at Russian
Institute
of Modern
Arbitration
at Russian
Institute
of Modern
Arbitration
Court of Appeal Judge and Judge in Charge of the Arbitration Division, DIFC Courts
H.E. Justice Shamlan Al Sawalehi has over 23 years of experience in international commercial and financial litigation in common law, civil law and Sharia’ legal systems. He has experience in arbitral practice in civil and common law systems, and has served as sole arbitrator, co-arbitrator and Chairman of arbitral tribunals. He frequently speaks and writes on topics involving the DIFC Courts and international arbitration.
H.E. Justice Shamlan Al Sawalehi joined the DIFC Courts in 2010 as a Judicial Officer before becoming a Small Claims Tribunal Judge and then a Court of First Instance Judge. In 2017, H.E. Justice Shamlan was appointed as a Court of Appeal Judge. In 2020, H.E. Justice Shamlan was appointed by the DIFC Courts’ Chief Justice as Judge in Charge of the Arbitration Division of the DIFC Courts. He was also appointed as member of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC) Courts of Arbitration in March 2022. In May 2022, he was appointed as a member of the Executive Committee of the Oman Commercial Arbitration Centre (OAC).
Prior to joining the DIFC Courts, H.E. Justice Al Sawalehi was the founder of Shamlan Law firm, where he represented governments and private clients on complex commercial and financial disputes in the UAE and MENA region. Prior to that, he served as Director of Strategic Affairs at The Executive Office of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai where he was involved in number of strategic legal cases.
H.E. Justice Al Sawalehi was also a manager of the Enforcement Department of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) wherein he supervised the International Financial Services Institution Compliance with the international best practice and DFSA regulations. Prior to joining the DFSA, H.E. Justice Shamlan served for five years as a Public Prosecutor with the Dubai Public Prosecution Department in both criminal and civil departments, wherein he was involved in investigations of high profile commercial and financial crimes and represented the Government departments on several high-value litigation cases before the Dubai Courts.
H.E. Justice Al Sawalehi holds a bachelor’s degree in Shari’a and law from the UAE University, as well as a master’s degree in International Commercial Law from Westminster University in the UK. H.E. Justice Al Sawalehi also holds a Higher Diploma in Advanced Legal and Judicial Studies from the Dubai Judicial Institution.
