Stephenson Harwood

Corporate, Commercial and M&A, Technology

Partner

Melissa is a corporate and commercial partner based in Dubai. She has extensive experience in advising on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, foreign direct investment, restructuring and insolvency, shareholder disputes, private equity and venture capital, as well as general corporate and commercial advisory matters throughout the Middle East. She has a reputation for providing legal advice that is commercially relevant, on-point, adds value and is strategic to the needs of her clients.

Having been based in the UAE for over 15 years, Melissa has established herself as a trusted advisor and key point of contact for numerous multinational and regional clients seeking legal counsel throughout the Middle East region.

Melissa’s practice focuses primarily on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, foreign direct investment, restructuring and insolvency, shareholder disputes, private equity and venture capital. She specialises in supporting clients through local and cross-border transactions, as well as advising on a wide spectrum of corporate and commercial legal issues.

Her practice extends to commercial, outsourcing and technology mandates such as distribution and agency arrangements, franchising and licensing, regulatory issues (particularly licensing, competition law and corporate governance issues), hotel management agreements, supply and service agreements and commercial disputes.

Melissa has a particularly strong reputation for her expertise in the technology sector, having worked on various matters relating to data centres, cybersecurity, defence technology, healthcare technology, technology product manufacturing and distribution, software licensing and development, fintech, e-commerce, online advertising and media, internet of things (IOT), blockchain / cryptocurrency and cleantech.

Melissa also has clients that span across a broad range of other sectors, including financial services, insurance, life sciences, healthcare, industrials and manufacturing, consumer, real estate and construction, professional services (particularly education), and hotels and leisure.