Dr Niels Schiersing, LLD

Doctor (Dr) Niels Schiersing (born in 1960 and a national of the Kingdom of Denmark) is dual qualified and admitted to practice law in Denmark (advocate) and England and Wales (solicitor), giving him profound and in-depth knowledge of civil law and common law principles alike. 

 

He holds the degree of Dr. Jur. (Doctor Juris), which is the highest academic degree in Denmark. A Dr. Jur. degree is, inter alia, equivalent to Dr. Habil. (Doctor Habilitatus), which is a level above PhD and the highest achievable academic degree in Germany, and also equivalent to D.Sc. (Doctor Scientiae), which occupies a similar position in certain Eastern European countries (In Russian: Doktor Nauk). The Dr. Jur. degree is akin to the higher doctoral degrees of LLD (Legum Doctor) and DCL (Doctor of Civil Law) in British academia.

 

Dr Schiersing specialises in (comparative) contract law, i.e. the formation, construction/interpretation, adaption, performance, termination and breach of contract, including the principles for calculation and determination of damages, with a wide application regarding industries and sectors and in both a common law and a civil law context. He has a special focus on the law of obligations (contract law) in the major common law and civil law jurisdictions in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Moreover, his research includes international arbitration law.

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His research focuses on (comparative) contract law, particularly in the areas of commercial contracts (general principles), M&A contracts, construction and engineering contracts, energy contracts, banking and finance contracts, as well as reinsurance contracts. Also, his research includes international arbitration law.

 

His latest treatise concerns “Disruption Claims in Construction and Engineering Contracts” and was published in 2024.

 

In June 2020, Dr Schiersing published Earn-Out Disputes, which is the first volume of a larger treatise on substantive and procedural issues relating to post-M&A disputes. The book is the first of its kind worldwide. He is currently working on the volume related to MAC and MAE disputes.

 

In 2016, he published the first and only commentary on the Danish Arbitration Act of 2005 (which, in turn, is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law of 1985). The commentary contains a comprehensive analysis of the sections of the act and refers extensively to not least Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and English case law and serves as a Scandinavian commentary on the model law. He is one of the leading authorities on comparative Scandinavian arbitration law.

 

In 2013, Dr Schiersing published the first book in Scandinavia on reinsurance law, and he is one of the leading Scandinavian authorities within this area of law as well as insurance coverage disputes.

 

As an arbitrator, Dr Schiersing mostly divides his time between Europe, Asia (including the Middle East) and Africa, with offices in London, Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong.

 

Dr Schiersing is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in London (FCIArb) and a Chartered Arbitrator (C. Arb). He is on a number of panels of arbitrators across the continents.

 

Dr Schiersing does not act as counsel, and he does not provide expert opinions or give legal advice.