Ghada Karbon

Ghada Mohammed Darwish Karbon is a lawyer admitted to practise before Qatar’s Court of Cassation, the first Qatari woman appointed as an arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, and an arbitrator with sports-arbitration bodies in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

She grew up in a traditional Qatari family that combined support with high expectations. Her father taught her not to wait for appreciation from others and encouraged her to represent her country with confidence, a principle that remained central when her work later moved into international legal and sporting forums.

A lively and mischievous child, she nevertheless excelled at school and showed an early capacity for leadership. Drawing was her strongest creative interest. Her father advised her to preserve art as a lifelong hobby while choosing a profession that could sustain a wider public role.

She studied public law at Qatar University. Four further qualifications broadened that foundation: a master’s degree in public law from Cairo, a master’s degree in sports law from the Qatar Olympic Academy, an academic and executive master’s degree in sports law from the University of Lleida, and a diploma from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. She later completed a doctorate in public law in Cairo.

Each course formed part of a deliberate plan rather than a pursuit of certificates for their own sake. She directed her time and energy towards knowledge that could strengthen advocacy, arbitration and the specialised legal work she intended to undertake.

Her early career included positions in government and semi-government institutions. In 2012, she established an independent law firm, accepting the professional and commercial responsibility of building a practice under her own name.

The firm placed close communication with clients alongside international professional standards. It received the Best Law Firm award in 2016 and the Best Recruitment Team award at the Qatar Legal Work Forum in 2021, followed by further recognition in 2022 and 2023.

Law and sport were both fields in which women remained under-represented. Her study of sports law and the executive programme at the University of Lleida gave her the specialist framework to enter sporting disputes with the same discipline she brought to litigation.

She became the first Qatari woman appointed as an arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. Her appointments also include the Qatar Sports Arbitration Foundation, the Saudi Sports Arbitration Center and Kuwait’s National Sports Arbitration Authority.

Her responsibilities in integrity and anti-doping include chairing the Hearing Panel of the Qatar Anti-Doping Committee and serving as a member of the World Aquatics Integrity Unit. These roles placed evidence, procedural fairness and the protection of sport at the centre of her work.

In commercial arbitration, she became a member of the Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration and of the International Chamber of Commerce World Arbitration Committee. Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators further connected her domestic practice with international professional standards.

Working in legal practice and sports arbitration required her to establish authority in environments traditionally dominated by men. Preparation, precise argument and adherence to professional rules allowed her to answer resistance through performance rather than rhetoric.

She regards professional vision and innovation as inseparable from legal knowledge. Developing the firm, expanding into specialist arbitration and maintaining international memberships all formed part of a practice designed to respond to changing fields of dispute.

Painting remained the creative counterweight her father had encouraged. It preserved a personal interest from childhood while law became the demanding public profession through which she defended rights and represented Qatar.