Three Crowns is pleased to announce that Amani Khalifa will join the firm as a partner in its office in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) from 1 January 2027. Her appointment will strengthen the firm’s construction and infrastructure arbitration practice and deepen its ability to serve clients across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia.
Amani is an arbitration specialist with extensive experience acting as counsel in high-value and complex disputes across the Middle East. Her practice spans the energy, sports, transport, and infrastructure sectors, and includes arbitrations under all major arbitration rules. Amani is qualified in Egypt, England & Wales, and New York, and is fluent in Arabic and English. She joins Three Crowns from Freshfields, where she led the Saudi Arabia disputes practice.
Amani is also a Judge of the Bahrain Court of Cassation, a member of the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC, and Vice President of the LCIA Arab Users’ Council. She was named by Global Arbitration Review as one of its ‘45 under 45’ leading arbitration practitioners in 2023.
Commenting on her appointment, Amani said: “The opportunity to join Three Crowns’ growing team in the region was too good to refuse. The firm’s elite position, dedicated focus on international arbitration, and calibre of its lawyers make it a natural home to grow my practice. I look forward to working with my new colleagues to serve clients across the Middle East on their most complex disputes.”
Manish Aggarwal, Managing Partner of Three Crowns’ DIFC office, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Amani to the partnership. From the outset, our ambition for the DIFC office has been to build a specialist team of the highest calibre for the region’s most significant disputes. We have been deliberate about how we grow, and Amani embodies that ambition. She is a first-rate advocate, with deep construction and infrastructure expertise, experience across common and civil law traditions, and exceptional standing across the Middle East.”
Reza Mohtashami KC, who plays a leading role in the firm’s practice across the Middle East, added: “I have known Amani for 15 years and have seen her become a formidable practitioner over that time. Her poise, legal acumen, and cultural awareness have always impressed me, and I am delighted that we will be working together on some of the firm’s most important mandates.”
Jan Paulsson, one of the founding partners of Three Crowns, and President of the Bahrain International Commercial Court and Judge at the Court of Cassation of Bahrain, said: “Amani is an exceptional addition to the Three Crowns team, brilliant, sophisticated, and thorough, fully bilingual, and always helpful. Those who have the good fortune of sitting with her occasionally in a judicial capacity, producing judgments in English but subject to the civil law applicable in Bahrain, count their lucky stars.”
Tom Sikora, Senior Counsel, International Disputes, ExxonMobil, said: “Amani Khalifa is an absolutely exceptional disputes specialist. She brings deep expertise and strategic insight to commercial and investment disputes in the Middle East and especially in Egypt, the Gulf, and Saudi Arabia, where she has lived and practiced extensively. She is also of course a native Arabic speaker. Three Crowns adds a formidable player to its Dubai office.”
Amani’s arrival follows the recent opening of the firm’s DIFC office and its subsequent relocation, with the team’s expansion, to larger office space within the DIFC in September 2026.