Host Shereen Mitwalli (left); with partners Thanos Karvelis and Abdulla Ziad Galadari and senior associate Gerry Rogers; and awards judge Cherine Ghali, general counsel at Dubai Group

Finalists: Al Tamimi & Company, Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Clyde & Co, Eversheds, Morgan Lewis, Squire Patton Boggs

"A multi-faceted and very impressive project that exceeds all the key criteria for this award," is how one awards judge described Galadari's winning entry for Corporate Team of the Year.

The firm beat off stiff competition to secure the award, thanks to its work advising the Emirate of Umm Al Quwain (UAQ) on the landmark AED25bn (£5.2bn) Firdous Sobha island resort.

The eco-resort will be built on Al Siniyah Island in an area of natural beauty, which includes coastal mangroves and unspoilt beaches, and will feature low-rise luxury residential communities, hotels, boutique retail outlets, an 18-hole golf course, a marina and watersport facilities.

It will be the largest development undertaken in UAQ – both by project size and value as well as duration – and is being personally championed by the Crown Prince, Sheikh Rashid bin Saud bin Rashid Al Mua'lla, as a unique eco-friendly project that will encourage wider growth in the Emirate through the development of the real estate sector and free zones.

The Galadari team is being led by the firm's chairman, Ziad Abdulla Galadari (pictured), and corporate and commercial partner Ken Dixon. It has drawn on advice from the construction, real estate, arbitration and litigation departments and continues to advise on the project, acting effectively as lead counsel to the government.

Commenting on the deal, Galadari said: "There have been challenges – with projects of this scale, there will always be challenges – and we have worked tirelessly on the vast network of legal arrangements that will underpin this whole amazing endeavor to ensure that, end-to-end, the challenges faced lead to success and the sustainable future of Umm Al Quwain."

At the heart of the project is a joint venture agreement between the government and Sobha Group, a leading luxury real estate developer.

The Galadari team was involved in detailed negotiations with several prospective developers before the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Sobha Group, ahead of the subsequent joint venture agreement, which was announced on 27 April.

In order to underpin the project, the team was required to review UAQ's legal framework, a process which led to the drafting of 20 new laws covering areas such as foreign ownership of property, investor protection and developer and broker regulations.

The legal work included the establishment of a special purpose vehicle to hold the interest of UAQ in the joint venture company, as well as the establishment of a mechanism to ensure transfer of title to freehold property, as well as succession.

In order to mitigate the environmental impact of the project, the Galadari team has incorporated provisions into the joint venture agreement to ensure any archaeological discoveries during the development phase are sensitively handled and preserved.

Galadari, which acts as honorary counsel to the Emirates Green Building Council, is also in the process of arranging a memorandum of understanding between the council and the UAQ for cooperation and collaboration on matters of energy efficiency and sustainability.

"There are some big names and big numbers that are already involved with this project but it is important to remember that there are some very distinctive environmental and archaeological sensitivities that make this project so profoundly unique for the UAE," said Dixon (pictured right).

"Galadari has had a responsibility, a contractual responsibility, to look after the Emirate and its rulers' interests on a level that has not been asked of anyone before. Ultimately, it will be a wonderful eco-resort. It is already a place of significant ornithological, environmental and archeological importance, so our responsibility extends beyond drafting JV contracts, which makes it exciting."

Extended awards write-up, in association with Galadari.

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