Bushra joined Mishcon de Reya as Partner and Head of Disputes in Dubai, where she leads the firm’s disputes and arbitration offering across the Middle East. Her practice focuses on high-value cross-border litigation, international arbitration, digital assets, enforcement and strategically significant disputes across the UAE and wider GCC region.
She is an award-winning barrister, arbitrator and litigation specialist with over 20 years’ experience advising on complex commercial disputes, international arbitration and cross-border enforcement matters. She specialises in high-value, multi-jurisdictional litigation and arbitration across commercial, financial services, employment, regulatory and private wealth disputes.
Based in Dubai since 2013, Bushra is one of the region’s leading disputes practitioners and regularly appears before the DIFC Courts and in major arbitrations seated across the Middle East and internationally. She advises corporates, UHNWIs, family offices, financial institutions and sovereign-linked entities on strategically sensitive disputes, often involving parallel proceedings across multiple jurisdictions.
Her practice has a particular focus on asset recovery, enforcement and the strategic use of interim remedies, including freezing injunctions, proprietary relief and urgent cross-border applications. She is also recognised for her work in digital assets and emerging technologies, having acted in some of the first cryptocurrency disputes before the DIFC Courts and advised on regulatory and contentious issues relating to crypto assets and blockchain technology.
Bushra has acted in a number of landmark DIFC matters which have helped shape the development of DIFC jurisprudence. Her experience includes acting in the first financial mis-selling claim in the DIFC involving litigation funding and being the first lawyer in the DIFC to enter into and litigate a third-party funding arrangement (Vannin Capital PCC PLC v Khorafi & KBH). She also acted in Asif Adil, the first case to test Article 19 of the DIFC Employment Law, and in Huobi v Tabarak, the first cryptocurrency dispute before the DIFC Courts’ Technology and Construction Division and subsequent Court of Appeal proceedings concerning digital assets and the scope of DIFC exemptions.
Her practice also includes significant construction, shareholder, partnership and family business disputes, with a strong emphasis on strategic risk management, interim relief and cross-border enforcement outcomes.
In addition to her court practice, Bushra serves as presider, sole arbitrator and co-arbitrator under a range of institutional rules, including ICC, LCIA, formerly DIFC-LCIA and DIAC, across commercial and construction disputes. She sits on the Advisory Board of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC) and is President of the UAE branch of the International Law Association (ILA). She is also a frequent speaker on international arbitration, digital assets, enforcement and emerging dispute trends.
Bushra has received a number of industry recognitions for her disputes practice, including DIFC Lawyers’ Lawyer of the Year (2015), Litigator of the Year, and Litigation Team of the Year.