Arbitrators – MICADR

Justice Arif Hussain Khilji

The Asian Foundation, CIARB, KCDR | Karachi Based Arbitrotor

Justice Arif Hussain Khilji was elevated as a Judge of the High Court of Sindh in 2001. In 2007, he refused to take oath under the Provisional

Constitution Order. In 2009 he was elevated as judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and retired in 2014. He was appointed as ad-hoc judge for the Supreme Court in 2015 for one year. In 2017 he was appointed as the Director General of the Sindh Judicial Academy.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah

Complex and high-stakes domestic and international disputes

Justice (R) Syed Mansoor Ali Shah is Distinguished Chair in Constitutionalism & Justice and Professor of Practice

at the Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law (SAHSOL), Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). He has been appointed Oscar M. Ruebhausen Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Yale Law School (2026) and Bok Visiting International Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (2027). He previously served as Senior Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and as Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, completing over sixteen years of judicial service marked by transformative constitutional, commercial, and arbitration jurisprudence.

Widely recognised as a reform-minded and research-driven jurist, Justice Shah’s judicial work spans constitutionalism, judicial independence, human rights, electoral justice, climate justice, disability rights, gender equality, and child-centred justice. His judgments consistently reinforced dignity, inclusion, and democratic accountability as foundational constitutional commitments. He strengthened protections for minorities and vulnerable communities while affirming the sanctity of the vote and citizens’ right to meaningful political participation.

In the commercial sphere, he pioneered Pakistan’s modern pro-arbitration framework, strengthened enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, and institutionalised court-annexed mediation across Punjab. As Chair of the National Arbitration Law Committee (2023–2024), he led the drafting of a modern Arbitration Bill aligned with the UNCITRAL Model Law, aimed at positioning Pakistan as a competitive regional arbitration jurisdiction. He is an accredited mediator with CEDR (London) and remains actively engaged as an international commercial arbitrator and legal consultant.

Justice Shah also championed judicial modernisation and technological innovation. He introduced enterprise-level IT systems in the judiciary, promoted data-driven governance, and authored Pakistan’s first Supreme Court judgment on Artificial Intelligence, advocating ethical and responsible integration of emerging technologies into judicial processes.

Educated at the University of Cambridge and the University of the Punjab, and a graduate of Aitchison College, he began his professional career as a corporate and constitutional litigator and was a founding partner of Afridi, Shah & Minallah before his elevation to the bench in 2009.

In November 2025, he resigned from the Supreme Court in fidelity to constitutional supremacy and judicial independence, reflecting a principled commitment to institutional integrity.

Now engaged in academia, he is committed to building rigorous, ethical, and globally connected legal education in Pakistan. He mentors students across institutions and actively supports educational initiatives, including his alma mater, Aitchison College. Beyond academia, he remains actively engaged in international arbitration and is available for appointment as an international commercial arbitrator, mediator, and strategic legal consultant on complex cross-border disputes and regulatory matters.

Internationally, he is an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn, a Judicial Member of the Global Judicial Institute on the Environment (Brazil), and a member of Yale University’s Global Constitutionalism Program. A widely travelled speaker, he has lectured at Harvard, Yale, NYU (New York and Abu Dhabi), the University of Chicago, Humboldt University of Berlin, and IE University, and represented Pakistan at COP-28 and COP-29 on climate-justice jurisprudence. In 2016, he was invited by Pope Francis to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences for dialogue on climate change and moral responsibility.

Justice Shah’s professional journey reflects a sustained devotion to constitutional morality, institutional reform, technological modernisation, and the principled advancement of justice.

Outside professional life, Justice Shah is an avid golfer, tennis and padel player, cyclist, and reader, with a strong interest in travel and music. His life’s work embodies a principled commitment to strengthening institutions, expanding fundamental rights, fostering innovation, and upholding the Constitution with clarity, courage, and conscience.

Zahid F. Ebrahim

Corporate, Commercial | Arbitrator

Zahid F. Ebrahim has more than twenty-five years of experience in advising and representing Pakistani and multinational corporations in the superior courts of Pakistan.
He has successfully acted as the lead counsel in international arbitrations and has also served as an expert witness on Pakistan law. In recent years, he has been called upon to serve on Arbitral Tribunals in ICC and Pakistan law arbitrations alongside former Chief Justice of Pakistan. He is the Pakistan contributor to the Comparative Guide to International Arbitrations, Lexis Nexis Dispute Resolution Guide and his articles have been published in law journals in Pakistan, United Kingdom and the United States. He was nominated as the Salzburg Fellow in 2003, the Reagan Fascell Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington D.C. in 2010 and the Drapper Hills Fellow at Stanford University in 2008 and 2014. He is also a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Zahid F. Ebrahim specializes in arbitrations, civil and corporate litigation, constitution and company law. The U.K. based Chambers & Partners says “Whether [Zahid Ebrahim] is for you or against you, quality- wise you have to admit that he is a great lawyer.” The Legal 500 credits him as “A force in contentious matters”. He has also taught law at the S.M. Law College and the Institute of Business Administration at Karachi University.

Justice Zafar Sherwani

Retired Judge | Corporate | Arbitrotor

Justice Zafar Sherwani has 30 years of judicial experience as a Judge in District Judiciary and superior Judiciary. He has been accredited

as a Mediator by the Center of Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) (UK) and currently performing his duties as a sole Arbitrator in FIDIC contracts. He was also a Director of Karachi Centre for Dispute Resolution (now NCDR), and a member of ICC Pakistan & ADR commission of ICC, and also a member SAARC Arbitration Council. Mr. Sherwani has authored several research papers published in Law Journals of Pakistan.

Justice (R) Anwar Zaheer Jamali

Retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court | Corporate, Commercial | Arbitrotor

Justice Anwar enrolled at the Sindh Bar Council as an Advocate of the lower Court in 1975 and was admitted and enrolled as an Advocate

of High Court in 1977. He was later admitted and enrolled as an Advocate of Supreme Court in 87. He practiced at Hyderabad (Sindh) mainly on civil and constitutional side till elevation as judge of Sindh High Court in May 1998; joined Hyderabad (Sindh) Law College as Lecturer in the year 1984 and served in that capacity for about two year; worked as council for UBL for about ten years and Legal Advisor of Catholic Board of Education and Saint Bonaventure’s High School Hyderabad for over ten years. Nominated by the Governor of Sindh as Member Board of Governors for the Government Law College in Sindh (excluding Karachi) in the year 1995; nominated by the Chief Justice, Sindh High Court, as Member Syndicate NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi in November 1999; nominated by the Chief Justice, Sindh High Court as Chairman Enrollment Committee, Sindh Bar Council in March 2000; nominated by the Governor of Sindh as Chairman Provincial Zakat Council Sindh for a term of three years in December 2003; also nominated as Administrative Judge, High Court of Sindh w.e.f 07-06-2006 & continued as such till 03-11-2007

Justice Ather Saeed

Retired Judge | Tax, corporate, banking, criminal law, intellectual property,arbitration, service law | Arbitrotor

“Mr, Muhammad Ather Saeed joined his father late Syed Saiduddin in 1973 as tax associate. He was enrolled as an advocate in May 1975 and

Advocate of the High Court in May 1981. In 1981 he took over the firm and practiced tax laws and corporate laws from the original side up to the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
In October 2005, he was elevated as a Judge of the Honorable High Court of Sindh and served with distinction in this Court and headed the Tax Bench of this Court for almost four years. In 2011 he was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and retired from this Court in September 2014. After his retirement he re-joined Saiduddin & Co., as a partner. He has authored a number of landmark judgments not only in tax matters but in the field of banking, criminal law, intellectual property, arbitration, service law and almost all branches of law. Presently he is involved in a number of arbitration proceedings and rendering opinion and advices on tax and other branches of law.
Mr. Muhammad Ather Saeed remained a prolific speaker on tax and corporate matters on various forums and discussions on various TV channels. During this period he served as President of the Income Tax Bar Association for 3 terms and Karachi Gymkhana for 2 terms.”

Faris Nasrallah

International arbitration | Arbitrotor

Faris Nasrallah specialises in international arbitration having worked for leading international law firms in London and Dubai. His practice focuses on energy, commercial and construction arbitrations with specialist knowledge of Arab laws. Faris has represented clients in complex and high-value proceedings and has extensive advocacy experience. He is currently Senior Arbitration Counsel at Crescent Petroleum. He frequently receives expert appointments on Arab law matters and sits as arbitrator. Faris has been selected to author a practitioner guide to the new DIAC Rules (OUP) and in 2022 was appointed as a Member of the TIAC Court of Arbitration. He publishes regularly and has led a Max Planck Institute research project on the relationship between theory and practice in international arbitration (2018-2021). Faris is a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England & Wales and was educated at SOAS and the University of Cambridge.

Justice Mushir Alam

Justice (Retd) Zia Perwez

Zafar Siddique

CEO of Engineering and Management services company | Commercial and Corporate cases | Arbitrotor

Zafar H Siqqiui is CEO of engineering and management services and a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London (UK).

He has been appointed as an arbitrator by various courts of Pakistan, such as the High court of Sindh, Islamabad high court, and civil judge, Peshawar. He also participated in National Highway Authorities and the Attorney General of Pakistan in Arbitration at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention at Paris

Dr Shahid Mehmood

Consultant | Commercial and Corporate cases | Arbitrotor

Dr. Shahid has done PhD in Engineering Management and has about 34 years of professional experience working in the Public and private Sectors.

He is member Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London, UK (Member Ship #6078618), Member of Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) committee of Experts and arbitrators on bidding documents, and Member of the Center for International Investment and Commercial Arbitration. Dr Shahid is also an expert and consultant of housing & building planning and building control.