Zaiwalla & Co

Since its establishment in 1982, Zaiwalla & Co Ltd has been best known for undertaking complex, high-value, multijurisdictional disputes, often emanating from developing and high-growth economies such as Russia, India, China, the Middle East and Africa.

Today, the firm is retained by some of the world’s largest private and state-owned companies in oil and gas, energy, banking and commercial sectors, many of them publicly listed and/or featured in the Fortune 500 and Forbes.

Zaiwalla’s clients value the following attributes of the firm:

Original Strategies: we tailor streamlined approaches for all our clients disputes. Our proven track record is a result of finding new and innovative strategies to solve challenging issues.

Setting precedents: challenging established law and winning cases at the highest courts in the UK and the EU. The firm has now acted in over 130 cases that have changed the law in England and Wales.

Large cases: Successfully handling major cases which would usually be seen as the preserve of the largest 'magic circle' law firms, never overwhelmed but achieving  maximum efficiency for clients. Recent examples include:

Since 2020 Zaiwalla and Co has represented the Board of the Central Bank of Venezuela in its action to recover around US $2bn of gold and securities which is held by the Bank of England. This matter proceeded to the UK Supreme Court in late 2021 on issues of state authority and international relations and has attracted significant international attention. In 2022 the dispute returns to the Court of Appeal.

In 2019 the team successfully completed an 8-year US$4bn claim on behalf of the Iranian private bank, Bank Mellat. This was the largest ever public law damages claim ($4bn) brought against the UK government for the wrongful imposition of sanctions, and  a case that featured twice in The Lawyer magazine's annual lists of The Top 20 International Disputes.

International expertise: Zaiwalla & Co was one of the first UK law firms to enter the  legal market in China, and later one of the first firms to enter the Iranian legal market. Today over 90% of our clients are based outside the United Kingdom. Zaiwalla & Co has a core of home grown lawyers and a strong team of English qualified lawyers originating from India, Pakistan, Russia, Peru, Canada, Egypt and Israel. With this team bringing its decades of experience acting for clients from all over the world, Zaiwalla & Co continues to attract pioneering international work.

Types of work undertaken: High-value business litigation and arbitration across a range of sectors including banking and financial services, energy, commodities, shipping, aviation, construction, life sciences, real estate, media and professional services.

Arbitrations under the rules of the LCIA, GAFTA, ICC, UNCITRAL, DIAC and more.

Commercial, acting for major international oil and gas, mining, construction, aviation and media companies as well as international and domestic (private and state-owned) businesses in relation to joint ventures, sale and distribution, franchising and service agreements.

Advising on compliance and corporate crime, intellectual property, cyber law and high-net-worth family matters.