People

“Afridi delivers international quality advice on local law matters. The team meets deadlines and bring a commercial understanding to their work product. They are also responsive and personable in their dealings.” - Legal 500 EMEA

Areas of Expertise

  • Bankruptcy and Insolvency
  • Construction
  • Dispute Resolution
  • Employment
  • Infrastructure and Projects
  • Insurance
  • Shipping and Maritime
  • Transport

Qualifications

  • Professional
  • Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
  • DIFC Courts – Part I
  • Languages
  • English
  • Sinhalese
  • Academic
  • LL.B. (Hons.) University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2010
inBriefs
    Speaking Engagements
    • Moderator, International sanctions in the UAE: when might they breach investment treaties and what is their impact on enforcing arbitration awards? panel discussion organised by Afridi & Angell and Outer Temple Chambers, 13 November 2025, Dubai
    • Speaker, The Intersection of Fraud and Arbitration: Ensuring Integrity in Dispute Resolution, organised by AIJA, 13 November 2025, Abu Dhabi
    • Speaker, Safeguarding Your Legacy: Legal & Financial Essentials for Residents in the UAE, Sri Lankan Bankers Association – UAE (SLBA), 11 July 2025
    • Speaker, New Year’s Legal Update: Litigation 2.0 – what you need to know about major changes in litigation in the UAE on-shore Courts, Afridi & Angell webinar, 6 February 2023, Dubai
    • Speaker, Understanding UAE Corporate Tax Law, TiE Dubai, 28 April 2022
    • Speaker, The New Arbitration Law, the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (UAE Chapter), 13 February 2019, Dubai
    • Speaker, Federal law No. 6 of 2018 – The New Arbitration Law, seminar organised by Afridi & Angell, 27 June 2018, Dubai
    Awards and Testimonials

    “Mevan Bandara is prompt and available at short notice. He will work towards providing a holistic solution to the client.”

    Legal 500 2025

     

    “His approach was to provide solutions to my matter by giving an objective path, rather than to get the business by giving partial one-sided advice. I also valued his in-depth knowledge in financial matters which helped a lot in forming the strategy.”

    Legal 500 2025

     

    We closely work with Mevan Bandara. He stands out for responsiveness, clear communication, and deep understanding of our business. He doesn’t just give legal advice — he offers solutions that are practical and strategic. What sets him apart is his consistency and personal commitment to our matters.

    Legal 500 2025

     

    “Mevan Bandara is charming, massively hard-working and very clever.”

    Chambers Global

    About

    Mevan Bandara is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution practice at Afridi & Angell. With over a decade of experience practising in the UAE, he is a Legal 500 and Chambers Global recognised litigator and dispute resolution specialist, with a practice spanning international arbitration, litigation before the DIFC and ADGM Courts, and complex on-shore disputes.

     

    Mevan acts for a diverse range of clients, from multinational corporations and financial institutions to regional businesses and high-net-worth individuals, across the full spectrum of high-value commercial disputes. His practice has particular depth in construction and infrastructure, shareholder and company disputes, banking, insolvency and restructuring, maritime and shipping, insurance, employment, and cross-border investment disputes. He also advises on the structuring of joint ventures, franchise arrangements, distributorship agreements, and registered agency relationships.

     

    A significant proportion of Mevan’s work carries a cross-border dimension. He has represented clients in international arbitrations seated in London, Dubai, Singapore, and Sri Lanka, bringing procedural command and substantive breadth to complex multi-jurisdictional matters. His contributions to leading legal publications — including the Lexology Panoramic (Shipping and Arbitration UAE chapters), the Thomson Reuters Practical Law Global Guide, and the Chambers Global Practice Guide on Banking & Finance — reflect the depth of his technical expertise and his standing as a thought leader in the region.

     

    Mevan is a recipient of the Australian Government’s DEEWR Scholarship (2009), awarded by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. He served as a visiting lecturer in Business Law at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and as an examiner at the Sri Lanka Law College, and is a regular speaker at industry events and seminars on developments in UAE dispute resolution, arbitration, and commercial law.