Zahra Al-Rikabi

Zahra has a broad practice encompassing commercial litigation, public international law (including investment treaty arbitration), EU law and public law. She is recognised as a leading junior for both public law and EU law (Legal 500, 2021) and was appointed Junior Counsel to the Crown (the UK Attorney General’s Public International Law C Panel) in 2020. Zahra is frequently instructed in high profile cases in her areas of practice. She appeared in Municipio de Mariana and ors v BHP Group, which featured in The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases for 2020 and in Canary Wharf v European Medicines Agency, the top case in The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases for 2019. Zahra was selected for The Lawyer Hot 100 in 2020.

Zahra has appeared as sole counsel in the High Court and Court of Appeal. She has also been led in cases before the Supreme Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union. Zahra has acted for a wide range of clients, including states and international organisations. She is a native Arabic speaker which makes her well placed to deal with any domestic litigation or international arbitration where her language skills can be used.

Zahra is a member of the London Chamber of Arbitration and Mediation’s panel of arbitrators and co-Chair of Racial Equality for Arbitration Lawyers’ Arbitral Appointments Committee. She is also a CEDR accredited mediator.

2021: CEDR commercial mediation accreditation

2012-13: Pupillage, Brick Court Chambers

2012: Judicial Assistant to Maurice Kay LJ, UK Court of Appeal

2010-12: Bar Professional Training Course, College of Law

2010 - 11: Research Assistant, Law Commission for England and Wales

2008: Assistant, Office of the Legal Advisor to the Prime Minister of Iraq

2007 -10: LLM in Public International Law, London School of Economics (Merit)

2003 - 07: BA in Jurisprudence, New College, Oxford (First)