Charles Russell Speechlys bolsters Middle East practice

Charles Russell Speechlys announced the appointment of two new partners to its Litigation and Dispute Resolution team in the Middle East. Partners John Lewis and Alim Khamis join the firm’s Dubai Qatar office respectively.

Lewis is an experienced commercial litigation and arbitration practitioner within the UAE market. Since 2006, he has developed a specialist practice within the regulatory, audit, advisory and consulting sectors which focuses primarily on professional indemnity defence related instructions and commercial litigation and arbitration matters. His work encompasses a wide variety of disputes before civil law, common law and international arbitration tribunals within the Middle East, and he has been instructed on some of the most high-profile disputes within the region. His local and international client base lean on his ability to seamlessly navigate them through the practical realities and nuances of the region as well as his commercial led approach gained from his on-the-ground experience. Lewis also regularly sits as an arbitrator in arbitration proceedings.

Khamis is a dual-qualified lawyer in Australia and Canada, specialising in construction disputes, with a focus on domestic and international arbitration. Throughout this career, Alim has worked across multiple jurisdictions and project managed large international teams from specialist disciplines on arbitrations spanning Asia, the GCC and Australia. With over a decade of experience acting for clients in high-value disputes within the construction, infrastructure, and energy sectors he has gained invaluable sector knowledge and best practice.

Further, the firm further strengthened its Litigation and Dispute resolution practice with the hire of Richard Kiddell to its London office, and Alison Goldthorp within the Restructuring and Insolvency team in London. These appointments mark 2023 as a year of significant international growth for the firm as the implementation of its global strategy accelerates in line with client demand for a more cohesive, multi-jurisdictional international arbitration offering.