HFW launches fifth Middle East office
The firm has continued to expand its international network with the launch of an office in Abu Dhabi and the hire of two partners, Vince Gordon and Tania de Swart.
Finance and corporate partners Vince Gordon and Tania de Swart have joined the firm in Abu Dhabi from Reed Smith. Vince was Reed Smith’s regional managing partner for the Middle East.
Vince has more than 13 years’ experience in the Middle East, advising clients on complex corporate, finance, infrastructure and projects transactions, including debt capital markets, M&A and joint ventures, corporate finance, funds, trade finance, regulatory and project finance work.
He also has significant management experience: in addition to being Reed Smith’s regional managing partner for the Middle East, he also chaired the firm’s Africa and Australia business teams, and was previously vice chair of its business and finance department and sat on the management committee of its global financial industry group.
Tania specialises in corporate and commercial work, focusing on M&A, joint ventures, restructurings, corporate governance, foreign direct investments and employment law. She has been in the UAE for more than 10 years, advising clients in a range of industry sectors, including defence, aviation, construction, oil and gas, healthcare, manufacturing, communications, hospitality and education.
Richard Gimblett, Dubai office head, HFW, “Launching in Abu Dhabi is an important step in the continued development of our Middle East offering. We’ve been looking at the market for some time, but we wanted to make sure we found the right people to lead our practice. I’m thrilled that we’ve managed to attract two such experienced and high quality partners; Vince and Tania have outstanding reputations in the market and their arrival is a big boost to our corporate and transactional practice, which is one of the fastest growing parts of our business. We’ve been in the Middle East for a long time and we’re now one of the biggest law firms in the region, but we plan to continue to strengthen across our core industry sectors.”
HFW now has 19 partners and more than 50 lawyers – including 28 Arabic speakers – in five offices across the Middle East, making it one of the largest practices of any international law firm in the region.
The new office is HFW’s 20th worldwide and its eighth international office opening, merger or association since January 2016, following a fully-integrated US merger and other moves in Brazil, China, Indonesia and the Middle East.
