UAE

Matouk Bassiouny

Our UAE lawyers are experts in advising on all aspects of UAE laws. Our Dubai office is also well placed to provide local legal support across the GCC.

We advise both local and international companies on a full range of issues from contentious and non-contentious corporate and commercial matters, including major project work; establishing and conducting business across the Emirates, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, employment matters, property, distributions and franchise arrangements.

Our capital markets team is the most active capital markets team in the UAE, having led almost all the IPOs and rights issue took place in the UAE, including two UAE issuers listed on London Stock Exchange. Our equity capital markets team advised on more than 17 IPOs in the UAE.

Our Litigation/Disputes practice extends to many industries, including banking, finance, insurance, real estate, construction, technology, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, retails, government contracts and health care. Not only do we understand the UAE local courts proceedings in and how they function, but we have the substantive knowledge in these and many other industries that allows us to understand how basic commercial disputes function before the courts to the peculiarities of a particular industry on contracting relationship.

On the contentious side, our Dispute Resolution team provides services in local and international litigation, local and international arbitration, and compliance and investigations. Not only do we understand the UAE local court proceedings in and how they function, but we have substantive knowledge in many industries that allows us to address the industry-specific commercial needs of our clients in some of their most substantive and sensitive disputes.

The economy of the United Arab Emirates is the second largest in the GCC region (after Saudi Arabia). The Emirates have been successfully diversifying its economy. With the exception of Dubai, most of the UAE is dependent on oil revenues, though such dependence is in its way to fade away and the economy is more focused diversification. Tourism is one of the bigger non-oil sources of revenue in the UAE, with some of the world’s most luxurious hotels being based in the UAE. A massive construction boom, an expanding manufacturing base, and a thriving services sector are helping the UAE diversify its economy.

If you’re looking for new markets, investment opportunities, or wishing to explore IPO options, implementation of new strategies or have a dispute to resolve, we have specialist teams on the ground to help across the GCC region.

Omar S. Bassiouny

Founding Partner, Group Head of Corporate and M&A

Jirayr Habibian

Managing Partner, UAE Offices

F. John Matouk

Founding Partner, Group Head of Dispute Resolution