Kama Shah was born and raised in Mombasa, Kenya and is passionate about conservation. He is the head of Stephenson Harwood's Africa and India groups and specialises in complex, cross-border international arbitration, litigation and fraud and asset recovery. He acts for governments, government entities, banks, private corporations and high net worth individuals in a range of matters including those relating to projects and infrastructure, joint ventures, banking and finance, shareholder arrangements, energy and a range of schemes commonly used to defraud individuals and corporations.

Kamal is highly ranked in the legal directories including Chambers & Partners (UK, Global and Asia-Pacific), The Legal 500 (UK and Asia-Pacific), and IFLR1000. "He is really a leader in Africa work." "For every problem I have, he always has the answer." (Chambers Global, Africa, 2022). He was named as a leading international arbitration practitioner in Who's Who Legal: Future Leaders 2017 - 2021 and has been recognised in Africa’s 30 Arbitration Powerlist 2020 and The Legal 500's Powerlists for arbitration and Africa for 2019. Kamal co-published the text of the ‘African Promise’, which seeks to tackle the under-representation of Africans on international arbitration tribunals. He is also the co-author of the leading text "Arbitration in Africa: A Review of Key Jurisdictions". Kamal was named joint winner of 'Mentor of the Year' at the African Arbitration Association Awards 2020.

In addition to being a LCIA Court Member, Kamal is currently the president of the LCIA African Users Council. He is also a Court Member of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce International Arbitration Centre and Board Member of the Eastern Africa Association. In the past, Kamal's firm sponsored the Rhino Ark UK film launch.