Doulah & Doulah

The firm: D&D is a leading law firm in Bangladesh under registration number 27074. Established in 1965 the firm stands as one of the largest and most experienced law firms in Bangladesh representing the world’s largest business houses and working with the biggest international law firms. The firm possesses top-ranked transactional capabilities complemented by a strong litigation practice with a large client-base.

Areas of practice
Admiralty and shipping: D&D offers one of the strongest shipping practices assisting in both wet and dry contentious and non-contentious matters. The practice advises owners, agents, P&I clubs, financiers, charterers and their insurers. In 2018-19 the firm acted in nine admiralty lawsuits and four shipping finance transactions.

Aviation: D&D represents major aircraft leasing companies including both ILFC and General Electric Capital Aviation. The firm acts in both wet and dry leasing transactions. Recent transactions include acting for GE Capital and EDC in lease / asset finance in Biman and US Bangla respectively. The firm represents major airlines including, among others, Eithad, Gulf, Air Arabaia, Singapore, Malaysia and Korean airlines. D&D has been appointed as honorary adviser to Aviation Working Group.

Banking: The firm offers true banking expertise both on regulatory and transactional aspects. The Bangladesh modern banking legal platform was finalised by D&D partners under World Bank’s Financial Sector Reform Programme in 1996. D&D has been working on two FX arrangement transactions for Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan following similar projects for Merrill Lynch and Bank of New York. It also completed a banking project for Calyon Bank on money market products followed by a similar project for JP Morgan. Following the deregularisation of commodity derivative products, it worked for CommerzeBank in a number of such transactions.

Capital markets: D&D is one of the few local firms that possesses capital market expertise. It represents major institutional investors including Morgan Stanley, CitiGroup, CLSA, Credit Suisse and ABN Amro. Currently, the firm is working on the pledging of a big Bangladeshi listed security portfolio for LGT Bank. It worked on the first PIPE transactions in Bangladesh for Global Emerging Markets (GEM). The firm is also working on a Malaysian Sukuk bond matter.

Corporate, M&A and FDI: D&D offers market leading corporate and M&A practice. It works for a number of multinationals in corporate structure and restructure matters including Nokia, LG, GE etc. D&D has completed over eighteen M&A transactions in 2018-19 acting for clients like Shenzhen/Shanghai Stock exchange in acquiring Dhaka Stock Exchange, Lafarge and Holcim merger, Ophir Energy acquisition of Santos exploration assets and merger with Medco etc. D&D partners drafted the Bankruptcy Act, hence the firm specialises in claw back and insolvency reorganisations.

Finance and securitization: This is a stressed area of D&D practice with extensive experience in financing, security, mortgages, pledge and collateral documentation. The firm is advising China Exim Bank in two large scale financings in different power projects and China Development Bank in one toll road project. IsDB is a regular client. Also appointed by SAARC SDF for the operationalizing of two IDA credit windows for Bangladesh infrastructure projects. Other cross border complex financing clients include IFC, OPIC, ICICI, KFW, AB Svensk Exportcredit etc.

Infrastructure, PPP and construction: Extensive experience in all kinds of infrastructures is D&D’s specialty. The firm was appointed by both of the construction and dredging contract awardees for the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge followed by appointment for Padma Bridge. Currently, the firm is working on Dhaka Water Sector Development Project for European Investment Bank and Dhaka Airport Third Terminal Project for Samsung. The firm has also acted for IFC in project development and financing of the first floating LNG terminal in Bangladesh.

Intellectual property: D&D’s IP practice is regarded as one of the strongest, offering both protection and enforcement services for trademarks, patents, designs and copyrights. D&D has implemented the concept of a well known mark, for Nokia, in Bangladesh for the first time. It also has big scale enforcement capabilities which were established when it worked for Sony against over two hundred counterfeiters in Bangladesh.

Litigation and dispute resolution: Complemented by a strong litigation practice, D&D offers effective dispute resolution capabilities. The firm is active at all levels of judiciary platforms. Currently, the firm is working in two large volume litigations for Cargill and Intelsat. The firm is also conducting an ICC arbitration for Gulf Air and another for Microsoft. The firm acted in two of the largest anti-dumping suits in US courts.

Natural resources: D&D is one of the leading firms to advise on both up-stream and down-stream aspects of the energy sector especially in the exploration of oil, gas and coal. The firm represented Zhenhua Oil is its successful bid to acquire three gas fields from Chevron and Ophir acquisition of Santos assets. It has been advising US based Quanta in gas transmission construction project following participation on similar projects for Saipem and Drilltech. D&D is working for Tecnosteam Energy for erection of three ADB funded gas compression station. D&D has also finalised the production sharing contracts for ONGC, OIL, POSCO, Daewoo, among others, for the exploration of hydrocarbon in the Bay of Bengal.

Power and energy: D&D possesses unparalleled expertise in the power sector. So far it has been involved in structuring one hundred and twenty power projects in Bangladesh. It is now working on structuring the 1250MW LNG fueled power plant for GE under partnership with BPDB. Also acted for Excelerate Energy in developing the Mahesjkhali FSRU (LNG Terminal). The firm acts as local counsel to a large number of power producers including General Electric, Blackstone, AES, El Paso and CMEC. Other power project financier clients include OPIC, IDB and ICICI. It has extensive experience in the M&A of power plants, with AES and ElPaso as clients.

Regulatory and probono: D&D recognises its responsibilities towards the society and allocates a specific number of hours for CSR and pro-bono projects. It worked in the FSRP project to reform the financial sector of the country. After extensive research the Corporate Government Assessment Report was published in collaboration with World Bank. The firm regularly participates in the finalisation of other laws and has drafted laws like the Bankruptcy Act. The firm is working for ADB on modernising municipal laws, and in the UN’s MHealth project. D&D has also acted as legal advisors in establishing USAID’s Tropical Forest Conservation Fund.

Taxation and employment: These are integral parts of D&D’s corporate practice with the contentious and advisory practice representing clients from tribunal to appellate division in Supreme Court. The firm is currently working in a constitutional writ for MAS in a very large VAT and for UPS in direct tax disputes. The firm successfully represented El Paso for a tax exemption. With an in-depth employment practice, the firm has just completed a pension fund creation for Children’s Place. It also advises clients like BAT, GE and Intertek on long term incentive options with regular employment clients like GAP, Puma, EWM, VF and HP.

Telecommunication and fintech: The telecommunication and fintech practice at D&D is one of the finest. It advised Societe Generale in its financing in the first satellite for Bangladesh. It is also worked with NERA on the auction of 3G licenses. Current major projects include the establishment of a global roaming hub for a leading global operator, a global mobile banking platform for Belgacom, and a dedicated access point for Akamai. M&A clients include Huawei and Vimpelcom. Other corporate projects include AT&T, WorldCom, ZTE, Nokia, Grameenphone, among others. The firm represents a large number of clients in fintech matters such as Microsoft, Ant Financial and Google.