Hamdan Law Firm

The firm: The Hamdan Law Firm was founded in 1961 by Ahmad Hamdan and offers a full range of legal services. It is one of the oldest law firms in Lebanon and is today managed by Abdel Ghani Hamdan.

The firm has strong connections throughout the Middle East and a solid reputation for offering a full range of high-quality legal services, working alongside other prominent law firms in the Middle East, Europe and the US to advise European, American and Arab clients. The firm’s extensive knowledge of the law in Middle Eastern countries and beyond, combined with the global resources and expertise of its network, means that it is well placed to assist clients in pursuing challenging opportunities in these regions. The firm’s lawyers understand that clients are looking for value beyond legal expertise and work hard to assess the level of involvement required by clients. The firm recognises its ethical and professional responsibility to its clients, the courts and the public.

Areas of practice: The firm serves the needs of enterprises of all types and sizes, in both the public and private sector, involved in sophisticated corporate and financial transactions, and complex dispute resolution proceedings. The team is now led by Abdel Ghani Hamdan, who is one of the leading corporate finance and M&A lawyers in the Middle East. Prior to joining the firm Abdel Ghani Hamdan practiced out of the Paris office of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, where he was in charge of the Middle Eastern and North African practice. The firm has particular interest and expertise in representing the interests of high-net-worth or super-high-net-worth private clients.

The firm assisted with a substantial claim against a trustee body affiliated with an international bank, concerning breaches of trust and fiduciary duty before the Royal Courts in the Channel Islands.

Appealing before the Privy Council and filing of a stay of application in the context of a BVI litigation related to the ownership of shares in BVI companies; assistance for an American bank concerning the legal aspects of implementing their banking activities in Lebanon; assistance in relation to the acquisition of real estate properties in the UAE and the setting-up of the corporate structures to this effect; assistance and claims in respect of sums totalling $50m unlawfully taken by shareholders from company funds. The firm also provided assistance for GCC clients in oil industry proceedings relating to unfair prejudice filed before the courts in the BVI against their shareholders, a European oil company; assistance to a European company in the energy sector with businesses located in the GCC countries and Lebanon that wished to exit this geographical sector; assistance and defence of clients in the context of a $300m family dispute, the outcome of which involved the sale of companies in a large Saudi group owned by the family members and assets in Lebanon, Europe and the US; assistance to GCC clients in the context of negotiation and drafting of franchise agreements to cover a certain number of Middle Eastern and GCC countries in the French luxury leather goods and cosmetics sectors and in the fast-food industry; assistance to local distributors in relation to their agreements with a Japanese car manufacturer; assistance for Middle Eastern clients in relation to setting up trusts and the underlying structures to the trusts in the Channel Islands, the BVI and the Isle of Man; assistance for GCC clients with the sale of a 45m² luxury yacht and the acquisition of a ‘luxury town house’ in Europe by way of setting up the necessary legal vehicle for such purpose; assistance for Lebanese and GCC clients in relation with setting up tailored portfolio investments with various European and GCC bankers; assistance in relation to extended warranty programs to be set up by European and American automobile manufacturers in Lebanon.

The firm’s lawyers know what it takes to meet client expectations of excellent work and prompt and responsive services across different countries and a variety of legal systems.