Practice area
Litigation and dispute resolution
Representation before the Somali courts and in international arbitration, from first instruction through to judgment, enforcement or settlement.
How the firm works in this area
The firm litigates before the Somali courts and acts in international commercial arbitration, often on questions that turn on Somali constitutional and administrative law. It has served as co-counsel to a sovereign government in a European-seated arbitration of roughly 157 million euros arising under a public infrastructure contract, arguing on the validity of commitments entered into without the approvals that state institutions require.
Contentious work also covers maritime casualty and cargo-liability claims, aviation liability, employment disputes and the enforcement questions that follow a judgment or award. Where a negotiated outcome serves the client better than a hearing, the firm settles, and its maritime practice has closed a series of claims through structured settlement and mutual release.
Advice is candid about the forum. The firm sets out the position as the relevant court or authority is likely to apply it, not only as the statute is written.
Confidentiality is structural, not cosmetic. Representative work in this area is described by anonymized descriptor only. The firm never implies a named client without consent.
What the firm handles
A working list of the matters clients instruct the firm on in this area.
Selected matters
A development finance institution
Instructed through international counsel, the firm examined the legislative framework governing the concession of a major Somali port. The review assessed the concession against national procurement legislation and the constitutional requirements that govern the disposition of state assets, and set out where the arrangement conformed and where it was exposed. The analysis was delivered in a form the instructing counsel and the institution could rely on for their own decision-making.
An international port operator
The firm provided constitutional and regulatory analysis for a concession to construct and operate a port and an associated toll corridor. The central questions were land rights along the corridor and the allocation of oversight between the Federal Government and the Federal Member State in which the project sits. The firm mapped where authority genuinely lay for each element of the project, so that the operator understood which approvals were secure and which carried federal-state risk.
An international airline
The firm prepared the complete documentation required for the carrier to reach full operational status in Somalia, including the governmental licensing arrangements, and advised on aviation law, corporate structure and the double-taxation questions that cross-border carriers face. On the contentious side it handled high-value civil aviation liability claims, including the analysis of Somali jurisdiction rules on wrongful death and the assessment of damages. The engagement ran across the operational, tax and disputes sides of the airline in parallel.
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Instruct the firm on a matter in Somalia
The firm acts directly for clients and as Somali counsel to more than 140 international and regional firms. Tell us about the matter and the right lawyer will respond.