Clifford Chance (CC) has formed a new association in Saudi Arabia, as it awaits the outcome of an investigation into its previous licensing arrangements in the region.

The deal sees CC team up with new firm Abuhimed Alsheikh Alhagbani (AS&H), which will be led by Fahad Abuhimed who has joined from the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Investment, where he was a deputy minister.

Abuhimed, who previously worked at CC's former associated firm in the region, Al-Jadaan, and spent a year on secondment at CC, has launched AS&H with two former CC senior associates in Riyadh: Majid Al-Sheikh and Mansoor Al-Hagbani. All three will be partners in the new firm.

The trio will work closely with CC partners Khalid Al-Abdulkareem, Omar Rashid and Mohamed Hamra-Krouha, along with the firm's internationally-qualified foreign lawyers based in Riyadh, meaning that between them CC and AS&H will have six partners in the region.

The Saudi lawyers and business services staff currently employed by CC in Riyadh will move to AS&H.

CC Middle East managing partner Robin Abraham said: "We believe our new association with AS&H will build on our existing position as Clifford Chance to provide the depth and range of specialist capabilities that will be critical to our Saudi and international clients during this period of change."

The addition of Abuhimed means the firm will be able to offer clients support across legislative drafting, regulatory, public policy and dispute resolution legal services.

The new association will officially launch on 1 November this year and replaces CC's existing operations in the region. CC ended its association with Al-Jadaan in 2013 but became the first international law firm to set up a mixed local and foreign law firm partnership in 2014, taking on transactional teams from Al-Jadaan.

It is currently awaiting the outcome of a long-running case looking into how its licence was granted in 2013 by the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Investment (MoCI). A former associate at Al-Jadaan claimed that MoCI had acted unlawfully in licensing CC under the Professional Companies Regulations.

The court case returned from the Court of Appeal to the lower court in May for a complete rehearing.

The Court of Appeal gave an advisory, non-binding opinion of its view of the law. It suggested all foreign Saudi-owned professional companies should be licensed by the Saudi ‎Arabian General Investment Authority, in addition to MoCI.