Serle silk to open first set in Qatar

Serle Court silk Khawar Qureshi QC is set to launch the first licensed barristers’ set in Qatar by the end of the month.

Qureshi, who will head the set, told The Lawyer he decided to launch McNair Chambers in Qatar’s capital Doha as he believes the region is economically dynamic with a modern “can-do” attitude.

“The rest of the world’s really sitting up and taking notice of Qatar,” said Qureshi. “This of course generates more international contracts and this is where we can really play a part.”

Qureshi’s fellow Serle Court barristers Professor William Ballantyne and Professor Michael Palmer have also come into the McNair fold, along with Lord Slynn, a renowned former Law Lord and now a mediator at ADR Chambers.

McNair boasts that its members collectively have more than 200 years’ experience in handling thousands of complex cases involving international and commercial law.

The chambers, which was given the authority to operate in Doha by the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority, is also set to launch an initiative to provide legal education to Qatari graduates.

On the choice of name for the chambers, Qureshi explained that it was after Lord McNair, who he believes inspired generations of international lawyers.

McNair was the first president of the European Court of Human Rights and was president of the International Court of Justice from 1952 to 1955.