Dr. Aboubacar Fall is a former member of the Paris Bar and currently a Partner at AF Legal Law Firm in Dakar.( Senegal) . His areas of practice include natural resources law (including mining and oil &gas), PPP, private equity, M&A, maritime trade law, investment law, infrastructure law, environmental law& climate change , governance and international commercial & investment arbitration, among others . Dr Fall holds an LL.M from University of Washington (Seattle), a Ph.D. in international business law from University of Haute-Normandie in Rouen (France) , a Masters in international transportation from University of Paris-Sorbonne (France) and a Masters in Private Law from University of Paris- X-Nanterre (France) . He also holds a Certificate in Petroleum Management & Policy from PETRAD Institute in Stavanger ( Norway) . He is a member of the several professional associations including the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN) , the Pan African lawyers Union (PALU),the African Business law & Expertise (ABLE), the African law Institute (ALI), IBA Section on Energy,, Environment, Natural Resources & Infrastructure Law, ABA Section of International Law, the Comité Maritime International (CMI) etc. Dr. Fall has served for ten years as Principal Legal Counsel at the Legal Department of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group where he participated in several natural resources development projects ,including oil & gas. He also served as Chairman of the Management Board of the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF). In that capacity , he appraised and approved the financing of natural resources related projects.Dr. Fall holds teaching positions including at the United Nations Institute for Training & Research (UNITAR) where he mentors the courses on Governance of Extractive Industries, Legal Aspects of Sovereign Debt Management, International Dispute Resolution Mechanisms, among others.