Saeeq Shajjan

I didn’t start practising law in Canada. I started in Kabul. In 2011, I opened Shajjan & Associates with the idea that Afghan businesses and foreign companies entering the country both needed lawyers who understood the commercial side, not just the paperwork. Over the next ten years, the firm represented Afghan and international companies, foreign diplomatic missions, international organizations and individuals.

The work encompassed commercial transactions, government contracts, foreign investment and disputes, including international arbitration. I also provided expert evidence on Afghan law in proceedings outside Afghanistan and served as co-counsel with law firms in other countries on matters involving Afghan parties.

In 2022, I spent a year as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School. After that, I went through the Canadian accreditation process, which takes as long as it takes, and I was called to the Ontario bar in June 2026.

The Ontario practice is new, and I make no claim otherwise. What is not new is the twenty years of legal experience behind it.

Today I do two kinds of work. Most of it is Ontario work — people and businesses here with contracts, disputes, separations, immigration files, property transactions and estates. The rest is international and Afghanistan-related work, where knowing the legal system, the language and how business actually gets done in that part of the world makes a practical difference. The arbitration practice runs alongside both.