Zaiwalla and Co

Zaiwalla & Co Solicitors has over 35 years’ experience in international arbitration and litigation. Founded to specialise in shipping law and arbitration, today the UK law firm is a boutique outfit focusing on both litigation and arbitration. Based on Chancery Lane, in the heart of the legal district in the City of London and close to the Royal Courts of Justice, the firm acts for both domestic and overseas clients including corporations and state entities, as well as individuals.

The firm’s boutique size enables us to make decisions quickly, moving fast to capitalise on new areas of law. As a result, we attract pioneering legal work – we were one of the first UK law firms (with Clifford Chance) to enter the international legal market in China and later on one of the first to enter the Iranian legal market.

This pioneering spirit is reflected in the firm recently acting in groundbreaking international sanctions litigations Bank Mellat v HM Treasury (recently featured in The Lawyer’s “Top 20 Cases 2017). Zaiwalla & Co represents the Bank and fought to obtain a ruling from the High Court allowing the Bank’s current damages claim of USD$ 4 billion to proceed against the United Kingdom.

In addition to enviable technical expertise, the firm offers clients the same service and effectiveness of a magic circle firm at far lower rates using flexible billing arrangements. The firm’s fees are on average around 40% lower than larger city firms for lawyers of comparable expertise.