Voices of Impact: Arab Leading Women Driving Change in the Arab Middle East

This event convenes Arab women practitioners across practice areas and jurisdictions reflecting on leadership, resilience, and impact of the Arab women who showcase their expertise, share practical strategies for advancement, and build cross-border professional networks. The program is designed to highlight the depth and breadth of Arab women’s contributions to the legal profession, illuminate regional market trends and opportunities, equip practitioners with immediately applicable skills and frameworks, and catalyze mentorship pipelines and collaborative initiatives across firms, in-house departments, academia, and the public sector. The program spotlights legal innovation emerging from the Arab Middle East region and the diaspora, with a focus on commercial practice, dispute resolution, public interest, and policy reform. Attendees will leave with concrete insights on career development, business generation, Women leadership in the Arab region, and cross-cultural practice, as well as connections to mentors.

A spotlight session will engage four key female leaders who each share a focused story: launching and scaling a cross-border practice, leading a high-stakes arbitration, and building an internal culture of inclusion and sponsorship within an institution. The esteemed speakers will address career mobility and leadership, negotiation for roles, managing bias and microaggressions, and navigating transnational careers. Panelists share concrete scripts and frameworks for advocating for stretch opportunities, building allies, and sustaining well-being. The program closes with reflections capturing key insights and a call to action to encourage continued conversation and collaboration, including opportunities to meet bar association leaders and arbitral institution representatives.

Speakers:

• Honorable Aysha Mutaywea, Judge at Bahrain International Commercial Court, Kingdom of Bahrain; Founder and Managing Partner at Mutaywea Law
• Fatima Balfaqeeh, Founding Partner of Balfaqeeh Law Firm, United Arab Emirates
• Dr. Engy Serag, Contracts and Claims Director of Orascom Construction, Egypt; Adjunct Faculty at the American University in Cairo, Egypt
• Ms. Dara Sahab, Deputy Chief of ADR, Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration (SCCA), Saudi Arabia
• Mohamed F. Sweify, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, New York, NY (Moderator)