Charlotte Songwiqi

Charlotte Songwiqi is a Senior Associate in the Dispute Resolution Team at Al Tamimi & Company's Dubai office, and has recently completed two secondments with Emirates NBD. Her primary practice area is Commercial Litigation.

Prior to joining Al Tamimi, she practised in a leading international law firm in the Manchester, Muscat and Dubai offices. She specialises in advising and representing clients in high-value, complex commercial disputes, with a particular focus on financial and shareholder disputes. She has extensive experience in both local UAE Courts and common law courts such as the DIFC and ADGM, and is currently engaged as a Lead Associate on the largest case in the DIFC Courts' history.

She has acted for prominent international banks and local and foreign businesses in various high-profile and significant disputes in the region under UAE, DIFC, English and international law. She also advises on general commercial arbitrations under all of the major institutional rules and has recently contributed to the UAE Chapter of "A Practitioner's Guide to Arbitration in the Middle East and North Africa".

Her recent experience includes representing one of the 'Big Four' before the DIFC Courts in high-value breach of contract and auditor negligence claims arising out of the fraud and misuse of investor funds by the management of a collapsed private equity group; acting for one of the largest family businesses in the MENA region in LCIA London arbitration and ancillary DIFC Court proceedings, including securing a USD 55 million freezing order, in a dispute over the ownership of companies valued at over USD 600 million; and acting for a syndicate of banks in a USD 300 million DIFC Court claim in respect of unpaid conventional, Islamic and hedging liabilities.

Other matters include advising a major bank in relation to prospective alleged fraudulent trading claims with an estimated value of USD 1 billion in the ADGM Courts; acting for a syndicate of banks in successfully defending a Part 8 claim in the DIFC Courts brought by a panel of Trustees seeking recognition of parallel restructuring and bankruptcy proceedings in the Abu Dhabi onshore Courts; acting for an international bank in defending an alleged USD 11.5 million mis-selling claim in the DIFC Courts; and acting on behalf of an international bank before the DIFC Courts in successfully obtaining immediate judgment in the sum of USD 55 million.

She also acted for an Indian bank in successfully defending a USD 18.51 million damages claim in the DIFC Courts, and acted for the successful policyholders in a preliminary issues trial before the DIFC Courts in the first Covid-19-related business interruption case decided by the DIFC Court.

She serves as Chapter Director on the 2025–2026 Board of Women in eDiscovery (Dubai Chapter), is a member of the UAE Women Lawyers Network Committee and co-launched the Women in Finance networking group powered by Al Tamimi. She has been described by clients as "an exceptional lawyer" with "a fantastic, extremely dedicated work ethic."

She holds a Legal Practice Course (Distinction) from BPP University (2018) and an LLB in International Law (First Class Honours) from Lancaster University (2017). She was admitted as a Solicitor in England & Wales in 2020 and speaks English natively.