Ahmed Abdel Hakam

Partner

Ahmed is a Solicitor-Advocate (Civil and Criminal Higher Rights of Audience) before the Higher Courts of England & Wales and a French Avocat (Avocat au Barreau de Paris).  He currently sits on the Dispute Resolution Committee of the Law Society of England & Wales and is Co-Chair of the Dispute Resolution Section of the African Society of International Law.  He is also a member of the International Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association.

Ahmed is an international disputes specialist, and he also practices the full range of public international law, both in contentious and advisory work.  Ahmed is one of the few lawyers in the world who genuinely practice before International courts and Tribunals.  He has been involved in a number of cases before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), and the European Court on Human Rights (ECHR).  He has long been acting for both States and investors in investment treaty arbitrations, including BIT cases before ICSID and the PCA.  His experience in commercial arbitration proceedings includes all the major arbitral institutions, such as the ICC and the LCIA.  Ahmed also represented States and multinational companies before English, French, Swiss and Italian Courts in complex and high-profile cases.

Ahmed also has an extensive practice in non-contentious and advisory work for clients around the world.  He advises States and autonomous regions on the legal consequences of secession and its impact on legal title to natural resources and public infrastructures.  Ahmed also regularly advises multinational companies on structuring and restructuring of investments and complex issues such as: the consequences of civil war on a State’s rights and obligations towards foreign investors and legal issues arising from the existence of competing governments, and on specific issues such as pipeline transit and transportation regimes and related international law issues arising from State dislocation.

In 2021, Ahmed published his first book entitled “International Arbitration and Resolving Disputes Arising from Investments in Times of Crisis”.  Ahmed’s book and other chapter contributions are available in the world’s most prestigious law faculties and libraries such as: the Peace Palace in the Hague, the US Congress Library, Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, The US State Department, McGill University, Georgetown University, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Bucerius Law School, Cornell Law School, US Department of Justice, National University of Singapore, Columbia Law School and Stanford Law School.  Ahmed’s book also received the following endorsement from Ms Meg Kinnear, the former Secretary-General of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID): “This text takes a unique perspective, looking at the intersection of investment law and the circumstances arising when States are in crisis, transition, or conflict.  It is a fascinating read and will be a wonderful resource for the practitioner advising investors and States in these very difficult circumstances”.

In 2019, Ahmed was selected as a Young Leader by the Franco-British Council which, each year, nominates a select group of young French and British individuals under 40, with distinguished careers across a variety of sectors from sciences to arts, politics, law, the military and finance. 

Recent editions of Legal 500 have noted that clients and peers describe Ahmed as “a fantastic lawyer – a real brain when it comes to public international law” and as having “a thorough grounding in international law. His ability to operate in French and Arabic, as well as English, also sets him apart as a truly international practitioner”. The 2025 edition of Legal 500 recognised Ahmed as a “Next Generation Partner” in public international law.  Clients and peers described Ahmed as “a future star – very impressive knowledge of public international law and very easy to work with”, “bring[ing] almost two decades of experience at leading law firms to the table” as well as “hardworking and responsive”.

Education

LLM, in Public Administration, France’s Ecole nationale d’administration

LLM, in Public International Law, University Panthéon-Assas

Licence en Droit (LLB equivalent), Université Panthéon-Assas

Languages

English, French and Arabic

Bar admissions

England and Wales, Paris