världshandeln idag (Countertrade growing more frequent in today’s world trade). Handelskammartidningen 9/1985, 16-17.
  • “Das anzuwendende Recht beim internationalen Schiedsverfahren in Schweden”, Recht der Internationalen Wirtschaft, pp. 685-694, October 1986.
  • The Pitfalls of Countertrade. International Financial Law Review, March and April 1987.
  • “Arbitration in Moscow”, Arbitration International, April 1987, pp. 119-163.
  • Joint ventures with the Soviet Union. International Financial Law Review, November 1987.
  • Tillämplig lag på utländska företags emissionsprojekt i Sverige (Applicable law on prospectuses in connection with new issues by foreign companies in Sweden.) Svensk Juristtidning 582-608 (1987).
  • “Schiedsort Stockholm: Verjährung und das anzuwendende Recht”, Jahrbuch für die Praxis der Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit Band 2, (1988), pp. 80-91.
  • Negotiating joint ventures in the Soviet Union. International Financial Law Review, November 1988.
  • The Legal Framework of U.S. Securities Market – A short introduction, 1988.
  • Joint enterprises in the Soviet Union, in 1989 Yearbook of Socialist Legal Systems.
  • Ogiltighet och klander i internationella skiljeförfaranden. Högsta domstolen meddelar beslut i Uganda-målet (Invalidity and challenge of awards in international arbitrations. The Supreme Court decides the Uganda case). 1989 Yearbook of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce 1989.
  • “International Commercial Arbitration in Sweden: Two salient problem areas”, Studies in International Law Liber Amicorum for Professor Lars A.E. Hjerner, (1989), pp. 235-276.
  • Rättsliga aspekter på värdepappersmarknadens internationalisering (Legal aspects on the internationalization of the securities market). Svensk Juristtidning 426-450 (1989).
  • Arbitration and the Swedish Courts, 1990 Yearbook of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.
  • “Joint Ventures between enterprises from different economic and political systems”, Swedish National Reports to the XIIIth International Congress of Comparative Law, (1990), pp. 117-149.
  • Joint Stock Companies a la Russe, Parker School Bulletin on Soviet and East European Law, Vol. I, No. 6, Aug. 1990,2.
  • Soviet Company Law Reform – Quo Vadis? Parker School Bulletin on Soviet and East European Law, Vol. I, No. 7, Sept. 1990,6.
  • Judicial Review in International Arbitration: The Swedish Supreme Court Decision in the Uganda Case, Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law, Vol. 1, No. 4, 1990, 596-616.
  • Joint Ventures Between Enterprises from Different Economic and Political Systems, Swedish National Reports to the XIIIth International Congress of Comparative Law, Acta Instituti Upsaliensis Iurisprudentiae Comparativae XVI, 1990, 117-151.
  • Teknikhandel med Östeuropa (Technology Transfers with Eastern Europe) in EDB-retten i Europa/Computer Law in Europe/76-93 (1991).
  • The Russian Law on Foreign Investments. Parker School Bulletin on Soviet and East European Law, Vol. 2, No. 7, Sept. 1991,5.
  • Recent Trends in Foreign Trade and Investment, is to be published in Investing reform: Doing Business in a Changing Soviet Union (New York University Press), 1991.
  • Från sovjetisk planekonomi till rysk marknadsekonomi: Juristernas Via Dolorosa/ From Soviet Planned Economy to Russian Market Economy: (The Via Dolorosa of Lawyers), Svensk Juristtidning, 688-733 (1991).
  • “Choice of Law and Joint Ventures in the Soviet Union”, F.J.M. Feldbrugge (ed.) The Emancipation of Soviet Law, pp. 107-124, (Kluwer Academic Publishers, the Netherlands) (1992).
  • Folkrättens historia: det ryska bidraget (The History of International Law: the Russian Contribution, Svensk Juristtidning, 459-478 (1993).
  • Enforcing Foreign Arbitral Awards Against Russian Entities, Acta Juridica Hungarica, 35 1993, 257-304.
  • Enforcing Foreign Arbitral Awards Against Russian Entities. Arbitration International, Vol.10, No.1, 1994.
  • “In Search for the Centre of Gravity. Applicable Law in International Arbitrations in Sweden”, Swedish and International Arbitration (1994), pp. 7-43.
  • A Game called Russian Oil: Trading Oil in the FSU – Recent Developments, Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, 96 – 107 (1995).
  • Russian Oil Legislation: An Overview. The Parker School Journal of East European Law, Vol. 2 Nos 4-5 1995.
  • Handelskammarens regler om förenklade skiljeförfaranden, Juridisk Tidskrift 1995/96 153.
  • Vägen Österut (“The Way East, Constitutional Law Aspects of EU:s enlargement into Central- and Eastern Europe”) 1996. Report to the Swedish Government, SOU 1996:15, 45-81.
  • Förfarandet i skiljetvister. På spaning efter ett billigare och förenklat skiljeförfarande – möjligheter och begränsningar. Rapport till det 34:e nordiska juristmötet 1996.
  • Encyclopedia of International Commercial Litigation (Chapter on Sweden) (1999) 1-38.
  • Das neue schwedische Gesetz über Schiedsverfahren, neue Regeln für das Schiedsinstitut des Handelskammer Stockholm, Recht und Praxis der Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit, Beilage 4 zu Heft 4 11/1999, 8-10.
  • Sista striden mellan internationalister och territorialister? – Berättelsen om Hillmarton och Chromalloy, Festskrift till Ulf K. Nordenson (1999) 195-213.
  • The Technique of Contract Negotiations and Dispute Resolution, in International Trade legislation in the Baltic Region (2000) 24-33.
  • Verkställighet av utländsk skiljedom i Ryssland, 3 Defensor Legis 2000, 419.
  • “Arbitration Reform in Sweden”, 17 Arbitration International, pp. 351-387 (2001).
  • Practitioner’s Handbook On International Arbitration (Chapter on Sweden) (C.H.Beck DJOF) (2002) 1001-1046.
  • Practitioner’s Handbook On International Arbitration and Mediation (Chapter on Sweden) (Juris Publishing) (2002) III. 6-1 – III. 6-50.
  • Advocacy in International Commercial Arbitration: Sweden, in Advocacy in International Arbitration, 169-194 (2003).
  • “Arbitration Involving States”, Leading Arbitrators’ Guide, pp. 139-162 (2003).
  • Investment Arbitration in Eastern Europe: Recent Cases on Expropriation, (The American Review of International Arbitration 2003/Vol. 14 No. 4).
  • Skydda företagets investeringar, PointLex legala affärer 20-23 (Nr 1, 2004).
  • “The Trailblazers v. the Conservative Crusaders, or Why Arbitrators Should Have the Power to Order Ex Parte Interim Releif”, International Council for Commercial Arbitration Congress series no. 12, pp. 272-277 (2004).
  • “Ownership of the Oil and Gas Resources in the Caspian See: Problems and Solutions – International Arbitration and Contractual Clauses”, Stockholm Arbitration Report 2004:1, pp. 1-40 and The Journal of Eurasian Law, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 64-104, (2008).
  • “Parallel Arbitration Proceedings – Duties of the Arbitrators: Some Reflections and Ideas”, Dossiers: Parallel State and Arbitral Procedures in International Arbitration 243-267 (2005).
  • “War and Peace between Russia and Sweden 1323-1809. A Chronology of Border Treaties”, Forging a Common Legal Destiny: Liber Amicorum in honour of William E. Butler 701-713 (2005).
  • “The First Energy Charter Treaty Arbitral Award”, Journal of International Arbitration 22(2), (2005), pp. 83-104.
  • Intressekonflikter och skiljeförfaranden – Vägmärken och trafiksignaler från IBA (Conflicts of interest and arbitration – Traffic sign and traffic signals from IBA) in Nord & Thorell (eds.) Intressekonflikter och finansiella marknader 226-238 (2006).
  • “State Responsibility and Investment Arbitration”, Investment Arbitration and the Energy Charter Treaty, Ribeiro (ed.), pp. 261-290, (2006).
  • “Interim Measures by Arbitrators, Arbitral Provisional Measures: The Actual Practice, International Arbitration 2006: Back to Basics?” ICCA International Arbitration Congress, pp. 721-750.
  • “Chronique de Jurisprudence suédoise (1996-2004)”, Journal du Droit International Avril-Mai-Juin 2006 no. 2 pp. 719-752.
  • “Fair and Equitable Treatment – Determining Compensation”, The International Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID, pp. 79-102, 2007.
  • “The Energy Charter Treaty – Awards Rendered”, Dispute Resolution International Vol. 1 No. 1 June 2007, pp. 36-57.
  • “The Energy Charter Treaty: An Overview”, The Journal of World Investment & Trade vol. 8 No. 3 June 2007, pp. 323-356.
  • New Rules of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, LCIA – Arbitration International Vol. 23 No. 2 2007.
  • Provisional application and the Energy Charter Treaty: the Russian Doll Provision (in International Arbitration Law Review, International Law Reporter) Tuesday, 10 July, 2007.
  • Die neue Schiedsordnung 2007 des Schiedsgerichtsinstituts der Stockholmer Handelskammer (in SchiedsVZ 4/2007, Juli/August 2007, 5. Jahrgang (207-212).
  • “Russia’s Border with China. A Brief Chronology”, Liber Amicorum for Anders Fogelklou, pp. 79-110, (2008).
  • “State Responsibility and Attribution”, The Oxford Handbook of International Investment Law, (2008), pp. 550-583.
  • The Special Status of Agreements to Arbitrate: The Separability Doctrine, Mandatory Stay of Litigation, Dispute Resolution International, Vol. 2 No. 1, 56-74 (2008).
  • The Role of the Energy Charter Treaty in the Context of the European Union and Russia (in Investment Protection and the Energy Charter Treaty, 2008, 235-306).
  • The EU-Russia Energy Dialogue – The Legal Dimension ( in The 2006 Uppsala Yearbook of East European Law, (2008), 107-173).
  • “The EU-Russia Energy Dialogue – The Legal Dimension – With Particular Emphasis on the Energy Charter Treaty”, The Journal of Eurasian Law (JEL), Vol. 1, nos. 2-3 (2008), pp. 213-268.
  • Encyclopedia of International Commercial Litigation (Chapter on Sweden) (2008) 1-39.
  • “MFN Clauses and Dispute Resolution in Investment Treaties: Have We Reached The End of The Road?”, International Investment Law for the XXI Century Essays in honour of Christoph Schreuer, (2009), pp. 31-41.
  • Investor-State Arbitration and China – An Overview, Chapter 16 in Business Disputes in China, Second Edition (2009), pp. 209-224.
  • “Remedies in Investment Disputes”, Investment treaty Law Current Issues III, Remedies in International Investment Law, Emerging Jurisprudence of International Investment Law (2009), pp. 3-16.
  • Investment Arbitration and the Energy Charter Treaty, Journal of International Dispute Settlement, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2010), pp. 153-190.
  • Law and Policy in the Russian Oil and Gas Sector, Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, Vol, 27, No. 3, pp. 420-444.
  • “Russian Energy Policy and Dispute Settlement: An Overview”, European Energy Law Report VII (Energy Law 11), (2010),pp. 235-266.
  • “Review of Investment Treaty Awards by Municipal Courts”, Arbitration Under International Investment Agreements, A Guide to The Key Issues, (2010), pp. 635-669.
  • “Misconduct by Proxy? Trying to Understand Article 22 of the ECT”, Liber Amicorum Bernardo Cremades (2010), pp.573-597.
  • “Compensation: A Closer Look at Cases Awarding Compensation for Violation of Fair and Equitable Treatment Standard”, Arbitration Under International Investment Agreements, A Guide to The Key Issues, (2010), pp. 573-599.
  • “Territorial Disputes and Natural Resources: the Melting of the Ice and Arctic Disputes”, 60th Anniversary Commemorative Book of the Court of Arbitration at the Polish Chamber of Commerce (2010), pp. 751-774.
  • International Arbitration in London: A View from Outside, Annual Keynote Address delivered on 5 May 2011 to the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators London Branch, published in Arbitration (2011) pp. 428-434.
  • Determining the Jurisdiction of Arbitral Tribunals Sitting in Sweden, Romanian Arbitration Journal (Revista Românã de Arbitraj), Year 6, No. 1, Vol, 21, 1-9 (2012).
  • “Russian Shareholders’Agreements and International Arbitration”, The American Review of International Arbitration, 2012/Vol. 23, Nos. 3-4, A Tribute to Hans Smith, pp. 493 – 505.
  • Sweden, Chapter 7 in Shareholder Claims (2012) pp. 155-170.
  • “The CME/Lauder Saga-or Pragae Caemeterium? A Tale of Two Parallel Investment Treaty Arbitrations”, The Practice of Arbitration: Essays in Honour of Hans Van Houtte, (2012) pp. 263 – 278.
  • “Sovereign Immunity and International Arbitration – Recent developments”
    Arbitrators’ Insights Essays in Honour of Neil Kaplan (Sweet & Maxwell, 2012), pp. 91-11.
  • Допрос свидетелей в международном арбитраже (Witness Examination in International Arbitration) / Международный коммерческий арбитраж: современные проблемы и решения: Сборник статей к 80-летию Международного коммерческого арбитражного суда при Торгово-промышленной палате Российской Федерации (2012) pp. 369 – 391.
  • Res Judicata and Lis Pendes in International Arbitration, offprint from the Recueil des Coeurs, Volume 366 (2014) pp.109-405.
  • “Investment Treaty Arbitration: An Overview”, Intertax, Special Issue: Arbitration in Tax Treaties (Kluwer Law, 2014), pp. 189-193.
  • “Enforcement and Execution of Arbitral Awards and Sovereign Immunity”
    Materials from the First Reading in Memory of Akademik Pobirchenko I.G., (2014), pp.38-50.
  • “Apparent Authority по-русский”, The Best in the West- Educator, Jurist, Arbitrator – Liber Amicorum in Honour of Professor William Butler. (2014) pp. 200-215.
  • Review of Boguslavskij, Pravovye formi nauchno-techniches¬-kogo i promyshlenno-ekonomicheskogo sotrudinechestva SSSR s kapitalisticheskimi stranami. 9 Review of Socialist Law 381-384 (1983). (Also published in Tidskrift för Juridiska Föreningen i Finland, 108-112 (1984).)
  • Review of Molnar, Öst-väst handel (East-West Trade). Affärsrätt 1985, 27.
  • Review of International Chamber of Commerce, Guide to Arbitration. Svensk Juristtidning 744-747 (1985).
  • Review of David, Arbitration in International Trade. Yearbook of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce 45-50 (1985).
  • Review of Böckstiegel, Arbitration and State Enterprises. Survey on the National and International State of Law and Practice. Yearbook of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce 50-52 (1985).
  • Review of Boguslavskij, Mezhdunarodnaja peredatja techno¬logii: pravovoe regulorivanie. (International and Comparative Law Quarterly, October 1986).
  • Finality of Swedish Awards. The Nordic Saga in the Laczay Estate ./. AGA AB Case. 1 Arbitration International 77-81 (1986).
  • New Swedish Competition Act. Business Law Brief, 6/1986, 15.
  • Judgement of Swedish Court of Appeal upholds arbitral award, (Mealey’s International Arbitration Report, February 1987).
  • Review of Sinclair, the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, second edition. Svensk Juristtidning 50-56 (1987).
  • Ny folkrättslig litteratur (New literature on public international law) Svensk Juristtidning 67-78 (1989).
  • Review of Robert G. Kaiser, Why Gorbachev Happened, 1991, in Uppsala Nya Tidning, 15 January 1992.
  • Review of Rose Brady, Kapitalizm, 1999, in Finanstidningen, 9 February 2000.
  • Review of Strobe Talbott, The Russia Hand, in Dagens Forskning, 2-3 December 2002.
  • Review of Soili Nystén-Haarala, Russia Law in Transition, in Nordisk Öst-forum, Nr. 4, 2002.
  • Arbitration under the Energy Charter Treaty, in Who’s Who Legal, 2005.
  • In Memoriam, Gunnar Lagergren, Arbitration International, Vol. 25 No. 4, (2009)
  • Territorial Disputes and Natural Resources: the Melting of the Ice and Arctic Disputes, Oil & Gas Journal (Feb. 7, 2011), pp. 54-60.
  • Review of Ivar Alvik, Contracting with Sovereignty: State Contracts and International Arbitration, 2011, Global Arbitration Review.
  • Legal 500 Bar Awards 2023: Commercial Litigation Set of the Year
  • L500-uk-top-tier-set-2024
  • Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2024: Top Tier Set
  • Chambers UK Bar 2024: Top Ranked
Winner: UK Bar Awards 2023
The Lawyer Awards 2022: Chambers of the Year