Kamal Shah

Partner

Kamal is the head of Stephenson Harwood's Africa and India groups. He specialises in complex, cross-border international arbitration, litigation and fraud and asset recovery. Kamal is highly regarded by his peers and clients in his abilities in multi-jurisdictional disputes.

Kamal's focus is on international arbitration, litigation, fraud and asset recovery in Africa and India, given his extensive experience there.

He acts for governments, government entities, banks, private corporations and high net worth individuals in a range of matters including those relating to projects and infrastructure, joint ventures, banking and finance, shareholder arrangements, energy and a range of schemes commonly used to defraud individuals and corporations.

Kamal is highly ranked in the legal directories including The Legal 500 UK, Chambers (UK, global and Asia Pacific) and IFLR1000 as well as being listed in the Lawyer’s Hot 100 list of leading lawyers in the UK for 2009 and 2014. “Kamal Shah is highly experienced in Africa and India-related arbitrations” (Chambers UK 2020, International arbitration) and “he understands the continent” (Chambers Global 2019, Dispute resolution Africa-wide). He was named as a leading international arbitration practitioner in "Who's Who Legal: Future Leaders 2017 - 2020" and has been recognised in The Legal 500's Powerlists for arbitration and Africa for 2019. In addition to being a LCIA Court Member, Kamal is currently the president of the LCIA African Users Council. He has also been listed in India Business Law Journal's top 100 international lawyers for India-related matters. Kamal is also commended for being "charming, and wonderful at handling clients” and as having "an uncanny ability to determine what is going to be in the best interest of the client."

Kamal co-published the text of the ‘African Promise’, which seeks to tackle the under-representation of Africans on international arbitration tribunals. He is also the co-author of the leading text "Arbitration in Africa: A Review of Key Jurisdictions".