Law Firm Highlights – December 2016
Galadari Advocates & Legal Consultants has announced that the firm has been appointed to the legal panel of Dubai Airports. While the firm has already commenced work for Dubai Airports, selection to the legal panel indicates the importance and volume of future projects. As a member of the panel, Galadari Advocates & Legal Consultants will help contribute to the success of Dubai Airports’ current and future projects by providing a comprehensive legal perspective, aiding in dispute avoidance and resolution, as well as supporting on non-contentious projects. Ziad Galadari, chairman of Galadari Advocates & Legal Consultants, said, “Our selection as a legal services provider to Dubai Airports demonstrates our firm’s ability to support large-scale and complex organizations’ legal needs on both a contentious and non-contentious front. As a full-service law firm, we offer the resources of international and local lawyers who have experience with laws and regulations relevant to the aviation sector on the local, regional and international levels. We are honoured to serve Dubai Airports, one of the largest and busiest airports in the world. Thanks to our clients, we continue to carry out our vision of supporting the advancement of our nation’s development in this and other key sectors of the economy.”
Fichte & Co has officially opened its new office in Abu Dhabi, Fichte & Co LLP. The office marks the next phase of the company’s expansion strategy across the Middle East, and will focus on providing the highest quality legal counsel to corporate and commercial clients in the UAE capital. The launch took place on November 13, 2016 at St Regis Nation Tower in Abu Dhabi. More than 150 guests and stakeholders were in attendance. Jasamin Fichte, founder and managing partner of Fichte & Co, joined Ziad Touma, partner and head of the Abu Dhabi office to introduce the new office and outline the firm’s mission and vision in Abu Dhabi. Rashed Al Hebsi, CEO of Tasneef, Emirates Classification Society also offered his congratulations in front of the gathered guests.
Fichte & Co LLP joins Fichte & Co’s Dubai practice, which was founded by Jasamin Fichte in 2005. Having first built its name and reputation as the leading regional maritime practice, it soon expanded to become the go-to law firm for business entities. Today, has a multi-lingual team of 25 lawyers and seven partners specialising across a wide range of industry verticals, navigating complex legal matters both in and outside of the DIFC courts. The firm has achieved a number of landmark judgments for legal practice in the UAE.
Al Busaidy, Mansoor Jamal (AMJ) organised an international conference on arbitration law and practice in collaboration with the International Chamber of Commerce Young Arbitrators forum (ICC YAF). The event, which was hosted by AMJ at the Sheraton Hotel, Muscat, was attended by an audience of over 130, including arbitration experts, academics and practitioners, from Oman, London, Paris and the UAE, as well as in-house counsel and young Omani lawyers and law students from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU). Under the conference theme ‘Revitalising Arbitration in the Middle East’, three panels of international arbitrators and Oman-based practitioners debated the key obstacles to the further development of arbitration in the region. These include the slow pace and often high cost of arbitration, and the lack of professional training to encourage the development of a professional cadre of young lawyers with the necessary skills and qualities to conduct and advise on arbitrations. Mansoor Jamal Malik, AMJ’s managing partner, in the conference keynote address, identified the absence of a dedicated arbitration centre or training and education opportunities for would-be arbitrators in Oman, and lack of a regulatory framework governing ethics, best practices and standards applicable to arbitrators, as the main challenges for the sector. Solutions proposed by Malik include establishing a centre to promote arbitration, build capacity among practitioners, and to enforce standards. He also proposed that SQU’s law degree syllabus be amended to incorporate arbitration law and practice as a compulsory module. Senior partner, Dr. Said Al Busaidy, in a press interview on the sidelines of the conference, emphasised the historical recognition and usage of arbitration as a well-known and widely used method of settling disputes under Shari’ah law and the importance of effective arbitration forums in the present day for attracting direct foreign investors and supporting the economic diversification drive in Oman and the wider GCC region.
