Addleshaw Goddard’s continued expansion in the GCC

Sarac & Burke

Addleshaw Goddard has further added to its full-service capability in the GCC with the appointment of another CEI partner. Alex Sarac specialises in energy & infrastructure projects in government led markets dealing with issues such as social infrastructure and the reform of energy legislation. Sarac joins from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, where he was head of their Africa energy & Infrastructure practice.

Sarac’s practice spans the GCC, and has worked on transactions in over forty countries, in particular Africa and emerging markets. He is UK-qualified and German trained and has been based in the UAE since 2016. Sarac often works in a consortium of legal, technical and financial advisors to governments and/or investors and has managed many significant mandates for governments funded by multilateral institutions working closely with local law firms, international teams, and government representatives. He has advised the Tanzania Government in negotiations with a Chinese State-Owned Entity on a USD10bn USD port and has amended laws and regulations and drafted standard agreements for power sectors in Rwanda and Tanzania.

Dubai-based Stephen Burke, a recognised contentious expert in physical infrastructure development, with a focus on international arbitration, dispute resolution and litigation is the latest and fourth partner in the past two months to join Addleshaw Goddard (AG) in the GCC, with a further two planned in the coming months. Burke’s practice spans the GCC and he has considerable depth and breadth of experience conducting arbitrations under all major institutional and ad-hoc rules, particularly for global multinationals. Burke has built his career with a variety of different firms, Dentons LLP and Linklaters LLP, and joins AG from Baker Botts in Dubai where he has spent the last seven years leading on contentious matters in construction and energy. He is a registered advocate with the courts of the Dubai International Financial Centre and represents developers, contractors, subcontractors and other construction professionals on typically high value and technically complex matters.

Most of Burke’s work is connected with the GCC, and he has particular experience handling arbitration proceedings that are seated in the UAE and involve matters of UAE law. In addition, many of his matters have related to projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) ) and he has represented clients in arbitration proceedings seated in numerous jurisdictions, including England, the United States, France, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong and India.