Shahid Law Firm‘s arbitration practice has been building on the Firm’s 30 years of expertise.

Shahid Law Firm’s Chairman and Founding Partner, Counselor Sarwat Abd El-Shahid, is a former judge in the Egyptian Conseil d’État and almost half of our current lawyers are dedicated to dispute resolution. Recognized for their knowledge and experience, our lawyers handle all types of corporate and commercial disputes, from routine matters to large and complex multinational arbitrations, including:

  • Disputes related to domestic and international commercial arbitrations, as well as investment treaty arbitrations;
  • Disputes related to construction and real estate;
  • Disputes related to hotel management;
  • Disputes related to shareholders’ agreements;
  • Disputes related to agency and distribution; and
  • Tax and insolvency proceedings.

In every case we handle, we hand-pick a tailor-made team with the required expertise and understanding to ensure we deliver the highest quality of work and achieve our clients’ objectives.

Our arbitration and dispute resolution practice successfully represents major clients in complex commercial and investor-state arbitration matters in various industries including energy, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, construction, insurance, hotel ownership and management, automotive and real estate development.

We have been involved in a number of landmark arbitration cases in Egypt and internationally, and have considerable experience before arbitration centres; be it local (CRCICA), regional (DIAC and DIFC-LCIA) or international fora (ICSID, ICC, PCA, UNCITRAL and Ad Hoc).

Shahid Law Firm has significant experience in enforcing foreign judgments and arbitral awards in Egypt, with an acknowledged ability to pursue enforcement through using all available tools.

Also, our senior attorneys are regularly appointed as arbitrators and are often called to chair arbitration tribunals, which gives Shahid Law Firm an additional practical insight and a unique edge while assessing the merits of a case when acting as counsel.

We frequently represent and assist our clients with interlocutory remedies and interim measures before all courts and administrative authorities in Egypt.

The Firm also has a longstanding expertise in litigation. For information on Shahid Law Firm’s litigation expertise, please consult the litigation practice page on the Firm’s website.

Shahid Law Firm’s involvement in dispute resolution work spans Investor-State Disputes, Construction Disputes, Oil & Gas and Energy Disputes, and Commercial Arbitration.

Highlights include:

Investor-State Disputes

  • Representing investors before the Ministerial Committee for the Resolution of Investment Disputes in disputes concerning expropriation and rightful ownership of mass areas of lands of major importance to the clients’ activities. Shahid Law Firm’s attorneys were also able to reconcile the legal status of the lands by causing the concerned municipalities to issue decisions that were favorable to our clients;
  • Representing a Russian mining company, with respect to the resolution of a dispute with a governmental authority involving a minerals concession;
  • Acting as co-counsel for East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) and a significant number of its shareholders in a major international oil and gas dispute against the Arab Republic of Egypt and various State entities in a complex multi-billion-dollar arbitration cluster before ICSID, ICC, CRCICA, UNCITRAL, and PCA;
  • Acting as local co-counsel for Claimant in the matter between Hussain Sajwani, DAMAC Park Avenue for Real Estate Development S.A.E., and DAMAC Gamsha Bay for Development S.A.E. against Arab Republic of Egypt;
  • Acting as counsel for Claimant in the matter between Middle East Cement Company against the Arab Republic of Egypt;
  • Advising multiple Saudi investors on the available options to seek restitution from the Government of Egypt under an Egyptian/Saudi bilateral investment treaty, which does not allow for bringing claims before international arbitration fora, following the enacting of measures by the Egyptian authorities resulting in damages to the nationals’ investments in the country; and
  • Acting as counsel for Respondent, in a dredging case between a consortium of international dredging companies against the Egyptian competent authority.

Commercial Arbitration

  • Acting as counsel for a major regional media company in a multi-million-dollar dispute cluster involving arbitration and litigation under UAE law, concerning breaches of a number of licensing and broadcasting agreements;
  • Representing a global inspection company against an Egyptian petroleum projects company in a multi-party arbitration dispute about the inspection of materials;
  • Acting for a group of global insurers, re-insurers and manufacturers against a logistics and warehousing company in a multi-million-dollar arbitration under the CRCICA rules in a dispute involving the negligent operation of a warehouse leading to the destruction of products as a result of fire;
  • Representing Respondent in an arbitration matter between an Egyptian auto distributor/dealer against a major international auto manufacturing company; and
  • Representing an international hotel management company in a number of arbitrations concerning allegations of breaches of international hotel management contracts.

Construction Disputes

  • Representing a touristic projects company as Respondent in an arbitration case concerning a number of construction contracts relating to the refurbishment and structural remedial projects in a major hotel;
  • Acting for a major Korean heavy industries company in all disputes associated with the FIDIC contract entered into with the international consortium responsible for the building and operation of one of the Egyptian ports;
  • Representing Waterworks, a global environmental engineering company specializing in water treatment, against an Egyptian oil company in an arbitration dispute involving the construction of a water treatment facility and breaches of a build-own-operate (BOO) contract;
  • Representing an Egyptian construction company against a container terminal of one of the Egyptian ports in an arbitration concerning the building of a commercial warehouse (FIDIC); successfully steering negotiations into a settlement;
  • Acting as counsel for Besix, the largest Belgian construction company in an arbitration against a Saudi-Egyptian group of companies, and enforcing the arbitral award before the Egyptian courts; and
  • Representing Golden Pyramids Plaza as Claimant against Alexadnria Construction Company (an affiliate of a major construction and real estate developer) in a construction arbitration concerning the completion of concrete works of the first phase of the City Stars corporate and residential complex in Cairo; and also representing the Claimant in the claim to annul the award that was raised by the Respondent before Egyptian courts.