Rebecca Ford

Rebecca is a partner in the MEA employment team of Clyde & Co LLP, based in Dubai and has worked in the Middle East since 2008.  She is particularly interested in the key challenges faced by employers in the modern work environment, such as global mobility, working hours, use of social media, protection of confidential information, and alternative business, incentive and retention structures.  Rebecca has managed high profile employment litigation for clients in the High Court of England & Wales in London, as well as the UAE and DIFC courts and she is a registered practitioner of the DIFC Court.   Notable work highlights for Rebecca for this past year including leading on a project with the DIFC Authority for the introduction of a new DIFC Employment Law and advising on the employment aspects of one of the biggest bank mergers ever to take place in Saudi Arabia.

Rebecca has been described by the legal directories as “a leading lawyer in the employment area”, a “very thoughtful and thorough lawyer” and as ” somebody who is knowledgeable and has extensive experience on how some of the provisions in labour law will be interpreted by the court”.  She is recognised as one of five thought leaders for the Middle East and Africa region by Who’s Who Law 2018.

Andrew Moroney

Andrew has a wide array of experience advising clients in the sports and events sector on sponsorship; broadcasting; merchandising; ticketing; player contracts; intermediary issues; athlete endorsement; disciplinary issues; regulatory matters and disputes. He regularly advises corporate entities, governing bodies, individuals and foreign law firms on matters spanning football, cycling, horseracing, motorsports, golf and tennis. Andrew also has a particular interest in the growing eSports industry.

Before joining Al Tamimi, Andrew was Legal Counsel at the (English) Football Association, primarily focussed on regulatory matters, dispute resolution and risk management. Highlights included re-drafting the FA Rulebook, acting as the Secretariat for the FA Rule K arbitration process and handling a number of cases heard by the UEFA Disciplinary Committee, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Prior to that, Andrew trained and qualified at a large European law firm in London, where he gained further experience advising football, rugby, horseracing and boxing clients on regulatory, corruption and anti-doping matters. Andrew also spent six months working on the landmark inquests into the Hillsborough stadium disaster.

Steven Bainbridge

Steven Bainbridge is a partner and head of the sports law and events management practice at Al Tamimi & Co, the leading Middle East sports law practice representing foreign law firms, individuals, corporate entities, governing bodies and institutions on matters spanning motorsports, horseracing, triathlons, MMA, cycling, golf, tennis, cricket and football across 17 offices in nine countries.

Before establishing the sports practice at Al Tamimi, Steve was General Counsel at Yas Marina Circuit and previously practiced in Tokyo for a number of years representing clients in connection with matters including FIFA World Cups, X-Games, PGA tour sponsorships, videogame licensing, stadium naming rights and athlete endorsements. He is a member of the IAAF Disciplinary Tribunal, an editorial board member of Lawinsport.com, a regular presenter at industry conferences and a contributor to radio, television, print and online media; and, he has lectured in sports law programs at ISDE (Madrid), St John’s University’s Law School (NY) and Temple University Law School (Japan), amongst others.

Munir Suboh

Munir joined BSA in 2018 as a Partner and Head of the Intellectual Property Practice in our Dubai office. Practicing in the Middle East since 2006, he has worked on numerous contentious and non-contentious IP works including trademarks, trade names, copyrights, patents, trade secrets and domain names. He also works on commercialisation and complex disputes of IP rights.

Over the years Munir has advised many high net worth clients on setting up regional strategies for the protection of their IP rights including prosecution, protection, transaction and enforcement. He represents a range of clients from various industry sectors including media, FMCG, tobacco, industrial, pharmaceuticals and many more.

His principal set of expertise encompasses negotiations, settlement mandates and litigation. He also has extensive experience in regulatory works and has experience in consulting clients on consumer protection, antitrust and competition law.

Munir has co-authored and published many articles in prestigious publications, such as the World Trademark- Anti-Counterfeiting Global Guide, INTA Bulletin, Bloomberg, World Trademark Review (WTR) and The International Law Office (ILO).

An active member in INTA who serves as a member in their committees, Munir holds an LL.B from the University of Jordan and an LL.M in Intellectual Property & Information Technology Laws from the University of San Francisco.

Edouard Salwain

Edouard is a Senior Associate in BSA Dubai office in the United Arab Emirates, specialising in corporate and commercial law. He provides practical and professional advice on contractual issues, corporate governance and compliance. His principal areas of practice are commercial law, local and cross-border M&A, distribution, franchising, agency and energy law.

Having practiced law in Oman, Paris and Beirut, Edouard has held positions in both in-house and private practice. Throughout his experience in multiple jurisdictions, he has acquired a thorough and solid experience in representing major banks, law firms, energy companies, and other business organisations across the world on a wide range of matters.

Edouard holds an LLB from Saint Joseph University of Beirut as well as a Masters in Corporate and Commercial Law from the University of Lyon III in France.

Jacques Visser

Chief Legal Officer, DIFC Authority

Jacques Visser heads the Legal Affairs division of the DIFC Authority. In addition, he holds the position of Secretary to the DIFC Higher Board and the Boards of the DIFC Authority and DIFC Investments LLC. Mr. Visser also currently serves as DIFC’s Security Registrar and Commissioner of Data Protection.

With over 20 years of experience as a financial services lawyer, Mr. Visser’s expertise lie in multi-jurisdictional investment structures, funds, asset management and regulatory matters in emerging markets, as well as investment strategies and related M&A transactions. During his expansive career, he has established a number of landmark funds and investment structures relevant to the MENA region.

In his previous role, Mr. Visser worked as National Partner at Dechert LLP in Dubai. During his tenure at Dechert LLP, The Legal 500, an international guide to top-tier legal firms and practitioners, listed him as one of the top three most notable lawyers in the UAE investment funds industry, while MENA Fund Manager recognised him as one of the 50 most influential individuals in the industry in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Prior to Dechert, Mr. Visser ran his own consultancy firm, where he focused on advising a number of emerging and frontier market investment boutiques. He was also a founding partner and Managing Director of DIFC-based firm Algebra Capital, which was sold to Franklin Templeton Investments in 2011. Following the acquisition, Mr. Visser served as the Executive Managing Director and supervised the merger of the two firms.

He has in the past, and continues to serve outside the UAE, as a board member and advisory board member of funds, financial institutions and a technology startup.

Mr. Visser holds a Master’s degree in Banking and Capital Markets Law (LLM) from the University of Johannesburg, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Competition Law from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. In addition, he holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law (LLB) degree from the same university.

Muhammad Mahmood

Muhammad has a broad disputes practice, ranging from shareholders’ disputes to technology and telecommunications disputes. He has worked on some of the DIFC Courts’ landmark cases, including DNB Bank ASA v Gulf Eyadah Corporation and Other (CA-007-2015) and the DIFC Courts’ first IT hacking case. He has a particular specialism in conflict of laws, regularly advising on complex issues of jurisdiction and enforcement.

Muhammad’s practice at Clyde & Co is comprised primarily of commercial proceedings in the DIFC Courts and arbitration.

Ayyappan Palanissamy

Ayyappan Palanissamy has obtained two post-graduate degrees (LL.M & MHRM), and two under-graduate degrees (LL. B & Psychology) from Pondicherry University, India. Currently, he is a Coordinator for the Commercial Law program and a faculty teaching commercial law and management courses at Modern College of Business and Science, Oman. He has taught previously in the international universities in Malaysia and has 16 years of teaching and research experience in the field of law. His research interests include intellectual property law, artificial intelligence and law, and cyber laws. He is a professional member of the Bar Council of Tamilnadu, India, as well as a member of the International Association of Computer Science and Information Technology (IACSIT), and the International Economics Development and Research Centre (IEDRC). He is a reviewer for International Journal of Knowledge and Learning published by Inderscience Publishers.