Mahnaz Malik

Mahnaz Malik serves as one of seven judges on the World Bank Sanctions Board, the independent tribunal responsible for making final decisions in contested cases of sanctionable misconduct across World Bank Group projects. A barrister and arbitrator at Twenty Essex Chambers in London, she made history as one of the youngest arbitrators ever appointed to the World Bank’s ICSID Annulment Committee—and the youngest woman to hold this distinction. A Cambridge graduate called to the Bar in England and Wales and in New York, she has been recognized as the Financial Times Legal Innovator of the Year. Alongside her legal career, Mahnaz is an acclaimed author whose work has been featured on BBC World Service. Her children’s book ‘Mo’s Star’, published by Oxford University Press, has been translated into Urdu by celebrated poet Fahmida Riaz and into Arabic by Fatima Sharafeddine. The audio edition was directed by Michael Radford and narrated by Vidya Balan and Joseph Fiennes. The book garnered praise from King Charles. A Fellow and Trustee at Hughes Hall, Cambridge University, she has established charities that have sent hundreds of children to school and freed over 300 from detention in Pakistan. She plays polo and takes a keen interest in boxing, sponsoring sporting opportunities for underprivileged girls in Lyari and Keamari in Karachi.