Bushra Ahmed

Practice Areas

- Litigation

- Arbitration

- Employment

Career

Bushra Ahmed is an award-winning litigation specialist, arbitrator, barrister of more than 20 years standing, Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution at KBH (DIFC), Dubai.

Bushra Ahmed has been consistently recognised by Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners as a ranked lawyer in dispute resolution and employment since 2017, specialising in in high-value international commercial disputes and international arbitration across a full range of complex commercial, corporate, construction, employment, financial services and regulatory matters including enforcement and asset recovery.

Bushra Ahmed was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2001, and after completing her pupillage at Ely Place Chambers, London remained a tenant where she practised until her move to Dubai in June 2013 (whereupon she remained a door tenant until July 2020). She is now at Hatton Chambers.

Bushra Ahmed’s reputation as a skilled advocate coupled with her strategic thinking and commercial acumen saw her voted the DIFC Lawyers’ Lawyer of the Year 2015 as well as Corporate Counsel Regional Law Firm of the Year (2019)

Bushra Ahmed has won Litigator of the Year (2023) at the Lexis Nexis Women in Law Awards and the Litigation Team of the Year at the Middle East Legal Awards 2023. Bushra is also a regular speaker on regulatory issues concerning digital assets in the UAE and is often called upon to advise in respect of the regulations concerning digital assets and through her KBH became a founding member of CFAAR.

Bushra Ahmed has been appointed both as presider and co-arbitrator under a variety of arbitration rules and forums (including the ICC, LCIA, DIFC-LCIA and DIAC) across the spectrum of international commercial and construction disputes and is recognised in the Legal 500 Private Practice Arbitration Powerlist – Middle east Region (2023)

Bushra Ahmed has extensive experience of acting as a party representative in the United Kingdom and the Middle East with a focus on cross-border business issues, international dispute resolution, and representing clients in arbitration centres including London, Paris, Dubai and Bahrain.

Bushra Ahmed was a visiting Lecturer in Law at Middlesex University, Dubai, and is a regular speaker for the Academy of Law, DIFC and sits on the Board of the Juris Centre of Excellence for Legal Education and Training and is soon to become a founding member of the International Law Association (ILA) UAE.

Bushra Ahmed has been appointed on the Advisory Board of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC) (August 2023).

Bushra Ahmed is also CEDR accredited mediator since 2005, Bushra has been appointed as a mediator both in the UK and in Dubai.

Bushra Ahmed has contributed articles on international dispute resolution and arbitration across the GCC to Business Law Journal, PLC Magazine and the International Arbitration Review. She has also contributed the DIFC Employment Law Commentary and has sat on a panel with Jacques Vissar, the General Counsel of the DIFC Authority as a consultant on the proposed amendments to the new DIFC Employment Law.

Professional Memberships

- Registered under Dubai Legal Affairs Department

- Part I and Part II Registered Practitioner Dubai International Financial Centre, UAE

- Called to the Bar, England & Wales – Middle Temple (2001)

- Accredited Mediator - Center for Dispute Resolution (CEDR) (2005)

- Barrister Member of the Bar Standards Board Disciplinary Tribunal (March 2009)

- Member - The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (2020)

- Door Tenant - Hatton Chambers, London (2021 - present)

- Board Member of the Juris Centre of Excellence for Legal Education and Training (2023)

- Founding member of the International Law Association (ILA) UAE.

Awards

Languages Spoken

- English

- Urdu

- French (conversational)

Work Highlights

Bushra Ahmed has been involved in some of the groundbreaking cases in the UAE, such as the Khorafi v Sarasin Alpen case (the first mis-selling case with litigation funding in the DIFC). The most notable being her success last year in the first cryptocurrency case in the Technology and Construction Division of the DIFC Court, acting for the First Defendant which was heard in December 2021 before the former Court of Appeal Judge Justice Sir Richard Field as well as appearing for Robert Jones in defending a Black Swan injunction in the DIFC Courts where proceedings had been issued in the Dubai Courts.