This week’s Movers & Shakers – June 27, 2018

Al Tamimi & Company strengthens regional footprint with promotion of seven lawyers to the partnership and CMS expands Dubai practice with hire of Construction disputes specialist.

 Al Tamimi & Company further strengthens regional footprint with promotion of seven lawyers to the partnership

Al Tamimi & Company has announced the promotion of seven new partners. This latest development takes the total number of partners at the firm to 65.

Bandar Al Hamidani (Corporate, KSA), Emad Salameh (Litigation, KSA), Fady Ghanem (Corporate Structuring, Dubai), Jongeun [Christina] Lee (Korea Group, Abu Dhabi), Mohammad Al Muhtaseb (Litigation, Dubai), Richard Catling (Corporate, Dubai), and Sherif Rahman (Corporate Structuring, Dubai) will all join the partnership effective July 1, 2018.

Bandar Al Hamidani, a Saudi national, joined the firm in 2010 drawing on his experience from a firm in Australia. Bandar is a corporate lawyer with a strong background in dispute resolution and is licensed to appear in front of the Saudi courts. Most recently, he has also developed a sports and events management practice across KSA and represents a number of Saudi sports clubs and Saudi sporting bodies.

Emad Salameh is a key member of the litigation and legislative drafting team. He joined the firm in 2015 and is based in the firm’s Riyadh office. Emad has been practicing law in Saudi Arabia since 2007 following a move from his home country of Jordan. He has represented clients in commercial and construction litigation and assisted clients in drafting contracts and agreements and establishing new legal entities.

Fady Ghanem is part of the firm’s Corporate Structuring team and, since joining the firm in 2013, has developed a market-leading food and beverage practice. His practice covers both the public and private sectors and includes the constitution of various investment structures, as well as drafting and negotiating relevant contracts, by-laws and articles of association, due diligence and shareholder agreements. Fady has worked as a collaborator with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in carrying out significant legal investigations and research for their annual “Doing Business” reports.

Jongeun (Christina) Lee joined the firm in 2012 to establish one of the first dedicated Korea Country Groups of any law firm in the region. Christina advises a wide range of Korean companies on contentious and non-contentious matters in the Middle East. Since she began leading the firm’s Korea Group, which now includes seven dedicated members, she has acted as a mediator for key Korean companies doing business in the region and has been involved in many significant settlement negotiations related to major Korean projects.

Mohammad Al Muhtaseb joined the firm in 2010 and specialises in litigation and dispute resolution. Mohammad joined Al Tamimi as a banking lawyer however his experience in the field of dispute resolution quickly saw him become a very valuable member of the litigation team where he has advised some of the firm’s major clients on various aspects of UAE law and court proceedings. His practice now sees him leading high-level cross-border litigation matters.

Richard Catling is a corporate lawyer at the firm, having joined in 2011. He is experienced in many aspects of corporate work including domestic and international mergers and acquisitions in various industries, including health care, education, logistics, food & beverage and retail.  Richard also specialises in regional private equity and venture capital funding, with particular expertise in advising on investments in technology and media. In addition to this, he also advises regional high net worth individuals and family businesses on family business restructuring matters and, in particular, trust structuring. He acts for some of the largest family companies in the Middle East on their deal and governance structures.

Sherif Rahman is a corporate structuring lawyer based in Dubai. Since joining Al Tamimi in 2008, Sherif has been involved in many sophisticated corporate structuring and restructuring deals in the UAE and wider Middle East. He is a core member of the firm’s team that advises investors and private equity firms on restructuring group companies for investment and private placement. Sherif’s work spans a number of key sectors, including aviation, healthcare and education.

CMS expands Dubai practice with hire of Construction disputes specialist

CMS has announced the appointment of Patrick McPherson as a partner in the firm’s infrastructure, construction and energy (ICE) disputes team in Dubai. He will start on 14 June. Prior to joining CMS, Patrick was a partner at Hadef & Partners and before that he led the legal team at Dutco Balfour Beatty, one of the region’s leading main contractors.

Patrick has substantial experience in acting on contentious and non-contentious construction matters, representing developers, contractors and sub-contractors, and engineering and architectural consultants across the Middle East. He is recognised in Legal 500 as having “considerable industry experience”.

Adrian Bell, co-head of ICE Disputes and Asia & Middle East managing director at CMS, commented, “Fuelled by our tripartite merger last May, our specialist ICE disputes practice has seen phenomenal growth in the region and globally over the last three years. Patrick’s joining adds both much needed capacity and enables us to further develop our expertise in the region, particularly on the supply side. He’s well known amongst the contractor community and will be a real asset to the team.”

Patrick McPherson added, “I am delighted to be joining CMS and the disputes team in Dubai.  The continued growth of the Dubai office reflects the expertise of the ICE team and the commitment of CMS to the region.”

CMS’ Middle East practice has been significantly bolstered in the past 12 months with a string of new appointments including Head of TMT Rob Flaws and ICE specialist Slava Kiryushin, and follows the May 2017 merger with Nabarro and Olswang creating the world’s six largest law firm. The firm’s enhanced offering has culminated in recent accolades including “Energy, Mining & Utilities Legal Adviser of the Year” at the Mergermarket Middle East M&A Awards and new rankings in Legal 500 2018 for, amongst other things, Construction, Energy & Infrastructure, and Disputes – Arbitration and International Litigation.