Ali

The Principal Counsel and Head of Practice Mr. Ali Dussah Zubairu, SAN, mni, MCIArb (UK), ACTI is a distinguished legal practitioner with extensive experience in litigation, commercial law, and alternative dispute resolution. He is an alumnus of the prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, where he participated in the Senior Executive Course (SEC) 46/2024, sponsored by the Nigerian Bar Association.

He obtained his LL.B (Hons) degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, in 2005, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2006 as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Following his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in 2007 at the law firm of Messrs. E. A. Ibrahim Effiong & Co., Jalingo, Taraba State, Mr. Zubairu commenced private legal practice with Messrs. Y. C. Maikyau, SAN & Co. There, he acquired solid grounding in civil and criminal litigation and progressively expanded his expertise to include commercial transactions, arbitration, banking, and insurance law. Over a seven-year period, he rose through the ranks to become Head of Litigation and subsequently Head of Chambers.

Mr. Zubairu has acted as Counsel in numerous high-profile matters across all superior courts of record in Nigeria, including the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, and various Federal, FCT, and State High Courts. He is also actively engaged in pro bono legal services as part of his commitment to social responsibility. In addition, he has served as Counsel and Arbitrator in several domestic arbitration proceedings.

Expanding his professional scope, Mr. Zubairu has developed competence in Privacy Law and Data Protection, having successfully completed a certification course at the University of Pennsylvania. His firm, Ali Zubairu & Associates, is duly licensed by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) as a Data Protection Compliance Organisation (DPCO).

He is a member of several professional bodies, including the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the International Bar Association (IBA), and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK and Nigeria), where he currently serves as the 2nd Vice Chairman of the Abuja Chapter of the Nigerian Branch. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), while his firm is affiliated with the International Chamber of Commerce Nigeria (ICCN).

Mr. Zubairu has attended and participated in numerous local and international conferences and specialized trainings in arbitration, mediation, taxation, and data protection. Notable among these are: ICC Institute Advanced Training on Production of Documents in International Arbitration (New York, 2019); Drafting Enforceable Awards in International Arbitration (Lagos, 2019); DELOS Remote Oral Advocacy Programme on International Arbitration (Paris, 2020); ICC Advanced Training on Assessment of Damages by Arbitrators (Lagos, 2022); ICC Advanced Training on Dispute Boards (New York, 2022); and the National Workshop on the Reform of the Capital Gains Tax Act, 2004, organised by the Nigerian Law Reform Commission (2023), where he represented the Nigerian Bar Association.

He was appointed a Notary Public by the Chief Justice of Nigeria in 2014 and was conferred with the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 2025.