Law firm highlights – February 2015
- Ince & Co organised their first shipping brief for the year 2015 on January 14th. The Briefing comprised of four short presentations on the current legal issues affecting the shipping market. Stephen Jarvis, partner, talked about the future benefits of adopting good Corporate Governance policies. He focused on how doing so can help save time and money when entering into a new joint venture or undertaking a group reorganisation merger. Senior associate Mohamed El Hawawy discussed recent legal precedents about liability of charterers for the damage of cargo and new issues relate to ship arrest in the UAE. Alexandra Bailey, legal consultant, focused on key principles on Salvage and on how to deal with a salvage situation using a case illustration. Finally, Pavloa Samothrakis, solicitor, provided an overview of recent cases on the termination of charter parties for non-payment of hire.
- Dentons has won two significant awards at the IFN Deals of the Year 2014, which recognise the excellence, achievement and leadership of those who have participated in the industry’s most groundbreaking transactions. Dentons advised on the "Cross Border Deal of the Year: The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD)." In this major deal, Dentons advised the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (Malaysia) on an Islamic commodity murabahah facility of USD100 million to ICD. Bringing together the Far East and the Middle East, this was the first cross-border transaction by a Japanese bank to an Islamic multilateral international financial institution. The annual awards ceremony will take place on 2 March, 2015 at the Ritz Carlton DIFC in Dubai.
- Taylor Wessing has supported a major real estate project which further confirms the recovery of Dubai’s economy and resurrection of a landmark project. Oqyana Real Estate, a leading real estate developer based in Kuwait, has signed a deal with floating island experts Dutch Docklands to create a series of private floating island villas to be located in ‘The World Islands’ project in Dubai. Under the deal Oqyana will tie up with Dutch Docklands to bring personalised private floating islands to Dubai, to be located in ‘The World Islands’ project. Each private floating island will house just one villa – the pinnacle of exclusive island living. Jerry Parks, head of Real Estate at Taylor Wessing explains, "Taylor Wessing is proud to be advising Oqyana Real Estate on this incredible project which utilises cutting edge marine technology to create luxury living environments. We look forward to continuing to work with our friends at Oqyana as they, hand in hand with Dutch Docklands, bring this vision to reality.”
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Al Tamimi & Company announced a new association with Nour & Taha Law Firm, a key player in the Egyptian legal market. From April 1, 2015, Mohamed Khodeir, a partner at Al Tamimi & Company regionally and a licensed Egyptian lawyer, will lead the practice alongside Ayman Nour and Ehab Taha, founding partners of Nour & Taha, one of the rapidly growing law firms in Cairo known for the quality and prompt services they offer. Nour & Taha’s team of lawyers will also be joining this association. Khodeir, Nour & Taha (in association with Al Tamimi & Company) will offer a comprehensive range of legal services for those with business dealings in the country, including capital market transactions, mergers & acquisitions, banking and finance and dispute settlement. The new association between Al Tamimi & Company and Nour & Taha is well positioned to assist in achieving this potential, along with ambitions to restore Egypt’s economic competiveness by assisting the gradual structural reforms necessary.
