JUDGING PANEL

 
Rania Tadros
Managing Partner, Ince

Rania is Managing Partner of the firm’s Dubai office. She joined the firm as a trainee and qualified in London in 2000, before relocating to Dubai in 2013. She became Managing Partner the following year. Rania has over 20 years’ experience in shipping/offshore energy disputes as well commercial support to companies in the shipping and offshore sectors.

Rania is interested in all contentious and commercial matters with a particular focus on anything with a Middle East flavour. She likes to understand her client’s business so that she can offer first class legal support as and when it is needed. Of particular interest is the energy and offshore industry and she is closely involved with a number of the world’s largest providers of offshore support services She also specialises in issues arising in construction contracts and has advised on numerous related disputes.

Rania’s experience extends to regularly advising clients on matters arising from utilisation of vessels and offshore structures, limiting and excluding liability, contractual disputes and providing general legal support to companies operating in the maritime field.

She has also recently been involved in numerous significant debt collection cases leading to bankruptcy applications being made before UAE Courts under the UAE Bankruptcy Law.

 
Mark Hultum
Head of Legal MEA, Deutsche Bank

Mark leads Deutsche Bank’s regional legal function as the principal manager of legal risk across all of its activities in the Middle East & Africa region, advising the bank’s Corporate Bank, Investment bank and Private Bank business units, as well as its Regional Management and Infrastructure Functions. He is regularly recognised as one of the region’s most influential in-house counsel, including as a member of Legal 500’s GC Powerlist Middle East. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Mark worked in Clifford Chance’s M&A and Private Equity teams in both London and Hong Kong.

 
Khaled Ghazy
General Legal Counsel, Egypt and UAE
CEMEX

Khaled Ghazy is General Legal Counsel for Egypt & UAE at CEMEX. He enjoys over 23 years of diversified experience in legal practice in Middle East & Africa. Before joining CEMEX, he was the Head of Legal Affairs at Sinai White Cement Company. Prior to this role, he was the Head of Legal Affairs at Dar Petroleum Operating Company.

Before joining oil industry, Khaled was a Regional Legal Advisor at the International Red Cross. Previously, Khaled spent nine years at the Egyptian judiciary where he held various positions including senior prosecutor and presiding judge. Before joining the judiciary, Khaled started his career life as a private international law teaching assistant at Cairo University.   

Khaled co-edited a guide on training judges published by Kuwait Institute for Legal and Judicial Studies. Khaled obtained LL.B (1997) from Cairo University and M.A. (2005) from the American University in Cairo.

 
Rawd Al-Sayed
Group Head of Legal and Compliance, Obegi Chemicals Group

After obtaining her Master of Laws degree, L.L.M, from the University of London – in 2005, Rawd worked for seven years for the United Nations Development Programme, and was in charge of a portfolio of strategic projects related to legal reforms in general, and legal investment framework reforms, Trade laws reforms, accession to the World Trade Organisation in particular.

In 2013, Rawd joined Obegi Chemicals Group, established in 1905, and being a leading chemical distributor across the Middle East and Africa, as the Group Head of Legal and Compliance. Rawd is specialized in drafting and negotiating complex agency and distribution Agreements involving different jurisdictions, negotiating settlement agreements, and in general is experienced in all corporate and compliance related matters.

 
Nadim El Haj
General Counsel, Abu Dhabi National Hotels

A no nonsense, result driven and strategic thinker with a demonstrated history in launching and turning around businesses in the Real Estate Development, Hospitality, Retail, TMT and Education industries. In-depth expertise in negotiating and closing mega transactions, including the structuring, development and acquisition of prime/trophy hospitality projects, real estate developments, retail, TMT and education projects in the MENA Region and on an international scale.

Extensive experience working both in the Government and private sector in the UAE as General Counsel/Board Secretary and ExCo. member.

Nadim was ranked by “The Legal 500” as one of the most influential in-house counsels in the Middle East in recognition of his major successes during his tenure at ADNH including the steering of the negotiation and closing of AED 2.2 B acquisition of 5 EMAAR hotels in Downtown Burj Khalifa in a record 3 months’ time and was therefore featured in the “Legal 500 GC Powerlist Middle East 2019.” The aforesaid strategic acquisition is considered as one of the biggest local M&A deals in the hospitality sector.

He strongly believes that teamwork and collaborative success are key to laying down solid foundations for success and sustainable growth. Nadim is a strong advocate of a “people first” corporate culture as detrimental to transformational change in any organization. 

 
Tarek Nakkach
Regional Legal Counsel, UKIMESA
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Tarek heads the Middle East legal team for Hewlett Packard Enterprise based in Dubai. He is a member of the UKIMESA legal team and Country Leadership team.

He has been chosen as one of the most influential General Counsels in the Middle East by the Legal 500 GC Powerlist and has over 15 years of experience working in the region.

He is a member of the International Association for Artificial Intelligence and Law and the UAE/GCC Data Protection & Security Working Group. He also sits on the advisory Board of many technology startups such as NTMY Inc., and Neurovation Solutions and is a regular speaker at law and technology conferences.

 
Zaid Gardner
General Counsel, Property Finder

Zaid Gardner is a senior international lawyer with extensive experience in providing legal counsel, corporate and legal risk management advice and targeted growth strategies for leading multi-nationals operating in emerging markets across the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. His previous roles have been as Chief Legal Officer for Yum! Brands responsible for the KFC and Pizza Hut brands across the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and Turkey as well as launching WeWork in the Middle East where he was Head of Legal.  His current role is General Counsel for Property Finder, a high growth Tech company based in Dubai, UAE.

 
Sebastien Bernard
Head of Legal Middle East, Project Development & Project Finance
EDF Renewables

After one year working for a financial institution in Jersey (Channel Islands) and seven years working as in-house counsel for a couple of European based companies, including Thales, a leading group of companies in the field of defense, aerospace and security systems, Sebastien joined the headquarters of Dalkia in 2007 (at that time a joint venture between Veolia and EDF) as Senior International Counsel for Middle East and Asia. In 2009, he then became Special Advisor to the Chief Legal Officer & Company Secretary of Veolia Environnement, a world leader in the field of environmental services.

At Veolia Environnement, Sebastien has been deeply involved in some major investment projects. He also carried out some strategic M&A transactions including transfer of securities and sale of non-core assets within the framework of a program launched by the group aimed at reducing its net financial debt. 

Early 2010, he rejoined Dalkia and moved to Dubai to take over the position of General Counsel for META and India regions, before getting his perimeter also extended to Asia. Deals and transactions Sebastien has been involved while at Dalkia include Saadiyat Island District Cooling project in Abu Dhabi (the first district cooling in the Middle East structured as a PPP), securing and closing a RMB 387m increase of capital in China and successfully closing the sale of Dalkia’s former operations in India, Macau and Malaysia.

Following the take-over by Veolia of Dalkia’s international operations at the end of July 2014, Sebastien became Head of Legal, Project Structuring & Financing Operations of Veolia Middle East, covering the GCC and the neighborhood countries. In his role, Sebastien has been deeply involved in the structuring and development of the main IWPs and ISTPs tendered by the major offtaker of the region, including projects such as Salalah IWP and Jeddah Airport 2 ISTP which both reached successful financial close.

Early 2021, Sebastien joined EDF Renewables, a world-renowned player in the development, construction and operations-maintenance of renewable energy power plants, including solar plants and wind farms. At EDF Renewables, Sebastien is the Head of Legal Middle East | Project Development and Project Finance.

Sebastien has an extensive experience in the field of renewables, conventional power, water and waste water infrastructure projects, especially in the Middle East, Turkey, Africa and Asia. He has also developed strong skills in non-recourse project finance transactions and M&A deals (including asset and share-based transactions). Sebastien has a dual citizenship French and British.

Ahmad Al Aseh
Head of Legal - Middle East
CEVA Logistics

Ahmad is the Middle East Head of Legal at CEVA Logistics in Dubai. Prior to his current position, Ahmad served as the Legal Manager of the Middle East at CEVA Logistics in Istanbul. In his current role, Ahmad oversees all legal matters across 15 different legal jurisdictions in the Middle East region.

Ahmad has over 12 years of experience as an in-house and private practice lawyer working across Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Previous positions include being the Legal Head for a prestigious perfume French company, and a Legal Advisor at Christopher & Lee Ong; a member of Rajah & Tann Asia, Malaysia Office.

Ahmad's international experience ranges over Corporate Governance; Corporate Law; Intellectual Property Law; Shipping & Logistics Law; dispute resolution; and contract law at both Common and Civil law systems.

 
Mohamad AlDarwish
Regional Legal Director, Carrier

Mohamad is a Lebanese lawyer with over 17 years of experience in Litigation, M&A, IPOs, and commercial law. Mohamad started his career as an attorney in Lebanon, then moved to Saudi Arabia advising clients on major merger and acquisitions, IPOs, and corporate restructuring. Currently, Mohamd is the regional legal director for Carrier, the leading HVAC manufacturer, and based in Dubai. Besides his LLB, Mohamad holds an EMBA from Hult International Business School, and has several publications.

 
Stuart Paterson
Managing Partner - Middle East
Herbert Smith Freehills

Stuart is the Managing Partner of Herbert Smith Freehills in the Middle East and the head of Middle East dispute resolution. Stuart has extensive experience of arbitration, litigation, corporate crime and ADR, as well as conducting investigations. He specialises in disputes in the financial services sector and is increasingly active in oil & gas matters. He often works on JV and shareholder disputes, regulatory matters and disputes involving bribery and corruption. He is a solicitor advocate with rights of audience in the English and DIFC courts and regularly acts as advocate for clients in international arbitration.

 
Gregory Man
Partner, Bird & Bird

Gregory is a partner in Bird and Bird's Dubai Finance & Financial Regulation team. He is also the global head of Islamic finance.

Gregory has experience advising clients across a range of jurisdictions including the Middle East, the UK, Turkey, Africa and Asia. He advises on Islamic and conventional banking and finance transactions and on the full range of debt capital market products, including corporate and sovereign bonds and sukuk, medium term note and sukuk programme, securitisation, structured products, liability management, regulatory capital issuances, projects bonds, and sukuk and asset finance. He also provides restructuring advice, having acted on some of the most high-profile restructurings in the Middle East, and advice on financial regulatory matters.

  
Girgis Abd El-Shahid
Managing Partner, Shahid Law Firm

Girgis Abd El-Shahid is the managing partner of Shahid Law Firm in Cairo, which has grown to become one of the leading international law firms operating in Egypt and the region since its inception in 1987. With a vision of wanting to create an institution orientated law firm, Girgis recently took over the day-to-day running of the firm by developing an adaptive strategy that ensures competitiveness and includes regional growth and even global diversification beyond Egypt.

Girgis specializes in dispute settlement, with a particular focus on energy-related disputes; mergers and acquisitions; corporate and commercial agreements; joint venture arrangements; banking and finance; securities offerings; telecommunications; and intellectual property. Prior to specializing in dispute settlement, Girgis was a transactional and project finance lawyer, and regularly assist his colleagues in these practices.

He is one of the youngest Egyptian lawyers to be appointed to tackle some of the most difficult arbitration cases in Egypt and the Middle East. He is thus identified amongst the world’s leading and Egypt’s youngest arbitration practitioners in Who’s Who Legal: Future Leaders 2018 and Who’s Who Legal: Energy 2018 “as being among the world’s leading energy lawyers”.

Girgis is also recognized by Legal 500 as “extremely personable, [having] vast knowledge of Egyptian law”, “extremely responsive and having a unique international outlook” “smart, articulate, knowledgeable and business-oriented,” and “simply excellent, very bright and entrepreneurial” with advice that is “always spot on”. He is also featured as a notable practitioner in the Chambers Dispute Resolution guide, recognized as “impressive – very driven and very business-oriented”. According to Who’s Who Legal, clients have said that Girgis Abd El-Shahid "has, time and time again, proved himself able to successfully, and swiftly, navigate the complexities and challenges that Egyptian law routinely poses".

Girgis is a member of the International Court of Arbitration, the world’s leading arbitral institution serving a 3 years term. He is also a regular panellist and speaker in many local and international conferences on arbitration, energy & infrastructure projects.

Girgis sits on the board of directors of various subsidiaries of multinational companies operating in Egypt, along with the board of directors the State-owned Silicon Waha Company, under the auspices of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.

David Charlier
Managing Partner, Ashurst Middle East

David is managing partner of Ashurst Middle East based in Dubai. He specialises in the development, financing and acquisition of energy and infrastructure assets and has over 20 years' experience advising sponsors, lenders (including Islamic banks and export credit/multi-lateral agencies) and government institutions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. 

 
Damian Crosse
Partner, Pinsent Masons

Damian is head of the Commercial Litigation and Compliance team in the Middle East region. He is based in the Dubai office but is regularly instructed on disputes across the region.

Damian is a senior litigation partner with over 20 years' dispute resolution involving a number of local and international courts as well as various arbitral institutions including LCIA, ICC, DIFC-LCIA, DIAC and UNCITRAL. He has been acting for Gulf-based clients for over 15 years on both regional and international disputes. He advises on a broad range of commercial disputes including M&A and finance disputes, fraud and asset tracing, shareholder and joint venture disputes, insurance disputes including claims and coverage disputes, professional liability claims, engineering claims, IT and Telecoms disputes and sports law (both contractual and media related). He is a registered lawyer before the DIFC courts and is experienced in all forms of alternative dispute resolution including mediation. He is an accredited mediator.

Damian is experienced in advising on corporate governance and economic crime issues including under the Bribery Act and has undertaken several investigations arising out of regulatory non-compliance. He provides advice to Gulf Families Family Businesses on issues such as governance, transparency and succession planning. 

and many more...