Ayyappan Palanissamy

Ayyappan Palanissamy has obtained two post-graduate degrees (LL.M & MHRM), and two under-graduate degrees (LL. B & Psychology) from Pondicherry University, India. Currently, he is a Coordinator for the Commercial Law program and a faculty teaching commercial law and management courses at Modern College of Business and Science, Oman. He has taught previously in the international universities in Malaysia and has 16 years of teaching and research experience in the field of law. His research interests include intellectual property law, artificial intelligence and law, and cyber laws. He is a professional member of the Bar Council of Tamilnadu, India, as well as a member of the International Association of Computer Science and Information Technology (IACSIT), and the International Economics Development and Research Centre (IEDRC). He is a reviewer for International Journal of Knowledge and Learning published by Inderscience Publishers.

Rim Hamacha

Rim Hamacha is a Senior Lecturer at Middlesex University who specialises in Commercial and Banking Law. Rim is a module coordinator on the LLM Business Law and LLB Honours programmes, where she delivers lectures in Intellectual Property and the World Trade Organisation Law.

Prior to joining Middlesex University, Rim worked as a Lecturer at Brunel University where she taught Legal research skills, Tort, Equity and Business Law. As part of her research, Rim worked as a project assistant for the International Chamber of Commerce on the role of Arbitration in the Middle East and North Africa. Rim started her career as a trainee analyst at the European Investment Bank where she specialised in investments projects for the MENA and Eastern European markets.

Rim obtained a PhD in Comparative Competition Law from Brunel University London and an LLM in Corporate Finance Law from the University of Westminster. Her research interests focus on the interaction between Law and Finance and the evaluation of the performance of regulatory agencies in the UK, EU and emerging markets.

Lubna Masood Khan

Lubna Khan is a UK qualified solicitor specialising in commercial property and corporate work. Lubna has practiced at various firms in London and during this time was also part of establishing a niche practice focusing on this area of legal practice.

Lubna has also been involved in legal training and producing CPLD conferences across Europe, which were aimed at legal professionals from around the world. These were on such diverse areas as insurance, finance/banking, media, and intellectual property.

Prior to moving to Middlesex University, Lubna was a Lecturer on the Legal Practice course at BPP University, School of Law in London where her main areas of specialism were Property Law & Practice, Private Acquisitions and Solicitors Accounts. At Middlesex her main teaching interests include Contract Law and Criminal Law .

 Lubna Khan received her Master’s in International Law & Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) and also holds a Postgraduate Certification in Higher Education.

Sara Koleilat-Aranjo

Partner, Al Tamimi & Company

Sara regularly advises and represents clients in arbitration and arbitration-related court proceedings, including recognition, enforcement and set aside proceedings. She also sits as an arbitrator and acts in mediation proceedings, both as mediator and counsel.

She was the first MENA-based woman to be elected to serve on the Board of Directors of ArbitralWomen in 2018, a Paris-based NGO founded in 1993 seeking to promote women in arbitration.

Sara is a member of several professional organizations. She is appointed as a Member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration & ADR and serves as a Track Leader on its Task Force on Arbitration & ADR. Sara is appointed as an IBA Officer of the IBA Arab Regional Forum as well as a Member of the IBA Subcommittee on International Arbitration Case Law. Sara has been recently appointed as an expert member of the DIFC Courts’ Arbitration Division Working Group.

Sara is featured in Who’s Who Legal – Arbitration (2021) and has been selected as the recipient of the Middle East Rising Star Lawyer of the Year Award (2019) by The Association of Corporate Counsel, the American Lawyer and the Legal Week (UK).

Sara is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Université Paris II – Panthéon-Assas where she lectures on comparative judicial systems (civil law and common law) and Islamic law.

Sara holds an LL.B. in French and Lebanese Law from the University of Saint Joseph (USJ), a M.A. in International Business Law from the University of Paris, a M.S. in Finance and Management from the ESSEC Business School in Paris and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School. Sara is admitted to the New York, Paris and Beirut Bars. She speaks English, French and Arabic.

Dr Asma Al Rasheed

Partner of Al Rasheed & Partners, United Arab Emirates

Dr. Asma Al Rasheed is a member of the Executive Committee of Sharjah International Arbitration Centre (TAHKEEM) and Partner at Al Rasheed & Partners law firm.

She received her PhD in Maritime Law from the University of Sharjah in 2017. She also holds an LLM in Commercial and Maritime Law, University of Hertfordshire, UK and a Bachelor of Law from University of Sharjah, UAE.

She is a practicing lawyer licensed to appear before the UAE Courts of all levels. Her practice areas are focused on commercial, corporate, and maritime matters.

Mahmood Hussain

Robert Stephen

Robert Stephen is the Registrar of the DIFC-LCIA Arbitration Centre (DIFC-LCIA). He is an arbitration specialist who has been based in the UAE since January 2011 and practised with Herbert Smith Freehills for more than 10 years before joining the DIFC-LCIA on 1 May 2017.

During his time at Herbert Smith Freehills, Robert advised and represented clients on international disputes across a wide range of industry sectors, including the oil and gas, energy and natural resources, construction, real estate, and finance and banking sectors.

He has advised and represented clients in international arbitrations under the DIAC, DIFC-LCIA, ICC, LCIA, and SIAC Rules as well as in ad-hoc proceedings and DIFC and English Commercial Court litigation.

Prior to moving to Herbert Smith Freehills’ Dubai office in January 2011, Robert had also practised from Herbert Smith Freehills’ offices in London, Moscow and Paris.

He is the former Chair of the UAE Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Young Member’s Group Committee and is a member of the Global Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Young Member’s Group Committee. Robert is also a member of the ICC Young Arbitrators’ Forum, and the LCIA Young International Arbitration Group.

Bushra Ahmed

Partner, Head of Dispute Resolution at KBH Kaanuun, Dubai & Barrister at Ely Place Chambers, London

Bushra Ahmed is a Partner in the law firm KBH and a practicing barrister of more than 18 years standing. She is a litigation specialist focusing on commercial litigation and international arbitration across the full range of commercial, corporate, employment, financial services law and regulatory matters.  She was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2001 and did her pupillage and became a tenant at Ely Place Chambers, London, Chambers of William McCormick QC.  She is currently a door tenant there.

She joined KBH in January 2013 and within a year of joining, she was made Head of Dispute Resolution overseeing and supervising the team.

Bushra has extensive experience of working in the United Kingdom and the Middle East and has advised, represented and acted in important employment cases in the United Kingdom as well as landmark and precedent setting cases in the DIFC. She has a reputable client led practice, which includes public and private entities across a broad spectrum of regulated commercial activity, focusing on cross border business issues and international dispute resolution, representing clients in arbitration centres including London, Paris, Dubai and Bahrain.

Bushra is one of the most active senior barristers in the DIFC. As well as appearing as the advocate in KBH’s cases, she has been instructed to act as Counsel by Stephenson Harwood, James Berry & Associates, and other local law firms such as Al Suwaidi & Company.  Her reputation as a skilled advocate coupled with her strategic thinking and commercial acumen saw her voted the DIFC Lawyers’ Lawyer of the Year 2015.  She is a Legal 500 EMEA Recommended Lawyer and is also a ranked lawyer in Chambers & Partners 2017 and 2018 in the field of dispute resolution and employment.

Prior to joining KBH, Bushra sat on the Bar Standards Board Disciplinary Tribunal and was often instructed to chair investigations on behalf of blue-chip companies and government authorities. As BSkyB’s Counsel of choice she was regularly called upon to advise on a number of legal and commercial issues affecting the business. She was a former visiting Lecturer in Law, Middlesex University, Dubai and is a regular speaker for the Academy of Law, DIFC. Bushra also regularly speaks on the DIFC Employment Courses hosted by Thomson Reuters.

As a CEDR accredited mediator since 2005, Bushra has been appointed as a mediator both in the UK and in Dubai. She also sits as a co-arbitrator in a number of DIAC arbitrations.

Bushra has contributed articles to Business Law Journal, PLC Magazine and the International Arbitration Review, on international dispute resolution and arbitration across the GCC. She also contributed the DIFC Employment Law Commentary, 2017 and has rsat on a panel with Jacques Vissar, the General Counsel of the DIFC Authority consulting on the proposed amendments to the new DIFC Employment Law.