"I advise governments, multilateral institutions and industry on the law of energy, the environment and the sustainable use of natural resources."
Elena I. Athwal is Of Counsel at the Ahmed Essa Al-Sulaiti Law Firm in Doha, where she advises governments, multilateral institutions and industry on energy, environmental and natural-resource law, ESG governance and sustainability. Her practice draws on fifteen years across legal practice, academia and multilateral engagement, with particular depth in energy security and resilience, critical minerals and the governance of emerging technologies. She is also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ICELIS Global, the International Centre on Environment, Law, Innovation and Sustainability, a Qatar Financial Centre-licensed environmental and ESG advisory serving clients across the Gulf, Africa and the Americas.
She holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, where her thesis on legal pathways for microgrid integration and sustainable energy access in developing countries was awarded Honours, and is completing her Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. She has led legal assessment, capacity-building and judicial-training mandates with the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Bank and national ministries, and is the author of twenty books, chapters and articles published with Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Edward Elgar, Springer, Routledge and others. She was the first scholar in the Middle East to hold the IBA SEERIL Law Studies Scholarship.
Senior leadership and academic appointments include:
Author and editor of twenty books, chapters and articles. Selected works include:
