Asser Harb was born on January 1, 1978 in Cairo, Egypt and is currently Egypt's State Solicitor in the Egyptian State Lawsuits Authority. Although he is relatively young, he is primarily known for his international legal practice on behalf of the Arab Republic of Egypt, that has contributed to protecting the Egyptian state coffers.

Positions

State Solicitor

He was appointed by Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt, as a State Solicitor by virtue of the Presedintial Decree No. 133/2003. His legal practice includes acting as counsel for the Arab Republic of Egypt in dozens of domestic and international arbitration proceedings, particularly in highly significant investor-state disputes involving major infrastructure projects and complex international transactions. He mainly aims to defend vigorously the public funds and interests of the Egyptian people in opposition to any fraudulent practices from the part of foreign investors in Egypt. He has argued most of the important cases where Egypt is a party thereto, such as the CRCICA case, Malicorp Lmited v. Egypt and the ICSID Application for Interpretation, Wena v. Egypt.

Counsel

He formerly served as legal counsel for Misr International Bank in Egypt, where he managed to develop unique legal researches in order to provide straight answers for difficult legal questions in each and every arena of banking laws, international trade law and the applicable internal policies and procedures. He was also recognised as the youngest member of the Technical Legal Committee of the Association of Egyptian Banks.

Internship

He began his international legal practice through serving as an intern in Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Paris and Charles Russell Twist LLP in Cairo.

Writings

He has written extensively in numerous areas of international investment and trade law involving the most controversial issues with emphasis on banking laws and investor-state disputes. An example of his writings is Applicable Rules to the Cross-Border Letters of Guarantee.[599]