2022 Judging Panel - Qatar Business Law Forum

Dr. Muna Al-Marzouqi has been a judge on the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Tribunal since 2020.

Dr Al-Marzouqi is also a faculty member at Qatar University College of Law, where she teaches maritime law and commercial law.

Dr Al-Marzouqi graduated from Qatar Leadership Center in 2018. She was awarded the Excellence in Education Gold Medal from Qatar University in 2011 and the Excellence in Teaching Award from Qatar University College of law in 2013. In 2017, she won the Georgetown University Fellowship Award. She received the Education Excellence Award (doctorate degree category) in 2018 from the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. In the same year, was awarded the Excellence in Research Award from Qatar University College of Law in 2018.

Dr Al-Marzouqi earned her LL.B in Law with Order of Excellence from Qatar University. She holds an LL.M from the University of California Berkeley and an SJD from Tulane University in the field of maritime law.

Fatma Al-Mesleh is the Vice President for Students Affairs at Lusail University, the first national private university in Qatar. She was assigned as Assistant Dean for Students Affairs from 2017 to 2020 and a Teaching Assistant of Law since 2015 at Qatar University College of Law. She is responsible for developing strategies for students’ engagement in the educational process, managing students’ grievances and appeal and providing advice, counseling, and orientation to students.

Fatma Al-Mesleh received her master’s degree in public law (2017) and her bachelor’s degree in law (2014) from Qatar University College of Law. She was the Externship Program Coordinator in 2015, as she was instrumental in building relationships with legal entities in Qatar, including law firms and government institutions. Ms. Al-Mesleh has been awarded the Creative Ideas Award for the Academic Year 2014-2015 at Qatar University College of Law.

Duha Al-Mulla is responsible for the administration of cases before the Qatar International Court, the Regulatory Tribunal and Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre. She joined QICDRC in 2019 as Case Progression Manager – Associate to manage the progress of cases from the point of initial enquiry to final determination and disposal.

Duha previously worked at Sidra Medicine as an in-house lawyer from 2015 to 2019 and as a trainee lawyer at Simmons & Simmons. She holds a Master of Law and a Legal Practice Course award from the University of Law in London as well as an LLB from Nottingham Trent’s Law School. She is a Member and the Rapporteur for Qatar International Court’s Strategic Legal Committee and manages all matters in relation to issues arising from the committee.

Duha has an LL.M from the University of Law and an LL.B from Nottingham Trent University. She is admitted as a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales.

Professor Hilary Bell is an Assistant Professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University College of Law. She teaches construction and infrastructure development law, dispute resolution and legal skills courses. In addition to teaching, she coaches teams competing in the Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot.

Professor Bell has 11 years of professional dispute resolution experience, she holds an LL.M (Distinction) in Construction Law and Arbitration from Robert Gordon University and an LL.B (Hons) from the University of Glasgow.

Professor Bell is a solicitor and notary public, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitration.

Professor Bell’s scholarship focuses on construction law, dispute resolution and legal education. She regularly presents to international audiences at education conferences.

A specialist in companies law and arbitration, Dr Najet Brahmi has published numerous articles and books. She most recently acted as a scientific director of a collection of essays entitled La procédure civile dans les pays de l'Union pour la Méditerranée ; approche comparée et internationale (Bruylant 2020). She was also the scientific director of two collective works respectively entitled Les États arabes face à l'arbitrage international : bilan et perspectives (Tunis 2017) and Le nouveau droit de l’investissement en Tunisie : Regards croisés sur l’Europe et l’Afrique (Tunis 2018).

Dr Brahmi has authored articles published in Revue Tunisienne de Droit (CPU), Tunisian Legal News (Faculty of Law and Political Science of Tunis), La Revue de Droit des Affaires Internationales (Sweet & Maxwell), The MENA Business Law Review (LexisNexis), and La Revue d’Arbitrage et de Médiation (Montreal).

Dr Brahmi is the Tunis correspondent of the MENA Business Law Review, published by LexisNexis. She is also the Secretary General of the International Alliance of Women Lawyers based in Geneva.

Dr Brahmi is also an international arbitrator accredited with the Paris International Arbitration Chamber and the Cairo Regional Center for International Commercial Arbitration. She is also an elected member of the scientific council of the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of Tunis for the 2020-2023 term and Director of the Comparative Law Research Unit of Tunis Elmanar University.

Dr Zachary R. Calo is Full Professor of Law at Hamad bin Khalifa University and Senior Counsel at McNair International. He serves on international dispute resolution panels with Sport Resolutions UK and the Qatar Sports Arbitration Tribunal. He is also Professor of Law (Adj.) at the University of Notre Dame Australia, Visiting Professor at The Open University (UK), Visiting Professor at Tashkent State University of Law (Uzbekistan), Visiting Professor at Northwestern University in Qatar, and Lecturer at the Qatar Olympic Academy. He was previously a fellow at the Brookings Institution and an associate attorney with Buckley Sandler, LLP in Washington, DC. He holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, B.A. and M.A. from The Johns Hopkins University, Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, M.A. in ethics from the University of Virginia, and LLM in dispute resolution from the Straus Institute at Pepperdine University School Law.

Khaled Elgarhe graduated from Faculty of Law - Cairo University in Egypt and obtained an LL.M from the same university. He also holds LL.M degree from University of London (UCL).

Khaled Elgarhe has represented companies in major construction and commercial disputes over the past 13 years throughout Qatar and Egypt. He has an extensive experience in drafting commercial contracts and has recently been involved in the drafting of various contracts for a multimillion-dollar projects in Qatar.

Khaled Elgarhe has participated as lead counsel in several construction and banking disputes including international arbitration before the ICC, LCIA and QICCA, as well as participating in litigation in over 1000 cases before Qatari Courts.

Khaled Elgarhe is a licensed attorney before the Egyptian Courts and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Christopher Grout sits as a Deputy District Judge in England and Wales where he exercises a broad jurisdiction over criminal, civil, and family cases. Prior to this, he spent 10 years working as the Registrar of the Qatar International Court and Dispute Resolution Centre. Before that, he practiced as a barrister in England and Wales, specialising in representing those charged with criminal offences in the Youth, Magistrates and Crown Courts as well as appearing in the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) and Divisional Court arguing technical legal points. Among other things, Christopher has a keen interest in law and religion and holds an LL.M in Canon Law (with distinction) from Cardiff University. He has authored and co-authored various articles and books on law and religion including, most recently, "Religion and Law in the United Kingdom", published by Wolters Kluwer. Since 2020, Christopher has been the convener of the Law and Religion Scholars Network which is run by the Centre for Law and Religion at Cardiff University. In 2021, he was appointed Vice Chair of the Bar Standards Board's Religion and Belief Taskforce.

Saad Hegazy is a Delay and Quantum Testified Expert Witness, Member of the Academy of Experts with over 20 appointments, Expert Determiner, Arbitrator and CEDR Accredited Mediator based in Doha with more than 17 years of experience in Disputes Resolution in various industries and projects types in GCC, Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

Saad has a wealth of experience and knowledge, having worked on airports, metros, infrastructures, industrials, oil & gas, water treatment, utilities, luxuries and high-rise building projects. His education includes BSc in Civil Engineering, MSc in Strategic Project Management, and LLM in construction law and International Arbitration.

Saad is the President of AACE Qatar Branch, Vice-Chair of CIArb & QFC Qatar Branch, and previous ICC YAF MENA Regional Representative.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb), Expert Witness and Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS), CEDR Accredited Mediator, and Arbitrator listed at QICCA, SCCA, CIArb, and W&W rosters.

Fida Husain is the Head of Legal of Qatar Navigation QPSC (Milaha), one of the largest maritime conglomerates in MENA region. He has been in Qatar since 2009. Prior to Qatar, he was based out of Singapore and Shanghai.

Fida is a specialist maritime and international trade lawyer with considerable experience in offshore Oil & Gas sector. At Milaha, he is responsible for Legal, Compliance and Government Affairs functions. He is also part of the Senior Management team and member of various key committees.

Prior to his current role, he worked in both private practice and inhouse role in Singapore and Qatar.

Fida is a licensed attorney and a graduate of National University of Singapore.

Dr Imad Antoine Ibrahim is an Assistant Research Professor and Research Projects Manager at the Center for Law and Development (CLD), College of Law, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar. He is also a Senior Research Associate at gLAWcal – Global Law Initiative for Sustainable Development, Essex, United Kingdom. He has been working on global issues from a legal perspective and their interplay with other fields such as emerging technologies for the last decade. He is currently involved in several in places such as Europe, MENA region, Central Asia, and China.

Luigia Ingianni is a legal scholar and lawmaker with almost 30 years of exponential experience in employment and labour law, privacy and data protection, negotiation, conciliation and adjudication of labour disputes across different countries and legal systems - civil and common law jurisdictions. She holds a master’s degree in Law, a post-degree master’s in Human Resources and Communication and is a qualified conciliator and mediator of labour disputes certified by the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ILO), also trained by Harvard Law School – Program on Negotiation.

Luigia joined the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) Authority in 2015 to design and establish the first administrative employment dispute resolution centre in line with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) guidelines.

In her capacity as Commissioner of the Employment Standards Office of the QFC, she drafts employment legislation and policies, promotes equality and diversity, prevents conflicts and resolves workplace disputes through conciliation, mediation and adjudication, also supervising the Data Protection Directorate.

A certified Data Protection Officer by the European Centre for Privacy and Cybersecurity from University of Maastricht, Luigia established a Data Protection Directorate in May 2018, responsible for Data Protection within the QFC.

Professor Susan Karamanian is Dean of the College of Law at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and was previously Associate Dean for International and Comparative Legal Studies at the George Washington University Law School. She has lectured at law faculties around the world, and at the OAS Academy of International Law and the Hague Academy of International Law (Director of English Studies). Professor Karamanian is a member of the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) and was previously Vice President of ASIL. She is a Trustee of the Center for American and International Law (CAIL), where she also serves as chair of the Southwestern Institute for International and Comparative Law. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Council on Germany, the American Bar Foundation, and the Texas Bar Foundation.

Victor Leginsky is a Chartered Arbitrator and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He is certified as a mediator through the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (London) [CEDR] and works frequently in respect of mediation with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (London) [RICS] and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He holds a JD (Juris Doctor) degree and a B.Ed. (Bachelor of Education), both from Canada. He has served as Arbitrator in well over 100 cases, a large proportion of which are high-value construction cases conducting both institutional and ad hoc arbitrations. He also and conducts mediation including construction-related mediations. He confines his practice to that of a neutral (arbitrator / mediator), largely in construction and energy-related disputes. He is a past MENA Chapter Director of the Association of International Energy Negotiators (AIEN).

Victor is resident of and has been working in the Middle East for 15 years. He is Regional Pathway Leader for the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) and tutors Award Writing amongst other courses. He lectures frequently on dispute resolution in construction, oil and gas and general dispute resolution matters.

Michael Patchett-Joyce is a barrister and Deputy Head of 36 Commercial at the 36 Group, London. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and CEDR-qualified mediator. He has acted as Counsel in many cases heard by the DIFC and ADGM Courts. He sits as an arbitrator or acts as arbitral counsel, particularly in commercial arbitrations seated in the Gulf/MENA regions. Beyond pure commercial law, he has a keen interest in international regulatory law, including environmental law. He has strong professional links across the Gulf and MENA regions. He is a long-standing supporter of the MENA pre-Vis arbitration moot competition and of legal education and capacity-building. He is a frequent and popular speaker at professional and academic conferences. He is a member of the Scientific Board of the MENA Business Law Review and sits on the Saudi Centre for Commercial Arbitration (SCCA) international advisory committee.

Farouk Yala is a French-qualified barrister and solicitor with 22 years’ experience, encompassing eight years spent in the private practice in France (Avocat à la Cour, barreaux des Hauts-de-Seine and Paris), and 14 years as in-house counsel in the oil & gas industry, holding several positions, first with a major US oilfield service company based successively in Tripoli (Libya) and Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates). Farouk is currently Senior legal counsel at Qatar Energy, the national oil company of the State of Qatar. He holds a JD and an LL.M from the University of Pantheon-Assas Paris 2 School of Law.