A law firm led by a Doctor in Law and SOAS academic, with over 10 years’ experience in international dispute resolution, banking and finance, and Islamic finance.

Dr. Amel Makhlouf (Paris/London)

EDUCATION:

  • 2024: Certified Mediator (Paris, France)

  • 2016: Bar admission

  • 2015: Certificate of Aptitude for the Legal Profession

  • 2010-2013: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), summa cum laude, Sorbonne Law School (Paris) – The emergence of an international law of Islamic finance: origins, formation and implementation into the French legal framework

  • 2011-2013: Research Associate to Pr. N. Foster, SOAS, University of London (London)

  • 2011: Visiting Researcher, Harvard Law School (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

  • 2010: Islamic Finance Qualification (68%), CISI (London) &  ESA (Beirut)

  • 2008: LL.M. in banking and finance, summa cum laude, Queen Mary University of London (London)

  • 2007: Master in Business and Economics, cum laude, Sorbonne Law School (Paris)

LANGUAGE PROFICIENCIES:

  • French : mother tongue

  • English : bilingual

  • Spanish : B1+ certified in Argentina & Colombia 2017, Panama 2022.

  • Arabic: basics (learning Modern Standard Arabic). The firm advises and represents clients in arbitration proceedings involving the use of Arabic, in collaboration with Arabic-speaking co-counsel.

Dr. Jonathan Ercanbrack (London)

  • External legal counsel (London), AM Avocat

  • Reader in Transnational Financial Law, SOAS University of London

  • Director, Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law (CIMEL), SOAS University of London

  • Institution host of the annual SOAS-Qatar Financial Centre Islamic Finance Public Lecture and Workshop (London)

  • Member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Islamic and Ethical Finance, the UK hybrid Islamic Finance Group (London)

  • Member, Board of Trustees of the Gesellschaft für Arabisches und Islamisches Recht (GAIR)

  • Member, Global South Economic Crimes Network

BIOGRAPHY:

Dr. Jonathan G. Ercanbrack is a Senior Lecturer at SOAS University of London and Director of the Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law (CIMEL).

Based in London, he acts as External Legal Counsel at AM Avocat, advising on banking and finance, digital finance (blockchain, crypto, smart contracts, FinTech), Islamic law and finance, and international dispute resolution, with a particular focus on the MENA region.

He is the author of The Transformation of Islamic Law in Global Financial Markets (Cambridge University Press 2015), which conceptualises the transformation of Islamic rules and principles in global financial markets as a form of transnational law.

In 2024, he co-authored Islamic Contract Law (OUP 2024), which provides a modern, contract law framed account of Islamic contractual rules and principles. He has published a number of peer reviewed journal articles including The Standardization of Islamic Financial Law: Lawmaking in Global Financial Markets, which Oxford University Press editors selected as one of the best comparative law journal articles in 2021.

LANGUAGE PROFICIENCIES:

  • English: Mother tongue

  • German: Professional Working Proficiency

  • Arabic: Intermediate

  • Italian: Elementary Proficiency

EDUCATION:

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D. in Law | Thesis: The Law of Islamic Finance, SOAS University of London (London, UK)

  • MSc, Political Economy, London School of Economics (London, UK)

  • Vordiplom (exchange programme), Economics, Universität Heidelberg (Germany)

  • B.A. German language and literature, University of Utah (USA)