Petrit Elshani is a Kosovo-admitted attorney, and specializes in all matters of investment arbitration and international commercial arbitration. He has acted as counsel and arbitrator in several domestic and international arbitrations administered by a range of arbitral institutions. He is particularly skilled in investor-State arbitrations, having advised both investors and States in complex, high-stakes disputes. Petrit advises clients during the arbitration but also before the process begins, offering strategic pre-arbitration advice. He is VIAC Ambassador for Kosovo for the 2023-2025 term.
Early on in his career, he gained considerable experience as secretary to arbitral tribunals, particularly in DIS and ICC proceedings. This broad experience enables him to dissect a dispute both from the perspective of party representative and decision-maker.
Petrit also advises companies and private individuals in cross-border investment projects and transactions across a range of industries. He does so with a regional focus on German-Balkan relations.
English · Albanian · German
Petrit studied law in Prishtina and Berlin (LL.B.), and obtained an LL.M. degree in International Dispute Resolution from Humboldt University Berlin. Before joining WAGNER Arbitration in 2016, he worked for a leading full-service law firm in his hometown Prishtina and clerked for a prominent judge in the commercial department of the Kosovo Court of Appeals.
Petrit has regular speaking engagements particularly on international arbitration-related matters, and teaches a course on investment law and arbitration at the International Dispute Resolution LL.M. program of Humboldt University Berlin. He has also been assisting the author of a leading German commentary on international sales law for the past five years.
Advising Kosovo and Albanian investors in the energy sector with regard to potential international investment law claims against a south-eastern European State
Representing a Mexican commercial agent in a dispute with a German food manufacturing company (DIS Arbitration)
Representing German investor EMS Shipping & Trading GmbH in an ICSID arbitration against the Republic of Albania concerning a port concession dispute
Representing a Swiss energy investor in an UNCITRAL investor-state arbitration against an eastern European State
Advising a south-eastern European State regarding potential investment claims by a foreign energy investor
Petrit is particularly passionate about German-Albanian relations, having grown up and studied law both in Kosovo and Germany. He was a board member of OASA e.V. (a Berlin-based association for the advancement of German-Albanian academic and cultural exchange), and continues to be an active member. He maintains a broad network in the Balkan region across governmental and non-governmental institutions.