Maleeka Ali Bokhari

Ms Bokhari is an international advisor/counsel in the firm. Ms Maleeka is a Barrister with over ten years of professional legal experience in the United Kingdom and Pakistan. she is currently practising out of Red Lion Chambers in UK. Maleeka is developing an international disputes practice with a strong focus on arbitration across commercial, investment, and treaty-based matters. She formerly served as Pakistan’s Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (2019–2021).

Her experience includes advising and representing multinational corporations, financial institutions, government bodies, and state-owned enterprises in disputes arising from commercial contracts, joint ventures, foreign investment projects, construction, energy, and regulatory matters. She has led negotiations and acted as counsel in high-stakes disputes, including representing Asia’s largest communications group in a multi-million-dollar equipment supply and services matter. Maleeka has significant experience acting for and against sovereign entities. She has worked closely with the Government of Pakistan on major international arbitration cases and landmark public law disputes. Her portfolio includes involvement in globally recognised proceedings such as Tethyan Copper Company v. Pakistan (ICSID), Karkey Karadeniz v. Pakistan (ICSID), and India v. Pakistan (ICJ), where she supported the Minister for Law and Justice and engaged directly with complex treaty-based arbitration and public international law issues. Maleeka is now accepting arbitration and disputes instructions across the Middle East, including before DIAC, Saudi Centre for Commercial Arbitration, Oman, and Qatar, with a particular interest in cross-border commercial matters, investment disputes and state-linked issues. She is admitted as an Advocate of the High Courts in Pakistan.

Ms Bokhari has held office of the Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Justice in Pakistan and has remained responsible for the Government’s legislative business in Parliament. She has substantial experience of drafting legislation and advising on a broad range of matters including but not limited to regulatory, constitutional and public law and government affairs. She often acts in a strategic advisory role for local and international clients. She has undertaken work in all major facets of civil and commercial legal practice. She has profound experience of handling matters in the oil and gas exploration and production sector and is very familiar with its legal and regulatory framework. Her corporate and commercial experience includes, advising multinational corporations, financial institutions, non-profit organisations, and Government entities. She has provided advisory services on complex commercial contracts, joint ventures, property law, foreign direct investment projects, and labour laws. In addition to Ms Bokhari’s corporate experience, she has substantive experience of working on contentious matters and disputes. She has acted as lead counsel in several high-profile disputes representing one of Asia’s largest communications’ groups and negotiated a multi-million-dollar equipment supply/services contract. Ms Bokhari also has experience in handling delicate and high-profile cases representing the Government of Pakistan in the Supreme Court as well as in several international arbitrations such as, the Tethyan Copper Company and Karkey Karadeniz arbitrations administered by ICSID. She is well versed with treaty-based dispute settlement mechanisms and also represented the Government of Pakistan before the International Court of Justice. She represents Pakistan as member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (Hague). Ms Bokhari holds an LLB Hons from the University of West of England and was nominated as the World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2021. She is a patron for Pakistan’s first women lawyer’s professional portal lawyher.pk and insaafwatch.pk.