2026 SPEAKERS

Kamal is the Head of Stephenson Harwood’s International Arbitration, Africa, and India groups. He specialises in complex, cross-border international arbitration, litigation and fraud and asset recovery, highly regarded for his abilities in multi-jurisdictional disputes. He acts for governments, government entities, banks, private corporations and high net worth individuals in a range of matters including those relating to energy projects and infrastructure, joint ventures, banking and finance, shareholder arrangements, and a range of schemes commonly used to defraud individuals and corporations. Kamal is highly ranked in the legal directories including Chambers & Partners (UK, Global and Asia-Pacific), The Legal 500 (UK and Asia-Pacific), and IFLR1000. Kamal is one of only three lawyers ranked in Band 1 for Africa-wide dispute resolution in Chambers Global 2025. They comment that "Kamal is one of the best lawyers. He is extremely experienced and knows the continent like the back of his hand." (Chambers Global, 2024). He was named as a leading international arbitration practitioner in Who's Who Legal: Future Leaders 2017 - 2022 for arbitration and has been recognised in Africa’s 30 Arbitration Powerlist 2020 and The Legal 500's GC Private Practice Powerlist for arbitration and Africa in 2022. Kamal is also recognised in the Lawdragon Global Litigation 500 list that features attorneys who specialise in international arbitration. Kamal was reappointed to the LCIA Court in London in light of exceptional circumstances, allowing him to (in the LCIA’s words) "carry on important work and steer developments in Africa"; Kamal completed his term as President of the LCIA African Users Council in May 2023 (and before that, he acted as Vice President for several years). He is also the President of the Court of Lagos Chamber of Commerce International Arbitration Centre since 2013. 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”.