Ali Adamjee

Practice Areas

Ali Adamjee is a barrister specialising in international arbitration, commercial disputes, and public law.

He is called to the Bars of England & Wales (2016) and Mauritius (2018).

Ali has acted as counsel before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and regularly appears in the Supreme Court of Mauritius and before international arbitral tribunals. Many of the cases in which he is instructed have a cross-jurisdictional element where he works closely with multi-jurisdictional legal teams. He is routinely instructed by leading City and US law firms. Ali’s areas of practice include international arbitration (incl. arbitration-related court applications), recognition and enforcement under the New York Convention, injunctive relief and asset disclosure orders, private international law, investment treaty arbitration, civil fraud, company law, insolvency law, and trusts law. He enjoys appellate advocacy.

As junior counsel to the Electoral Supervisory Commission for the past 7 years, Ali has substantial election law experience having acted in over 20 election petition cases before the Supreme Court of Mauritius including one appeal before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Prior to joining the Mauritian bar, Ali practised exclusively in international arbitration. He was a member of the International Arbitration Groups of Clifford Chance LLP (London) and Shearman & Sterling LLP (Paris). Ali also acquired institutional experience as a research assistant at the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague (PCA).

In parallel with his practice as counsel, Ali has a keen academic interest in the theory of international arbitration and private international law. He teaches private international law to LLM students at the Paris II Panthéon-Assas Law School in Mauritius.

Publications

Contributor to J. Machell KC (ed), Whittaker & Machell on the Law of Limited Liability Partnerships (6th edn Bloomsbury 2026) (forthcoming)

Co-authored (with Raza Currimjee) Enforcement of Judgments in Mauritius: Trends and Developments (Chambers & Partners 2024 and 2025)

Contributor, UNCITRAL Model Law Digest of Cases (forthcoming)

Assisted Salim Moollan KC with the research and drafting of the third edition of Mustill & Boyd on Commercial and Investor State Arbitration (3rd edn LexisNexis 2024)

Country rapporteur for England & Wales and Mauritius for the newyorkconvention1958.org website: the leading open access database for New York Convention judgments (a project led by the UNCITRAL, Columbia Law School, and Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes)

Co-editor of Rethinking Arbitration Law and Practice in a New Arbitral Seat (PCA 2011) (a book comprising seminal papers presented at the inaugural Mauritius International Arbitration Conference in 2010)

Languages Spoken

English

French

Gujarati

Expert in these Jurisdictions

England & Wales

Mauritius

Work Highlights

Fundo Soberano de Angola v. Dos Santos: acted for the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Angola in claims to recover USD 4 billion of assets alleged to have been fraudulently misappropriated. The largest international arbitration seated in Mauritius with complex ancillary applications for worldwide freezing and asset disclosure orders in Mauritius, England & Wales, Switzerland, and Angola.

ArcelorMittal v. Essar Steel (Supreme Court): acted for ArcelorMittal in securing the recognition and enforcement of the largest international arbitral award in Mauritius (USD 1.5 billion) under the New York Convention and in a series of related court applications to prevent the dissipation of assets by Essar Steel.

Emtel v. Mauritius Telecom & ors [2024] UKPC 9 (Privy Council): acting for Emtel (the world’s first mobile telephone operator in the Southern hemisphere) in one longest running cases in Mauritius and one of the largest claims for damages for unfair competition and failed telecommunications regulations in Mauritius. Successfully represented Emtel in its appeal before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Dayal v. Jugnauth [2023] UKPC 37 (Privy Council): acted for the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) in the appeal against the decision of the Supreme Court rejecting the electoral petition seeking to invalidate the election of the then sitting Prime Minister of Mauritius on the grounds of electoral bribery and treating. The Privy Council upheld the judgment of the Supreme Court.

ENL v. Independent Commission Against Corruption [2023] SCJ 190: acting for New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (the largest hotel group in Mauritius) before the Full Bench of the Supreme Court of Mauritius in this landmark case on the representation of legal companies and the jurisdiction of the Commercial Court.

Shallan Overseas Investments v. Fuel Transport Holdings (Supreme Court): acting for Shallan in an application to set aside permission to serve out of jurisdiction. The first Mauritian case to consider the proper interpretation of the gateways to serve out of jurisdiction (based on Order 11 of the old English RSC) and the duty to make full and frank disclosure when seeking permission to serve out on a without notice basis. Currently on appeal.

Barak Fund v. Quantum Power Namibia & Innovent (Supreme Court): acted for Quantum Power and Innovent to successfully resist a freezing injunction. The first case to consider the Chabra jurisdiction in Mauritius.

Alliance Building v. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Port Louis (Supreme Court): acted for Alliance in arguing the first case to recognise the negative effect of compétence-compétence in domestic arbitration law: at arbitrator appointment stage the Court will only conduct a prima facie review of the arbitration agreement.