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International Edition

CC hosts lawyers from 60 African law firms in push to build links

Clifford Chance (CC) is ramping up its focus on Africa amid much law firm interest in the region with a two-day event attended by 60 law firms from across the continent. The event, which took place in London last week, was attended by 80 lawyers from 30 different African countries, bringing together CC lawyers and African counsel with whom the firm works with on a regular basis in a bid to build closer working relationships.
2 minute read

International Edition

Morgan Lewis takes three Vinson partners to launch in Dubai

Morgan Lewis is to open an office in Dubai, the US firm's first base in the Middle East, with the hire of a three-partner team from Vinson & Elkins, including regional managing partner Ayman Khaleq. The move comes just over a year after Morgan Lewis launched offices in Moscow and Almaty with the hire of a six-partner team from now defunct firm Dewey & LeBoeuf.
3 minute read

International Edition

White & Case gets licence to launch in Dubai

White & Case is set to become the latest firm to open in Dubai after obtaining a licence to practise in the emirate. It is understood that the US firm will relocate a team of lawyers to run the new outpost, which will function as an offshoot of its operation in Abu Dhabi. The firm is still determining how the operation will be staffed, with an announcement due after the Eid holidays in early August. According to regulatory requirements, at least five lawyers are required to staff the base.
2 minute read

International Edition

Cleary leads as Google acquires Israeli map software firm

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has taken the lead role for Google on its acquisition of Israeli traffic map software provider Waze, for a reported value of $1.1bn (£700m). The deal, which closed last week (11 June), saw Google take a 100% stake in the company, which helps drivers collaborate to find the best routes through traffic. Google said the Waze team would remain in Israel for the foreseeable future, with the tech giant hoping to enhance Google Maps with some of the features developed by the start-up.
2 minute read

International Edition

Herbert Smith Freehills secondments soar amid post-merger integration push

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has ramped up its use of international secondments in the wake of last year's UK-Australia tie-up, as the firm moves to more closely integrate its business around the world. The firm's post-merger integration push has seen the number of employees on secondment around the world rise from 155 during 2011 to 283 in 2012 – an increase of more than 80%. A total of 70 secondees have moved between the firm's offices since last October, the month the merger went live – more than double the 26 who moved offices in the equivalent period during 2011-12. Approximately half of the moves since the merger have comprised staff transferring to and from Australia.
2 minute read

International Edition

Dubai dreaming – the Middle East is coming to the fore as Europe struggles

Competing against countries from Europe, South America and Asia, Dubai's bid to host the World Expo in 2020 is redolent of the growth in prominence of the Middle East in recent years. With the emirate pitching to bring the exhibition to the Middle East for the first time, delegates at Legal Week's Corporate Counsel Forum Middle East suggested the bid was symbolic of increasing scrutiny on how Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries stack up against markets in Europe and Asia on the wider business stage. Speaking at the recent event, which was held at the Mina A'Salam, Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, Iain Linney, a global capital markets regulatory specialist and formerly executive director at WestLB and Farouk Soussa, chief economist for the Middle East at Citi, sized up the opportunities for businesses looking to expand or invest in the GCC.
6 minute read

International Edition

Corporate Team of the Year: Allen & Overy

Allen & Overy (A&O) secured this hotly contested award for its work advising on the highly complex $9bn (£6bn) deal to relocate OCI, Egypt's largest listed company, to Amsterdam. A team of 55 lawyers, led by Middle East head of corporate Andrew Schoorlemmer, worked on the project in five jurisdictions. "The biggest deal of the year handled successfully," said one of the judges. The transaction saw A&O deploy a unique deal structure to secure the effective domiciliation of the Egyptian fertiliser and engineering conglomerate in the Netherlands. It involved the wholly owned subsidiary OCI NV making a bid for its ultimate listed parent OCI Egypt. The transaction featured two separate public takeover offers. There was a share exchange offer for London-listed global depositary receipts (GDRs) of OCI Egypt and a share exchange and mandatory cash alternative offer for Cairo-listed ordinary shares of the company.
2 minute read

International Edition

International Law Firm of the Year: Allen & Overy

Allen & Overy's mission is to blend local roots with international expertise. Its Middle East network boasts offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Riyadh, where it recently formed an exclusive alliance with local practice Zeyad S Khoshaim Law Firm. Last year, the firm added an Istanbul office to its network of 42 offices in 29 countries. "A sophisticated operation and a very strong player with on-the-ground expertise in the region," is how the judging panel described 2013's International Law Firm of the Year.
2 minute read

International Edition

Legal Department of the Year (Large Team): Emirates Group

Under the leadership of Rick Ward, the Emirates Group's legal department has been restructured into three divisions to align lawyers more closely with the group's core activities. This has helped the department respond to an exceptionally busy year that has included the delivery of more than 30 wide-bodied aircraft and Emirates' alliance with Qantas. "They had remarkable projects and met unprecedented targets," said the judges. The legal team comprises 11 lawyers, five legal managers and four support staff, and has undergone considerable expansion since the beginning of 2012, reflecting the growth of the Emirates Group's business activities across the globe. Following the reorganisation, three teams of lawyers now cover Emirates and group services, air travel services provider Dnata and its associated companies, and aircraft financing/corporate finance. The group's lawyers are also allocated specific legal responsibilities including sanctions, data protection and competition law.
2 minute read

International Edition

General Counsel of the Year: Afshan Akhtar

Afshan Akhtar joined Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) with a brief to build a cutting-edge legal department befitting of one of the world's leading aluminium producers. "She has applied her legal and non-legal skills to contribute to the success of her company across the full spectrum of in-house responsibility," said the judges of her track record since her arrival at Alba in 2010 Akhtar, who spent the first eight years of her legal career working as a finance lawyer at Clifford Chance's London office, set about building a fully fledged legal department against the background of a turbulent economic and political environment in the Middle East, which was in the throes of the Arab Spring.
2 minute read

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