Personal bio
Mr Hamid H. Azad is a qualified lawyer, arbitrator, and senior legal consultant with over 30 years of leadership experience across legal practice, dispute resolution, governance, and the international charity sector.
He holds a B.Com (Hons.), M.Com in Accounting, LLB (Hons.) from the University of Essex, and completed the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) at the University of the West of England. He was called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn in 2002 and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (MCIArb).
Mr Azad is currently a Legal Consultant at Lawmatic Solicitors, where he leads the firm’s Charity and Non-Profit Team, advising clients on governance, regulatory compliance, dispute avoidance, arbitration, mediation, and complex stakeholder negotiations. His practice includes charity disputes, trustee conflicts, regulatory matters, and cross-border governance issues.
In addition to his legal career, Mr Azad has held senior executive roles within international NGOs, including Chief Executive Officer of Muslim Aid, Chief Executive Officer of Muntada Aid and Director of International Development of Faith Regen UK. In these roles, he was responsible for strategic leadership, organisational restructuring, risk management, and dispute resolution in multi-jurisdictional environments. He successfully negotiated and managed high-level partnership and funding agreements with major institutions such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, ECHO, and the Islamic Development Bank.
His professional experience includes extensive work in negotiation, mediation, conflict resolution, and arbitration-related processes, particularly within charity governance, international development projects, and community organisations operating across different legal systems and cultures.
Mr Azad also holds a number of governance and advisory positions, including Advisor of a charity, Trust Member of the London Muslim Centre, Central President of MCA, Former National Executive Member of the Muslim Council of Britain (UK) and Strategic Advisor to McAndrew Leadership (until 2024).
He has written and presented on governance, leadership, human rights, and dispute resolution, and has contributed to international policy dialogue, including the World Humanitarian Summit 2016 in Istanbul. Mr Azad has travelled extensively, working in and advising organisations across over 70 countries.