Shaistah Akhtar

Shaistah is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution group specialising in complex, high value, multi-jurisdictional commercial litigation and fraud. 

Her clients include sovereign states, financial institutions, global businesses, public companies, private equity firms, portfolio companies, professional firms and high-net-worth individuals.  

She advises in a broad range of sectors including financial services, energy, aviation, defence, shipping, commodities, logistics, life sciences, real estate and technology.

Shaistah has also acted in disputes and on enforcement actions both for and against governments, including involving state immunity issues.  She was the lead lawyer on the landmark Federal Republic of Nigeria v P&ID case where English legal history was made in successfully setting aside a USD 11 billion arbitral award on the basis it had been procured by fraud.  She was named Times Lawyer of the Week in 2023, was one of The Lawyer's Hot 100 in 2024, and won awards including The Lawyer's Litigation Team of the Year, Global Arbitration Review's Most Important Decision of the Year and the FT's Innovative Lawyer Dispute Resolution Team of the Year.

She has experience advising office holders on investor/creditor claims, running internal/external investigations, and handling shareholder and partnership disputes, as well as matters involving contractual interpretation, breach of warranties and termination. 

Shaistah has a long track record of acting for life sciences companies in both general commercial litigation and specialist areas such as follow on damages claims, product liability, procurement disputes and arbitration under the PPRS scheme.  She has also advised on industry compliance issues arising under the ABPI Code, UK Bribery Act and FCPA.

She is also an expert on sanctions law and leads the Mishcon Sanctions Group, advising on sanctions involving Russia, Iran, Libya and many other jurisdictions where sanctions are in operation, in both an advisory and contentious capacity, dealing regularly with OFSI and other regulators. 

Shaistah is ranked as a leading individual in Legal 500, described as "excellent" for commercial litigation, "tenacious”, a “real street fighter” and "simply first-class", achieving successful outcomes in some of the most challenging cases.  

Shaistah is Co-Editor of Dispute Resolution in the Gulf: GCC Approaches and Egyptian Influences.

Key Experience

• Acting for UK and offshore insolvent investment funds in litigation and regulatory investigations to recover significant assets, including recovering almost £100 million for Connaught Income Series I Fund UCIS investors in its claim against Capita Financial Managers Limited;
• Advising parties in a multi-billion dollar tax evasion investigation encompassing offshore trust litigation and multi-jurisdictional criminal and civil proceedings;
• Representing the Government of Nigeria in its landmark case successfully setting aside a US$11 billion arbitral award arising from a failed gas deal, on the basis that the award was obtained by fraud, having made English legal history by obtaining an unprecedented extension of time to bring the challenge three years out of time