Mr. Agha is a New York trained and licensed international lawyer who founded the World’s first and award winning Islamic Law focused law firm (Agha & Co). Previously, Mr. Agha was a Senior Partner, Global Head of Islamic Finance/Head of Projects/Senior Lawyer with Am Law (50) firms (including DLA Piper, Clifford Chance Saudi affiliate and Fulbright & Jaworski) and has served as the head of legal for the international division of an automotive distributor conglomerate. Mr. Agha’s firm has served as lead Islamic counsel on the panel of leading institutional clients.
Mr. Agha has worked on scores of cross-border international transactions in Asia (including in China, Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, and India); in the Gulf region, Mr. Agha has been one of the lead lawyers in seminal deals in the GCC (Saudi and UAE) that aggregate over US$40 billion.
Mr. Agha has recently returned to private practice following his eight-year long in-house stint and his firm Agha & Co had been slated for notable recognitions in leading publications including, DealMakers Country Awards 2013 for the Islamic Finance Law Firm of the Year: UAE; 2012 Acquisition International Legal Awards for the Islamic Finance Law Firm of Year: UAE “Best Islamic Law Firm in 2011” and have been featured in Chambers & Partners Global Guide; Asia Legal Business Hot 100 Lawyers; The Legal 500; Guide to the World’s Leading Banking, Finance and Transactional Lawyers (2012); The Expert Guides: “The Best of the Best” “Emerging Markets Practitioner” “The Arabia 500: Top 500 Companies (on-track for exemplary success) (2011); Who’s Who Legal (2010); International Islamic Finance Forum (IIFF) (2010); Islamic Finance News Guides; International Financial Law Review (IFLR) Magazine “World’s Leading Islamic Finance Lawyers;” The Brief Magazine: “Top 20 Lawyers That Have Helped the Gulf’s Economic Boom;” and the Global Recognition in Islamic Finance for a Law Firm Award (promoting excellence in Islamic finance) by the International Islamic Finance Forum.
Most recently, Mr. Agha has been invited to be a monthly columnist at the Islamic Finance News (IFN) publication giving his ‘Islamic Legal Opinion’ on matters salient to Islamic Laws & Finance.
Mr. Agha has sat on the board of the leading Islamic finance standard setting body, i.e., Accounting and Auditing Organization of Islamic Finance Institutions (AAOIFI) and is the author of various notable published papers, articles and presentations regarding salient Islamic finance topics and is regularly invited to speak at numerous Islamic conferences and as a guest on television (e.g., CNBC and Bloomberg) and radio and has lectured on Islamic finance topics including at prominent Universities (including University of California at Berkeley and INCIEF).