As an international organisation, the EBRD has been granted a number of privileges, immunities and exemptions under Chapter VIII of the Agreement Establishing the Bank in order to enable it to fulfil its functions. Furthermore, Article 4 of the Headquarters Agreement signed with the UK government states that “within the scope of its official activities the Bank shall enjoy immunity from jurisdiction”, save where the Bank has waived such immunity and save for a number of exceptions listed therein. Like other international organisations, the Bank has therefore developed the internal dispute resolution system aimed at resolving disputes of an employment or administrative nature.
EBRD Administrative Tribunal (the “EBRDAT”)
The EBRDAT forms part of the internal dispute resolution system of the Bank, its role is to hear appeals against an Administrative Decision once an employee has exhausted all appropriate channels for review under the Administrative Review Process. It comprises a panel of five judges, highly experienced lawyers from outside the EBRD. The President of the EBRDAT is appointed by and from among the panel. For each appeal, the President of the EBRDAT selects three members from the panel to serve for that appeal. If the Tribunal considers that an appeal is well founded it may grant appropriate remedies to the appellant, including compensatory remedies and rectify the Administrative Decision which is the subject of the appeal.
The current composition of the EBRDAT is as follows:
- Chris De Cooker (Dutch), President
- Marielle Cohen-Branche (French)
- Thomas Laker (German)
- Joan Powers (American)
- Maria Vicien-Milburn (Spanish and Argentinian)
Curricula vitae
Chris de Cooker (President of the EBRD Administrative Tribunal) (Dutch) has more than forty-five years of direct experience in international administrative law. He was an academic for nine years at the University of Leiden, where he developed a special course on international administration. Between 1984 and 2011 (when he retired), Mr de Cooker worked at the European Space Agency in a number of posts, including Head of Staff Regulations and Central Support Division and Head of International Relations Department. Since 2010, he has been a judge on a number of international arbitration and administrative tribunals. He is President of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development and of the SKAO Independent Employment Tribunal. He is a judge at the OECD Administrative Tribunal and Vice President of the GAVI Appeals Tribunal. He is the former President of the NATO Administrative Tribunal (2013-2023) and a former judge of the Asian Development Bank Administrative Tribunal (2015-2024, President from 2022-2024). He was Chair of the Appeal Board of The Global Fund from 2016-2020 and of the BIPM Appeals Committee from 2020-2023. He was Mediator in ITER from 2018-2025 and is an Arbitrator at the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He is since 2025 a Member of the Panel of Independent Reviewers of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as well as of the New Development Bank. Mr de Cooker has advised many international organisations, in particular on their respective internal justice systems.
Marielle Cohen-Branche (French) has over 20 years of judicial experience and served as a judge at the French Cour de Cassation from 2003 to 2012. Ms Cohen-Branche served as a member of the World Bank Sanctions Board from 2007 to 2012 and was a member of the Sanctions Commission at the French Stock Exchange Regulator (Autorité des Marchés Financiers – AMF), where she has acted as their public national ombudsperson from November 2011 to December 2025. She is now a member of the AMF’s Investor Advisory Committee and a member of the Financial Sector Advisory Committee (CCSF). Ms Cohen-Branche was a senior executive and legal manager at an international banking institution. Ms Cohen-Branche was appointed as a judge on the World Bank Administrative Tribunal from 2013-2023 (Vice President from 2019-2023). Ms Cohen-Branche was awarded the French Officier de la Légion d’honneur and the Commandeur de l’ordre national du mérite for her distinguished national service.
Thomas Laker (German) has over 35 years of experience as a judge of administrative law courts. For the past 15 years, Mr Laker has served as a judge on various international administrative tribunals for several different international organisations, among them, the United Nations, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe, and the World Bank. Mr Laker was among the first generation of judges to have established the new system of administration of justice at the United Nations and served as the President of the United Nations Dispute Tribunal twice, from 2010-2011 and from 2013-2014.
Joan Powers (American) has over 35 years of legal experience in the field of international administrative law. Ms Powers was in the Legal Department of the International Monetary Fund from 1984 to 2009. As Assistant General Counsel of the IMF, she had principal responsibility for advising on administrative legal matters, in particular, the legal aspects of the employment framework and the internal justice system. Since retiring from the IMF, she has been a consultant to over a dozen public international organisations on various aspects of their internal legal framework. Ms Powers is currently a judge on the GAVI Appeals Tribunal, a member of the Panel of Adjudicators of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and Deputy Mediator in ITER. She has served as the Chair of the Appeal Board of the World Intellectual Property Organization since 2020 and was previously Chair of the Appeals Commission of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Maria Vicien-Milburn (Spanish and Argentinian) is an independent international arbitrator in commercial and investment disputes, and a specialist in public international law. She is the Alternate Chair of the Enforcement Appeals Committee of the Asian Development Bank, and a Judge on the Administrative Tribunals of the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund. She has over 30 years' experience as a senior international civil servant at the United Nations. She served as General Counsel of the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) between 2009 and 2014, and prior thereto between 1999 and 2009 as Director and Deputy of the General Legal Division, Office of the Legal Advisor of the United Nations. She acted for 14 years as the Registrar of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal. She has also been engaged by the International Criminal Court on a short-term assignment as a dispute resolution expert.
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