ABOUT / THE PEOPLE
Partner-led.
By design.
The person who takes your call is the person responsible for your matter. Each partner brings a different route through Somalia's institutions — the bench, the justice ministry, the central bank, the ports — backed by a working bench of associates and researchers and correspondent lawyers across Somalia, Puntland and Somaliland.
Hamza I. Abdullahi
PARTNER
Somali law, legislation & regulation
Few careers cover as much of a legal system as Hamza's covers Somalia's. He has judged the law from a supreme-court bench, drafted it as head of the Ministry of Justice's Policy and Legislative Drafting Unit — the Penal Code review, the Anti-Corruption Commission bill enacted in 2019, the Advocates Bill — and advised the Attorney General during Somalia's ICJ maritime boundary proceedings at The Hague. A licensed Somali advocate, he now leads the firm's legislation, regulation and petroleum-sector work.
Legislative drafting
Regulation & petroleum
Disputes strategy
Justice-sector research
SELECTED EXPERIENCE
— Led the Central Bank of Somalia Act review
— Former Supreme Court judge, Somali Regional State (1998–2002)
— Partner-in-charge, humanitarian medico-legal engagements
— Delivered the federal government's first Legislative Drafting Manual — before co-founding Insaaf
Full profile →
Abdirizak Mustaf Ahmed
PARTNER
Financial regulation & Shari'ah-compliant finance
Abdirizak works at the exact intersection Somalia's financial market is built on. An LLB with honours in Shari'ah law and an LLM in corporate law let him read a Central Bank licensing regulation and a Shari'ah board's fatwa as parts of one system — because in Somalia they are. Before co-founding Insaaf he advised the Central Bank on the IMF-backed currency reform and reviewed the Mogadishu port operator's concession for the federal government. He led the firm's advice to Visa on its Somali market entry.
Licensing & AML/CFT
Payments & fintech
Islamic finance & takaful
Employment & operating law
SELECTED EXPERIENCE
— Led the Somali entry advice for Visa
— Legal adviser, Central Bank of Somalia currency reform (2017–18)
— Reviewed the Mogadishu port operator's concession (2014)
— Adviser to the Ministry of Labour; Labour Code workstream
Full profile →
Mohamed Abdulkadir Ali
PARTNER
International clients, projects & financial-sector strategy
Mohamed is the partner international clients usually meet first — the bridge between how global institutions buy legal services and how Somalia actually works. His career runs through both worlds: US corporate training at DLA Piper with constitutional-drafting work for Kosovo and Afghanistan, then a decade of Somalia's hardest reform assignments — the port-sector modernisation for the Ministry of Ports, the World Bank's financial-services study, the PPP-framework assessment. JD, Boston College. TED speaker; 2025 McNulty Prize winner.
Market entry & investment
Ports, PPPs & infrastructure
International counsel relations
SELECTED EXPERIENCE
— Engagement lead for Visa & Turkish Airlines
— Port-sector modernisation, Ministry of Ports & Mogadishu Port Authority (2016–17)
— World Bank financial-services market study; PPP-framework assessment
— Constitutional-drafting support, Kosovo & Afghanistan (DLA Piper)
Full profile →
Behind the partners, a working bench.
Associates and researchers built through the firm's field-research practice, correspondent lawyers across Somalia, Puntland and Somaliland for matters that need reach, and translation between Somali, English and Arabic as standard.
