Ibrahim & Partners

IBRAHIM & PARTNERS is an independent MENA-region law firm, led by our managing partner, Ahmed Ibrahim, and is comprised of a team of lawyers that are experts in advising on all aspects of UAE law. We advise both local and international companies on a full range of issues from contentious and non-contentious corporate and commercial matters, including major project work, establishing, and conducting business across the Emirates, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, equity capital market, legal due diligence/audit, employment matters, property, structuring, distributions and franchise arrangements.

Our Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices are also well placed to provide local legal support across the GCC. We are also happy to announce that we have expanded our regional footprint to cover KSA and Lebanon. Our firm is organized into four regional practice groups including corporate and M&A, capital markets, finance and projects and dispute resolution.

We strongly believe in combining legal knowledge with sector awareness. Our philosophy is based on consistently ensuring that all lawyers are dedicated to their own practice area and specialty. We believe that this brings an added value to our clients through our lawyer’s understanding of key issues particular to their sector, which is reflected through practical solutions addressing our clients’ expectations.

Why IBRAHIM & PARTNERS? Almost all of our UAE office is fully bilingual including legal, paralegal and support staff (English/Arabic) with several trilingual members (French), and they possess over 10 to 20 years of experience amongst them. We have enhanced our English and US law capabilities by having senior members of our corporate commercial team who are qualified to advise on English and US laws, giving our clients both civil and common law competences.

Capital markets: Our team is the most active capital markets team in the UAE, having led almost all the IPOs and rights issue which have taken place in the UAE, including two UAE issuers listed on London Stock Exchange. Dubbed as “the UAE ECM guru” by Chambers & Partners and “the first choice when it comes to UAE IPOs”. Ahmed Ibrahim is ranked as tier 1 capital markets lawyer by The Legal 500 in 2018 and has a second-to-none and hands-on capital markets experience.  He also continues to maintain his ranking by Chambers Global as a leading individual up to this day in the UAE and the Middle East.

Corporate and M&A: Our practice group’s primary goal is to provide services to a wide range of local, regional, and international companies. Our UAE team has in a short span of time been part of large-scale M&A’s across the various Emirates, the region and globally. Our M&A team is one of the most active in public acquisitions in the UAE with members of our team having led many acquisitions and disposals of private and public joint stock companies, which is rare in the UAE being that most companies are formed as limited liability companies. These transactions are very specific in nature and require a different set of qualifications and experience giving our team unrivalled expertise of these transactions. We are also active in advising a variety of clients in private merger and acquisition transactions involving UAE companies with operations in the UAE and abroad, in various sectors and different regions.  Further, we are the preferred local counsel of many international/magic circle law firms and banks in their cross border and local M&A transactions.

Finance and projects: Our team has considerable experience in the region and provides invaluable assistance to our clients in the UAE.

Litigation/disputes: Our practice extends to many industries, including banking, finance, insurance, real estate, construction, technology, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, retail, government contracts and healthcare. Not only do we understand the UAE local courts proceedings in and how they function, but we have the substantive knowledge in these and many other industries that allows us to understand how basic commercial disputes function before the courts to the peculiarities of a particular industry or contracting relationship. Our partners and litigators, across our offices’ jurisdictions, are highly experienced in handling large and complex investigations and claims, both domestically and internationally, and are regularly instructed by some of the largest financial institutions in relation to their most substantial and sensitive disputes. We are equally comfortable litigating before all UAE courts in the seven Emirates, DIFC courts and ADGM courts as well. Additionally, our team brings in a wealth of specialised experience in transnational organised crime, financial crime, Anti Money Laundering and international judicial cooperation via their track record and previous position such as senior prosecutors. Our team regularly advises on and provides training in relation to compliance, corporate governance, GDPR, FCPA, AML and UK Anti Bribery and works closely with governmental agencies and law enforcement authorities in relation to those areas which brings tremendous value to our clients.

Our clients rely on our global experience, personable approach and on our in-depth knowledge and understanding of local and regional laws in the UAE, and all the jurisdictions in which we operate. With lawyers from the biggest regional firms ensures our clients trust that they will get a first class experience without the price tag in handling their complex cross-border disputes.

Tax: It is also worth mentioning our tax practice as led by Abdelhamid Attallah, who is one of the most experienced and well-regarded tax experts in the region with more than 35 years of experience. Mr Attallah has worked as a senior tax partner at KPMG and a regional tax chief of other multinational conglomerates.

IBRAHIM & PARTNERS was awarded rising star law firm of the year in the IFLR Middle East Awards 2019 and was nominated in the category of UAE national law firm of the year alongside two of the oldest and largest law firms in the UAE in a span of less than 2 years.

IBRAHIM & PARTNERS has been ranked recently by The Legal 500 for Capital markets in the UAE and “is now at the top of the market for ECM”. IBRAHIM & PARTNERS is also ranked in the UAE for Corporate, commercial and M&As, the firm is a “highly regarded firm [that] regularly advises on the UAE aspects of significant cross-border deals, often working alongside leading international firms. In particular, the firm is well versed in acquisitions and disposals of private and public joint stock companies”.  managing partner Ahmed Ibrahim and partner Malack El Masry are recognized practitioners in the UAE. Ahmed Ibrahim is also a long-standing ranked lawyer in Chambers and Partners in the UAE and Middle East.