Lawyers in United Arab Emirates

Thérèse Abou-Zeid

DLA Piper

Tien Tai

Partner

HFW

Tim Burbury

Partner

King & Spalding LLP

Timofey Neklyudov

Timofey’s practice focuses on cross-border M&A, joint ventures and private equity. In particular, he has extensive experience advising sovereign wealth funds, multinational corporates and other private clients on direct investments, co-investments and fund commitments across diverse sectors and jurisdictions. Timofey joined the firm in 2020. Prior to joining Cleary, he worked in the Moscow office of another international law firm from 2013 to 2019. Timofey is ranked as a Rising Star for Corporate and M&A in IFLR1000 (UAE) 2025 and was named Senior Associate of the Year at the LexisNexis Middle East Legal Awards 2025.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Timofey Nosov

Partner

BSA LAW

Tina Asgarian

Counsel

Ogier

Tom Langsford

Managing Associate

Addleshaw Goddard

Tom Thraya

Partner

Mayer Brown

Tony Nicholson

Tony is a senior associate based in Dentons’ Dubai office and is a member of the Banking and Finance practice. He has more than 10 years of global experience representing borrowers, sponsors, commercial lenders, DFIs and ECAs on all aspects of the development and financing of large-scale projects. His experience spans a range of different sectors including renewables, water and LNG. He also has extensive experience advising on a broad range of corporate, real estate, asset and acquisition financing transactions, and some experience with cross-border M&A, fund investments, general banking and advisory work, restructuring and insolvency.

Dentons

Toufic Safie

Partner

Stephenson Harwood Middle East LLP

Trevor Butcher

DLA Piper

Udayan Mukherjee

Udayan is a banking and project finance lawyer with extensive experience of a wide variety of project finance, structured trade finance, restructuring, general banking and Islamic finance transactions in the Middle East and internationally. Since joining Dentons in February 2007, he has worked on a number of major project financings in the infrastructure and industrial sectors within the region, acting for banks, developers, borrowers, sponsors and governments. Udayan advises on both English law and UAE law transactions. Prior to joining Dentons, Udayan worked for a magic circle firm as an associate in the banking and project finance group in both the London and Tokyo offices, and also as in-house counsel supporting the Project Finance Department of a large investment bank in London. He has also undertaken a secondment at the Japan Bank for International Cooperation when he was working in Tokyo. Udayan Mukherjee provides ‘insightful, technically solid and commercially sound advice’ in project finance instructions - Legal 500. Udayan Mukherjee regularly assists with multimillion-dollar projects across the region. He focuses on banking and finance issues for a range of clients in areas including debt and refinancing. One source praised his energy expertise, saying: "He is very knowledgeable about IPP projects." - Projects & Energy Middle East Wide: Global Chambers.

Dentons

Usama Munir

Associate

SCHLÜTER GRAF Legal Consultants

Uzmah Shah

Uzmah Shah is an associate in the Middle East Construction and Dispute Resolution practice. She has nine years of experience working on contentious and non-contentious matters as a paralegal in a global law firm before qualifying in March 2023. Uzmah has experience of arbitrations under the UNCITRAL, ICC, DIAC and ADCCAC rules. She has significant experience of complex construction projects including assisting in large-scale arbitrations, reviewing FIDIC, NEC and JCT construction contracts and advising on project issues. Uzmah also assists clients on a wide range of commercial disputes, including bringing and defending claims relating to breach of contract, infringement of intellectual property rights and enforcement of arbitral awards, both locally and internationally.

Dentons

Vaisak Unnikrishnan

KADEN BORISS LEGAL CONSULTANCY

Valerio Vitelli

Managing Associate

Addleshaw Goddard

Victoria Smylie

DLA Piper

Victoria Woods

Victoria is an English qualified solicitor holding a Bachelors degree in Law with more than twenty years’ experience as a practising solicitor gained from both the UK and the UAE markets. Victoria heads the Commercial Practice at Hadef & Partners, frequently advising both local and international clients on cross-border transactions involving, IP and brand protection, commercial agency, data protection, consumer protection and competition law issues, across a wide range of business operational matters including the sale of goods and services, outsourcing, and consultancy arrangements, distribution, franchising, e-commerce, and hospitality management. Victoria’s commercial advisory practice covers a range of corporate commercial topics, in a number of sectors including TMT, food and beverage, FinTech, leisure and hospitality, healthcare and life sciences, education, and consumer goods and retail. She provides strategic advice relating to the growth of her clients’ businesses, and their relationships with their customers and third parties, advising on transactional matters including joint venture, agency, franchising and licensing arrangements. She supports her clients with the preparation and negotiation of partnering and collaboration agreements, technology and software licensing, hosting and support contracts, distribution and manufacturing agreements, IP licensing, hospitality management documentation, data transfer agreements, and customer and supplier terms and conditions. Victoria has been with Hadef & Partners in Dubai since 2012, prior to which she practised at London City firm Lewis Silkin LLP, predominantly advising clients on corporate transactional and commercial matters in the media and healthcare sectors.

Hadef & Partners

Vida Serrano

Senior Associate

Alsuwaidi & Company

Vince Gordon

Partner

HFW

Vishal Patel

Vishal is a supervising associate in the Digital Business team at Simmons & Simmons in London. He advises clients across a range of sectors with a focus on Technology, Media and Telecoms. He has a range of experience on outsourcing and services contracts, e-commerce and consumer law, technology regulatory and data protection matters. Vishal also co-leads the firm’s Gaming and Immersive Technology (GAIT) group which focuses on the Metaverse and video gaming. Since joining Simmons & Simmons in 2017, he has completed client secondments to Monzo Bank and WeWork.

Simmons & Simmons Middle East LLP

Vivek Sharma

Senior Associate

MRP Advisory LLC

Vritti Gulati

Senior Associate

MRP Advisory LLC

Wael Deyab

Associate

Alsuwaidi & Company