Alumni profile - Dr Ehab Elsonbaty

28 September 2026

Ehab graduated from Queen Mary with a PhD in Law in 2004 and has built an international legal career spanning the Egyptian judiciary, Amiri Diwan, Qatar Investment Authority and international private practice. He is now a Partner at DLA Piper and Chair of the US/Middle East Initiative.

In this blog, he reflects on the influence of Queen Mary’s comparative approach to law and the experiences that have shaped his career, from the judiciary and government to international private practice. He also discusses his work with international organisations, recent teaching at NYU School of Law and his continued connection with the Queen Mary community.

 

What inspired you to pursue a PhD in Law at Queen Mary?

By the time I came to Queen Mary, I was already serving in the Egyptian judiciary, and I could see that the questions arriving before the courts were increasingly international in nature. I wanted the academic depth to match — a rigorous, comparative grounding that judicial practice alone could not give me. Queen Mary's reputation in commercial law made it the natural choice, coming from Egypt meant I could bridge the two legal worlds I have inhabited ever since: the civil law tradition I was trained in, and the common law world in which so much of international commerce is conducted. My research focused on e-commerce, IT and commercial law, fields that were then emerging and have since become central to global practice.

Looking back, what memories or experiences from your time at Queen Mary stand out most, and were there particular people or moments that had a lasting influence on you?

What stays with me most is the intellectual generosity of the place. Ian Walden and Chris Reed pushed me to question assumptions I had carried from the bench — to ask not just what the law is, but why it is, and whether it serves those it governs. I also remember the sheer diversity of the community: classmates from every legal tradition imaginable, debating late into the evening. London itself was part of the education. Those conversations taught me that the best legal thinking happens across borders, not within them, and that lesson has shaped everything since.

Those conversations taught me that the best legal thinking happens across borders, not within them, and that lesson has shaped everything since.

How did your experience at Queen Mary shape your career and the way you approach your work today? Are there lessons from your time at university that you still draw on?

Queen Mary gave me the comparative method — the discipline of holding two legal systems in mind at once and asking how each would solve the same problem. That is, in essence, what I do every day now: helping Middle Eastern sovereign and institutional clients navigate American law, and American clients navigate the Gulf. The doctorate also taught me the patience of scholarship: to research thoroughly, write precisely, and defend a position under scrutiny. When I sit across from a board or a government committee today, that training is still doing the work. And it gave me credibility in both directions — a judge from the civil law world with a rigorous common law doctorate is a useful bridge.

Your career has taken you from the Egyptian judiciary and Ministry of Justice to the Amiri Diwan and Qatar Investment Authority, and now to international private practice. What have you learned from working across these different environments, and how has working across different legal systems and cultures shaped you professionally and personally?

Each chapter taught something the others could not. The bench taught judgment — listening to both sides, deciding fairly, and living with the consequences of your decisions. The Amiri Diwan taught the craft of legislation: I served on Qatar's Permanent Legislative Committee and contributed to laws that still govern commercial life there, and you learn that a single word in a statute can shape an economy. QIA taught me how a great institution actually makes decisions — governance, risk, and the commercial pressures behind every legal question. Private practice now draws on all of it. Culturally, I have learned that legal structure is never merely technical; how you design a transaction can itself be an act of respect between traditions. The lawyer's job is to build bridges both parties can walk across with dignity.

Earlier in your career you worked on international cooperation and human rights within Egypt's Ministry of Justice and with international organisations including the UN and Council of Europe. What did those experiences teach you about the role lawyers can play beyond the courtroom, and how have they influenced your approach to law throughout your career?

They taught me that law is, at its heart, public service. Working on international cooperation and human rights, and with organisations like the United Nations and the Council of Europe, I saw that lawyers are institution-builders: we draft the frameworks within which societies resolve disputes, protect the vulnerable, and cooperate across borders. A judgment binds two parties; a well-built institution serves millions. That conviction has never left me. Even now, in commercial practice, I see every transaction as a small act of institution-building — creating trust between parties, markets, and countries that might otherwise not find common ground. It is also why I have always made time for teaching, policy work, and pro bono commitments alongside client practice.

I saw that lawyers are institution-builders: we draft the frameworks within which societies resolve disputes, protect the vulnerable, and cooperate across borders.

Today you are a partner at DLA Piper and Chair of the US/Middle East Initiative. What do you find most rewarding about your work, and what developments in the region particularly excite you?

The most rewarding part is being the bridge. I lead an initiative that connects American capital, technology, and know-how with a Middle East that is transforming faster than at any point in my lifetime. Advising sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and governments on both sides — in both languages — means every day is genuinely two-directional. What excites me most is the region's economic diversification: the national visions in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE; sovereign capital moving decisively into technology, life sciences, and the energy transition; the growth of Islamic finance as a globally relevant discipline; and the maturing of the region's own legal infrastructure — financial centres, arbitration institutions, modern commercial codes. The Middle East is no longer only a destination for legal expertise; it is increasingly a source of it.

Alongside your legal practice, you recently started teaching at New York University School of Law. What drew you to teaching, and has it influenced how you think about your own work?

Teaching closes a circle for me. I lecture on Islamic finance, and what drew me was the chance to bring thirty years of practice — the bench, government, a sovereign wealth fund, cross-border deals — into a classroom where students can interrogate it. What I enjoy most is their questions: students have no professional habits to protect, so they ask the questions practitioners have stopped asking, and those are usually the best ones. Teaching has made me a clearer lawyer. If you cannot explain a sukuk structure or a governance framework to a bright student from first principles, you do not understand it as well as you think. It has also renewed my optimism about the profession — the next generation is more global, more curious, and more principled than we sometimes give it credit for.

You have remained closely connected with Queen Mary and last year hosted the USA Alumni Chapter in New York. What has staying connected meant to you?

Queen Mary changed the direction of my life, so staying connected is simply gratitude in practice. Hosting the USA Alumni Chapter at our New York office in 2025 was a particular pleasure. What strikes me every time I meet fellow alumni, whether in New York, London, or the Gulf, is how far the Queen Mary community reaches and how instantly the connection forms. You meet a graduate twenty years your junior working in a different field on a different continent, and within minutes you are speaking the same language. Few institutions create that. I want current students to know that this network is real, and it will be there for them throughout their careers.

What advice would you give to current students and recent graduates hoping to build an international career in law?

Four things. First, learn systems, not just rules — rules change, but if you understand how a legal tradition thinks, you can work anywhere. Second, invest in languages and cultures; my career has been built as much on cultural fluency as legal knowledge, and being able to give advice in a client's own language, with respect for their own conventions, is worth more than any credential. Third, be patient with your path. Mine ran through courtrooms, ministries, a royal court, and a sovereign wealth fund before private practice — none of it was wasted, and the detours became the differentiators. Finally, guard your integrity absolutely. In international practice your reputation crosses borders faster than you do; it is the only asset that compounds forever.

Looking back on your career so far, which achievements are you most proud of, and what would you still like to achieve?

I am proud of my years of judicial service in Egypt — deciding cases fairly is the purest work a lawyer can do. I am proud of having contributed to legislation in Qatar that continues to shape its commercial life, and of helping build the governance function at one of the world's great sovereign investors. In practice, I am proud of building DLA Piper's US/Middle East Initiative into a genuine two-way bridge, and of landmark transactions like advising Ooredoo on creating the largest tower company in the MENA region. But honestly, I am proudest of the people — the young lawyers, on both sides of the Atlantic, whom I have had the privilege to mentor. Looking ahead, I want to keep deepening the US–Middle East corridor, continue teaching and writing, and help build the next generation of truly bilingual, bicultural international lawyers. The bridge is never finished.