BCLP partner to inaugurate UAE disputes boutique

BCLP partner to inaugurate UAE disputes boutique

Conselis Law was founded by Raza Mithani and four other barrister consultants

A Dubai-based member of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) has launched a specialist firm specializing in disputes and investigations.

Conselis Law will have its headquarters in the United Arab Emirates but will have a global reach, according to Raza Mithani on LinkedIn.

Having worked as King & Spalding's head of commercial disputes in Dubai for three years, Mithani joined BCLP in 2016 after holding a similar position at Simmons & Simmons for the prior three years. Previously, he held the position of senior advocate at Al Tamimi & Company and of a barrister at No. 5 Barristers Chambers in the UK, having initially qualified at Erskine Chambers in company law.

The firm has also brought aboard three silks - Richard Jones QC, Mohammed Zaman QC and Jamas Hodivala QC - along with Michael Stephens, former president of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and members of several international and regional law firms.

Despite joining as consultants, the four still practice law in their UK offices. Mithani's old BCLP colleagues were unknown at the time of the press deadline if they had joined him at the new firm.

Jones and Zaman are members of Mithani's former chambers, set No.5, which is one of the biggest in the UK and based in Birmingham. Having been called in 1972 and taking silk in 1996, Jones represents clients in a range of business litigation matters, including banking disputes. With his international arbitration practice, Zaman, the 2009 silk, shares that focus.

Zaman also has been admitted as a practitioner of the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) Court, having practiced before its predecessor, the Dubai World Tribunal, as well as been involved in both litigation and arbitration in the region, including at the Dubai International Arbitration Centre.

In addition to his six years at Trinity Chambers in Chelmsford, Hodivala spent 14 years working in 2 Bedford Row, where he dealt with criminal cases. As part of a four-member expansion of the Matrix Chambers team in 2019, he took silk in 2020 and is a white-collar investigation and criminal lawyer.

As for Stephens, he has been practicing in Birmingham since 1985 as a senior junior. He has been involved in arbitrations and mediations in construction law, negligence cases, property disputes and business disputes in both the UK and overseas.

Additionally to serving as president of CIArb in 2014, Stephens serves on the panels of the Filipino, Malaysia and Singapore Institutes of Arbitrators, as well as CIETAC and the Korea Commercial Arbitration Board.

According to Mithani, Conselis Law has been developed with one singular objective-to provide our clients with the best possible outcomes in the most important, complex, and high-value disputes and investigations.

In addition, he asserted that he could pursue aggressive strategies against virtually any institution since his firm is conflict-free.

A request for further comment from Mithani was not responded to, while BCLP declined to comment.

Mat Heywood, who left Clyde and Company as a partner in 2020 to launch Mantle Law in Abu Dhabi, is another senior disputes lawyer to have established a boutique in the UAE. Gurbinder Grewal, an associate at Dentons, was hired in November 2021 to set up the office and Georgina Barlow and Alice Andreoletti, associates at Vinson & Elkins and Clydes, were hired to staff it.