Areas of Practice
Sports & Entertainment
Languages
English, Urdu
aarij@winsightsglobal.com
About
Aarij Wasti is a Toronto-based Gowling WLG partner and member of its Entertainment & Sports Law Group. With a mega-event focused legal practice including corporate and regulatory compliance and brand protection-related matters, he provides valuable assistance to bid teams, host nations/cities, event organizers, suppliers and service providers and sponsors alike.
Prior to joining Gowling WLG, Aarij spent more than 14 years working on the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022– the last four of which he spent as the Director of Legal & Compliance on the event’s management team and as Company Secretary of FIFA Ticketing Qatar. Aarij’s extensive experience with FIFA Qatar spans a wide range of strategic issues including communications, crisis management and investigations. He also advised on Qatar’s workers’ welfare program benefitting migrant labour.
His other career highlights include serving as counsel on the Doha 2020 Olympic Bid, being elected to the Board of Directors of the American School of Doha and being appointed by the Ambassador of Pakistan in Doha as a Board Member of the Pakistan Business Council – Qatar. The Legal 500 Middle East named Aarij on its GC Powerlist in 2023, 2022 and 2019.
Qualified in Ontario, Alberta, England & Wales and Pakistan, Aarij brings a rich global perspective to his work, helping clients forge strategic connections and make inroads into exciting new markets. Aarij offers legal services in both English and Urdu. He works in Toronto and Doha and has previously lived and worked in Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Brazil and Pakistan.
Aarij graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) from Desautels School of Business, McGill University (1999) and has a Juris Doctor (JD) from Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University (2003). He has also holds a Master Certificate in Human Resources from Cornell University’s School of Industrial & Labor Relations, a Regulatory Compliance Law Specialization from the University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School, has attended Introduction to International Development at the University of Cambridge and Making Government Work in Hard Places and Princeton University’s School of Public & International Affairs as well as completed BE101x Behavioural Economics in Action from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management (BEAR Centre). Aarij has also attained the Islamic Finance Qualification (IFQ) from the Chartered Institute Securities Investment.
