Middle East Offices

Latham & Watkins' Middle East offices, staffed with more than 30 lawyers in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai, combine regional knowledge and experience with the firm's international network to provide comprehensive services to clients with interests in the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, South Asia and beyond. The firm has been active in the Middle East since 1994 and has represented some of the region's most active and strategic deal makers.

Accolades

In 2009, Latham& Watkins ranked second among US law firms in The American Lawyer's 2009 "A-List," marking the firm's seventh consecutive year on the list. The firm is ranked as a top transactional and finance practice in leading international rankings such as those published by Chambers, IFLR 1000, mergermarket, Legal 500 and Thomson Financial.  For the second consecutive year, Chambers Global awarded Latham top-tier honors for corporate and commercial work in Qatar. Latham attorneys advised on six deals honored as "Deals of the Year," by Project Finance magazine in 2009, including the "Middle East Power Deal of the Year." 

Capabilities

Latham & Watkins' Middle East offices include US, English, German, French and locally qualified lawyers who have Arabic, English, French, German, Korean, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Kutchi, Swedish and Urdu language capabilities. They have experience in a broad range of transactions for sovereign wealth funds, private equity sponsors, Fortune 500 corporations, investment banks, Islamic Finance institutions, special committees, government entities and closely held companies.

Latham features specialized expertise in a range of industry sectors that include energy, cleantech, communications, financial institutions, health care and life sciences and media and entertainment.

The firm offers an on-the-ground understanding of local markets and are active participants in regional business and policy reform. Most recently, Latham  supported the Abu Dhabi Declaration on Insolvency and Creditor-Rights Systems for the Middle East and North Africa through its involvement with the Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance, participating as the only law firm in the symposium, which culminated in the signing of the Declaration.

Practice Areas

The firm's core practice areas in the Middle East region include:

• Banking and Finance: Latham's Middle East banking and finance attorneys advise on instruments across the credit spectrum, including senior secured loans, second lien loans, mezzanine loans, margin loans, US- and European-style bridge loans and integrated bank and bond transactions, as well as Shariah-compliant, trade, asset-based, ECA-supported and other forms of financing.
• Capital Markets: Latham's capital markets team represents Middle East sovereigns and companies in debt and equity offerings listed on regional and international exchanges.
• Investment Funds: Latham attorneys advise on the structuring and formation of a wide variety of Shariah-compliant and conventional private investment funds in the MENA region and in other emerging markets. The firm regularly counsels clients on the full spectrum of regional and international securities, tax and regulatory issues associated with such transactions, including advice on how to access the US, European and Asian markets.
• M&A /  Private Equity: Latham's US, UK and locally qualified M&A attorneys advise on regional mergers and acquisitions, in-bound and out-bound investments, joint ventures and restructurings.  In 2008, Thomson Financial ranked the team second for M&A deals (by value) in the Middle East. 
  
• Project Finance: Latham's project finance team has advised on market-leading transactions, including the recent RasGas project bond and the innovative Nakilat LNG ship financing. The firm received top-tier rankings in the 2008 IFLR 1000 guide with a special notation for "innovative projects in the Middle East." Additionally, Latham's Middle East-based attorneys have significant experience across a wide variety of industry sectors, including construction and the procurement of PPP projects.
• Restructuring and Insolvency: Latham attorneys are involved in some of the largest current debt restructurings in the Middle East. The firm offers a full range of services in the insolvency arena including formal proceedings, cross-border and single-country workouts and restructurings for clients that include secured and unsecured lenders, debtors, formal and ad hoc unsecured creditors' committees, bondholders and bondholder committees, acquirers of assets from distressed entities and administrators.
• Technology Transactions /  Outsourcing: Latham's Technology Transactions team assists Middle East clients with the acquisition, development, protection, exploitation, licensing and sale of technology. Latham's outsourcing lawyers are known as market leaders, creating new ways to put together deals that reduce timescales and costs and develop new contracting structures and unique contracting models. In each of the last two years, the firm has been recognized by the Financial Times as part of its "FT Innovative Lawyers Awards."

Community Ties

Latham & Watkins' attorneys and professional staff have a long history of giving back to the communities in which they live and work. In 2008, the firm contributed more than 250,000 hours of pro bono services, valued in excess of US$100 million. Latham's Middle East attorneys are reaching out to local communities to assist with educational projects, including a regional internship program for local and international law students. The firm's regional pro bono projects include advising the Emirates Wildlife Society-World Wildlife Fund for Nature on the implementation of educational programs in the UAE and working with the Grameen-Jameel Pan-Arab Microfinance Limited on the establishment of a regional microfinance investment vehicle.

• Middle East Attorney List

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