Who we are

The Rt. Hon. The Lord Mance

Chief Justice, AIFC Court

Chief Justice Lord Mance is the Head of the Judiciary of the AIFC Court. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales (Middle Temple) in 1965 and was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 1982. He became a Recorder in 1990 and was appointed as a High Court Judge in the High Court of England and Wales in 1993, serving in the Queen’s Bench Division. In 1999 he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. In 2005 he was appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in the House of Lords. In 2009 he and nine other Lords of Appeal became Justices of the UK Supreme Court upon that court’s inauguration. He was appointed Deputy President of the UK Supreme Court in 2017. He retired from the UK Supreme Court in 2018.

He has many years of experience in commercial law and international trade, in public and private international law and in European law. He served as Chair of various Banking Appeals Tribunals (1992-1993), Chair of the Consultative Council of European Judges (2000-2003), President of the British Insurance Law Association (2000-2002), and trustee of the European Law Academy (2003). From 2012 to 2018 he was appointed High Steward of Oxford University, where he read Jurisprudence, holds an honorary doctorate of Civil Law and is an Honorary Fellow of University College and Wolfson College.

Mr. Christopher Campbell-Holt

Registrar and Chief Executive, AIFC Court

Mr. Campbell-Holt is the Registrar and Chief Executive of the AIFC Court. He is also Enforcement Judge of the AIFC Court. He is responsible for the day to day management and administration of the Court and case management of litigation before the Court to the extent delegated or directed by the Chief Justice. As Enforcement Judge he is responsible for issuing execution orders of Court judgments and orders.

He managed the establishment of the AIFC Court and IAC from initial concept to recognised stand-alone premier international dispute resolution institutions in Eurasia. He is a member of the AIFC Legal Advisory Council, which reviews and approves AIFC law modelled on the common law. He is a member of the Working Group on Judicial and Legal Reforms of the Supreme Council of Reforms of the Office of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He is a member of the International Council of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which advises on reform of the Kazakh courts and dispute resolution. He is a member of the AIFC Legal Services Board, which regulates legal services provided by lawyers in the AIFC. He is an Honorary Professor at KAZGUU University, Kazakhstan, and a member of the AIFC Academic Council and Advisory Board of the AIFC Academy of Law, which advise the AIFC Bureau for Continuing Professional Development and AIFC Academy of Law.

He has 20 years of international legal experience gained while living and working in the UK, US, Middle East and Central Asia. He was the Registrar at an international financial centre commercial court and alternative dispute resolution centre in Qatar under the Presidency of Lord Woolf, the former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. He also worked at the international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, in London, UK, and at a Middle East law firm partnered with the international law firm Covington and Burling LLP, in Doha, Qatar. He has advised many Governments and organisations on common law and dispute resolution institutions development including in the Middle East, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and South America.

He was educated at University College London, where he read the LLB in Law and graduated in 2003. He is admitted to the Bar of New York State. He is a CEDR accredited mediator and has many years of mediator experience. He has Member status at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He is a life time member of the Chartered Institute of Directors and he is a board member of various institutions including the Board of Governors of De Montfort University Kazakhstan.

In 2022 he was awarded The Order of Friendship (Dostyq ordeni) by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This is the highest level state award of the Republic of Kazakhstan that can be awarded to non-Kazakh citizens. It is awarded to individuals for the "promotion of international and civil consensus in society and the promotion of peace, friendship and cooperation between peoples".

In 2020 he was awarded “The Jubilee Medal” by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan for his “significant contribution to the formation of statehood, strengthening of sovereignty and socio-economic development of the Republic of Kazakhstan”. In 2021 he was awarded “The Medal of the Chief Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan”, by Chairman Z. Assanov, for his "contribution to the development of international cooperation".