Speaker details

Biography

Zouhdi is a mediator, negotiator, arbitrator and legal professional with over two decades of experience in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and abroad. He holds an LL.M. in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, California (2004). He is an accredited mediator with CEDR and ADR Center, and a neutral with TheNeutrals.Org. Zouhdi serves on the mediation panel of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Dispute Resolution Hearing Centre, and its Courts-Annexed Mediation Scheme Pro Bono Mediators Panel, where he has mediated commercial, sale and purchase, lease, landlord-tenant disputes. He also serves on the mediation panels of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts, the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration (SCCA), and on the mediation and arbitration panels of the Lebanese Arbitration & Mediation Center (LAMC). He sits on the arbitration panel of Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC), the Advisory Council of The Mediation Hub MENA, and is a member of the ICC-UAE and of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (MCIArb). He speaks regularly at international ADR conferences. He served as a trainer with the ADR Center, where he delivered “Mediation Advocacy” workshops and the 40-Hour ADR Center International Mediation Training in Arabic, accredited by the Government of Dubai Legal Affairs Department (2025-2026). He is also a trainer with DIAC on its Professional Diploma in International Arbitration lecturing in Arabic. Zouhdi sits as an arbitrator in ad hoc proceedings, having been appointed by DIAC. His foundational practical mediation experience includes mediating and co-mediating numerous disputes as a volunteer with the California Academy for Mediation Professionals (CAMP) within the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s mediation programs. He trained under leading U.S. mediators, including Lee Jay Berman (American Institute of Mediation) and Richard Chernick (JAMS). As Partner at Shaikha Almehrzi Advocates & Legal Consultants (LAW HOUSE), Zouhdi leads, among other areas, the firm’s corporate and commercial practice, as well as its dispute resolution and ADR practice, advising on corporate commercial transactions, governance, construction, and banking matters, and representing clients in strategic negotiation and out-of-court settlements. His latest publications include “Filing Civil and Commercial Lawsuits Before Dubai Courts: Overview” (Thomson Reuters, 1 August 2025), “Procedural Steps in a DIAC Arbitration (2022 Rules)” (Thomson Reuters Practical Law, maintained), “Mediation: Are All Disputes Alike? Strategies for a Mediator to Successfully Navigate Particular Situations” (LexisNexis, 2025). Zouhdi is individually ranked Band 3 by Chambers Global 2026 in Dispute Resolution: Domestic: Without Rights of Audience (UAE). He is admitted as an attorney at law to the Beirut Bar Association and holds a B.A. in Political Science.