Makhdoom Ali Khan
Senior Partner at Fazle Ghani. Makhdoom Ali Khan is a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and a former Attorney General for Pakistan.
He read law at Karachi, Cambridge, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Lincoln’s Inn.
During his tenure as Attorney General, he advised the Government of Pakistan on all Bilateral Investment Treaties and Public International Law issues. He led the BIT negotiations with other states, and was also one of the lawyers involved in drafting the laws that incorporated the New York Convention and the International Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and the Nationals of other States in Pakistan law.
Makhdoom Ali Khan was a member of the court of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA). He was appointed as Vice Chair of the Arbitration Committee of the International Bar Association (“IBA”), was on the Board of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC), and is a Fellow of The International Academy of Trial Lawyers. He is a member of the Board of the American Arbitration Association and a member of the Governing Body of the International Counsel for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA).
Additionally, he is on the Advisory Board of the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution (BCDR), on the panels of arbitrators of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA), the Shanghai International Arbitration Centre (SHIAC) and the Mauritius International Arbitration Centre Limited (MIAC). He was also designated as an arbitrator on the ICSID panel for arbitrators by the President of the World Bank for a six-year term, which ended in October 2017.
He has appeared in many important commercial and constitutional cases before the High Courts and the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He also appears as counsel and arbitrator in several ad hoc, institutional, domestic, international commercial, and investment arbitrations.
Notable references:
Chambers Global 2010 ranked Makhdoom Ali Khan as the best litigator in Pakistan under their Lawyer Rankings for Dispute Resolution, ranking him alone in Band 1. The rankings state that, “Former Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan of Fazle Ghani Advocates is one of the country’s finest courtroom performers, report interviewees: “There is not anyone better; he doesn’t need magic, for he will have predicted any question you can think of anyway – he is the absolute master of preparation.” As well as handling a blend of commercial and constitutional litigation, he enjoys a particularly strong standing in the international arbitration sphere.“
Chambers Asia Pacific 2012 ranked him as the only Star Individual for Commercial Litigation in Pakistan and in Band 1 for Constitutional Litigation. He is the only litigator ranked in Band 1 or above in both the Constitutional Litigation and Commercial Litigation Rankings. It states that, “Senior counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan is heralded as “the patron saint of litigation in Pakistan.” Sources enthuse that he is “a master of his craft; without question the best commercial litigator in the country.” He is also the only South Asian to be ranked in Chambers and Partners Asia’s Most In-Demand Arbitrators rankings.
The Chambers Asia Pacific 2013 rankings refer to him as “the best litigator in Pakistan” and “extremely intelligent and very talented. He argues exceptionally well in court, coming up with a game plan and executing it brilliantly.“