Our Dubai office is the hub for our work with clients throughout the Middle East and with practitioners also experienced in work in Africa, India, Pakistan, Australia and Asia, the office is ideally equipped to work with locally based clients investing in all these jurisdictions.
In early June we opened a new office in Abu Dhabi, and the firm already has an extensive track record of advising on major work in the region. Our Middle East network is strengthened further by the establishment of a formal and exclusive association in Saudi Arabia with the Al Ghazzawi Professional Association, one of the Kingdom's largest and leading law firms with offices in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam.
We have a team of more than 40 lawyers (including 6 partners) in the region. Herbert Smith partner Neil Brimson, previously head of the firm's Paris projects group, heads up the Middle East. He has advised on many transactions across the Middle East, Europe and Africa, and has a particular focus on major energy and infrastructure projects and project finance.
Zubair Mir and Nadim Khan have leading reputations in the Islamic business community having previously worked with an international firm in the Middle East for a number of years. They specialise respectively in the fields of corporate law (especially M&A and investment funds work) and finance (with an emphasis on Islamic finance).
Stephen Rayfield is a mergers and acquisitions specialist and a member of the firm's international private equity, infrastructure and energy practices. David Laurence is an energy/projects expert with extensive experience of major projects across Asia and the Middle East. Craig Shepherd is a dispute resolution specialist – sectors he focuses on include projects, energy and, in particular, construction. He is also experienced in advising on regulatory matters.
In addition, Herbert Smith consultant Charles Plant advises the office on developing the firm's disputes practice in the Middle East, working alongside Craig.
Our Dubai office works closely with Herbert Smith offices across the firm's international network, and with our Alliance firms Gleiss Lutz and Stibbe, to provide a full-service regional capability to our international and Middle East clients.
The main practice areas of the office are:
Corporate finance
Dispute resolution
Finance
Projects
Accolades
"The number one firm for investment funds in the UAE"
PLC – Investment Funds and leading lawyers worldwide 2008
"'A quality outfit that is taking this market seriously' this firm has entered the UAE and raised the stakes of this market tremendously" Chambers Global 2008
Credentials
- Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat), the UAE national telecom operator, on its international acquisition
- the Rabigh petrochemical refinery in Saudi Arabia, a 50/50 joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical. Herbert Smith advised Sumitomo
- advising Merrill Lynch and Unicorn Investment Bank as lead managers of a major Sukuuk issuance
- Hydrogen Energy, the joint venture between BP and Rio Tinto, on its agreement with Masdar to start the detailed engineering design of an industrial-scale hydrogen-fired power generation project (value around £1 billion)
- Millennium Finance Corporation on its role as Joint Global Coordinator for the US$4.96 billion DP World IPO, the largest IPO ever in the Middle East
- EFG-Hermes in relation to its US$1 billion MEDA Fund
- Project finance deal of the yearInternational Financial Law Review, Middle East Awards 2006