Zachary Calo is Of Counsel at Kalbian Hagerty LLP, where he focuses on international dispute resolution across the commercial, banking, employment, aviation, and sports sectors. With more than a decade of experience in the Middle East, and prior practice in Doha, Washington, DC, and London, Zachary represents clients before leading arbitral institutions and tribunals. He also regularly serves as a mediator and arbitrator, including on international panels at Sport Resolutions (London) and the Qatar Sports Arbitration Tribunal
In addition to his practice, Zachary is Professor of Law at Touro University in New York City, where he teaches arbitration, mediation, and international business transactions. He is the author of two books and more than eighty articles, and is a recognized commentator on international dispute resolution. From 2015 to 2025, he was Professor of Law at Hamad bin Khalifa University in Doha, Qatar, where he helped establish the first JD program in the Middle East in partnership with Northwestern University School of Law. He previously taught on faculties of law in Australia, Egypt, England, South Korea, Uzbekistan, and the United States.
Zachary is active in the profession, including as a member of the Academic Council of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, an officer of the International Bar Association Mediation Committee, a member of the Hague Court of Arbitration for Aviation Mediation Committee, and a member of the Ethics Committee of the International Mediation Institute. A CEDR-certified mediator, he frequently acts as neutral for disputes in the United States and Middle East.
Recent Lectures
- Artificial Intelligence and Alternative Dispute Resolution, Saudi Law Conference, Riyadh, KSA (2025)
- Religious Arbitration and Conflict Resolution, University of Belgrade, Serbia (2025)
- Where Negotiation Meets Mediation, LUMSA University, Rome (2025)
- Dispute Resolution in the Middle East, International Congress of Special Courts, Porto Velho, Brazil (2025)
- Commercial Mediation in the Middle East, Cardozo School of Law, New York (2024)
- The Growing Importance of Mediation: Cross Border Commercial and Energy-Related Disputes, Istanbul Arbitration Week (2024)
- Sustainable Resolution of International Commercial Disputes, Milan Legal Week, Italy (2024)
- Mediating Intellectual Property Disputes, WIPO/Qatar International Mediation and Arbitration Conference, Doha, Qatar (2024)
- The Singapore Convention and the Development of Commercial Mediation in Asia, Asian Law Institute, Bangkok, Thailand (2024)
Recent Publications
- The CAS Code: Commentary on the Rules of Sports Arbitration, eds. Ilias Bantekas, Zachary Calo, and Madalina Diaconu (Cambridge University Press, Forthcoming 2026)
- Artificial Intelligence and Mediation Ethics, Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution 26:1 (2025): 1-25.
- Commercial Mediation in the Gulf Cooperation Council: The Development of ADR in the Middle East, Giustizia Consensuale (Consensual Justice) 1 (2023): 317-335.
- Labor Rights and Dispute System Design: Assessing the Legal Legacy of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, German Law Journal 24 (2023): 1729-1739.
- Sports Law in Qatar: The Jurisprudence of the Qatar Sports Arbitration Tribunal, MENA Business Law Review 3 (2021): 54-60.
- Alternative Dispute Revolution: Technology and ADR in the Middle East Following the COVID-19 Pandemic (with Barry Solaiman), John Marshall Law Journal (2021): 57-73.
