Umar Azmeh was appointed Registrar in October 2022, and oversees the management of cases before the Qatar International Court and Dispute Resolution Centre. He is also a member of the senior management team and the Judicial Advisory Board.
Umar qualified both as a barrister and a solicitor. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2009 by Middle Temple, and practised as a barrister, gaining experience in criminal and civil law, latterly conducting civil litigation on behalf of various United Kingdom government departments. He qualified as a solicitor at Hogan Lovells International LLP in 2017, where he gained experience of commercial law, including high value commercial litigation. He subsequently worked at the Court of Appeal of England and Wales (Criminal Division) which entailed advising the senior judiciary on some of the most serious and significant cases in the jurisdiction including, among others, the Lord Chief Justice, President of the Queen’s Bench Division, and the Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division).
He most recently practised at BCL Solicitors LLP in London, a leading law firm where he specialised in advising and representing high net-worth individuals and corporates in regulatory investigations brought by domestic and international regulators. Umar is also an expert in UK sanctions law, and has worked on some of the most high-profile sanctions cases in the United Kingdom.
Umar holds an LL.B. degree from King’s College, University of London, and an M.Sc. degree from the University of Oxford (Worcester College), where he graduated first in his year. He is currently a DPhil in Law Candidate at the University of Oxford (St Anne’s College), and is a regular contributor to academic and practitioner publications. Umar is also a Visiting Lecturer at The City Law Schools (City, University of London), and is a Trustee of the Sentencing Academy, a research and engagement charitable incorporated organisation dedicated to developing expert and public understanding of sentencing in England and Wales.
