Morgan Lewis has a robust presence in the Middle East. From our two offices in the United Arab Emirates—Abu Dhabi and Dubai—we connect our global platform to our clients operating from or doing business in the Middle East, collaborating with colleagues in the United States, Europe, and Asia who represent clients and act on matters in the region.
Our team has the local knowledge and global experience to assist clients in solving a variety of business and legal issues, with a focus on the following:
Our knowledge of the region’s distinct legal, regulatory, and business structures complements our ability to serve clients across service areas, industries, and jurisdictions. Most of our partners have practiced in the Middle East for more than 10 years, and our team includes lawyers fluent in Arabic, English, and French who are qualified to practice in civil and common law jurisdictions. We also maintain collaborative, long-standing relationships with local counsel in the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council as well as in countries in the Levant, North Africa, and South Asia.
We advise the region’s most significant sovereign and other investors, including private equity and venture capital firms, on their global private equity, fund investments, and corporate and commercial transactions, including acquisitions, in a range of sectors. In particular, we focus on the telecommunications, media, and technology; real estate and infrastructure; energy, including renewables; healthcare; retail; defense; and education sectors. Our team also advises lenders and borrowers on complex Islamic and conventionally structured project finance transactions, including those funding significant infrastructure projects, from wind farms to hospitals.
Leveraging the benefits of having one of the largest investment fund and asset management practices among the region’s international law firms, Morgan Lewis represents global asset and fund managers on matters relating to marketing securities in the Middle East and fund formation matters in the Dubai International Financial Centre and Abu Dhabi Global Market.
Additionally, we advise enterprising startups in the region, including those operating in the financial services, insurance, and healthcare sectors, to scale their businesses by helping them raise funds through private equity and venture capital investments, and we assist clients with their joint ventures and represent them in mergers and acquisitions, with deal values ranging from multimillion- to multibillion-dollar transactions.
The region’s vast wealth and growing economies bring with it significant regulatory challenges, and our team has acted on numerous high-profile sanctions, bribery, and other corporate investigations into allegations such as fraud and regulatory violations across industries.
We also handle complex, cross-border disputes and have experience in the major regional arbitral institutions. We collaborate with colleagues in the United Kingdom, Singapore, and globally to assist with arbitrations seated in other major international arbitration centers in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.