RTFIC0001/2026 Devisers Advisory Services LLC v QFC Employment Standards Office

Lord Thomas has been President of the Qatar International Court since 2018.

Lord Thomas was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1969, becoming a Queen’s Counsel in 1984. In 1996, he was appointed a High Court Judge and was assigned to the Queen’s Bench Division, serving on the Commercial Court. In 2003, he became a Lord Justice of Appeal and was appointed to the Privy Council. He served as the Senior Presiding Judge from 2003 to 2006. 

In 2008, he was appointed Vice President of the Queen’s Bench Division and Deputy Head of Criminal Justice. In 2011, he became President of the Queen’s Bench Division. Thereafter, in 2013, he succeeded Lord Judge as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. He retired from that post in 2017, prior to taking up the present position in Qatar where he succeeded Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers. 

Lord Thomas holds several extra-judicial posts, including as Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge and Fellow of the Universities of Cardiff, Aberystwyth, Swansea and Bangor and Honorary Doctor of Law of the Universities of South Wales, the West of England, Wales and of Cardiff Metropolitan University. He is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.

In 2016, he formed the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts. He was appointed Chairman of the Financial Markets Law Committee in November 2017. He has been Chancellor of Aberystwyth University since January 2018.
 

Dr Hassan Al Sayed has been a judge of the Qatar International Court since 2010. Dr Hassan is an Associate Professor of Law at Qatar University’s College of Law. He was Dean of the College of Law from 2007-2010, having received his doctorate in Law in 2003 from the University of East Anglia in the UK. As Dean of the College of Law, he played an important role in the separation of the College of Law from the College of Sharia (Islamic Studies) and developed a new independent legal curriculum which incorporated English language at the College.

Dr. Al Sayed previously practiced as a lawyer in Qatar, specialising in constitutional law, administrative disputes and state contracts, and was formerly the Vice President of the Qatari Bar Association. He has been appointed to numerous committees, including the International Centre for Dialogue between Religions and the Bar Admission Committee. He has contributed to a weekly column in Qatar’s renowned Al-Sharq newspaper and has published articles and op-eds in several peer-reviewed journals.

Tan Sri Nallini Pathmanathan’s career has been defined by her expertise in both public law and private law, with a lasting impact on Malaysia’s jurisprudence. 

Elevated to the Bench in 2007 as a Judicial Commissioner, she served at the Criminal Courts of the High Court of Shah Alam before her appointment as a High Court Judge in 2009. At the High Court, she played a pivotal role in the Commercial Courts and the newly established Admiralty Court, building Malaysia’s reputation as a hub for commercial litigation. Her judgments during this period set critical precedents in corporate insolvency and maritime law. 

Her elevation to the Court of Appeal in 2014 marked a deepening expertise in appellate commercial law, where she shaped key legal principles in corporate disputes. In 2018, she was elevated to the Federal Court of Malaysia, the nation’s apex court, where she has since delivered landmark rulings in constitutional, commercial, and public law matters.

Beyond Malaysia, Tan Sri Nallini actively engages in global legal discourse. As Vice Chair of the International Bar Association’s Judges’ Forum and a member of the Steering Group of the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts (SIFoCC), she helps shape international best practices for commercial dispute resolution. Her commitment to legal education is reflected in her role as Patron of the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA).