Karie Akeelah

Partner, International Construction – Trowers & Hamlins LLP

Karie has over 15 years’ experience in the construction sector and specialises in contentious construction matters, international arbitration and Middle East law. 

Karie has been practicing in the UAE since 2008 and has established herself as a trusted adviser to a range of private and government clients in the MENA region and internationally in arbitration (DIAC, ADCCAC, ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL), litigation (DIFC Courts), adjudication and mediation. Prior to moving to the UAE, Karie was a lawyer at a construction boutique firm in Ottawa, Canada. 

Karie regularly leads clients through disputes, as well as providing support to any contractual advisory and operational issues faced by clients, giving clients trusted advice from the cradle to grave. 

In recent years, Karie’s work has focused on resolving clients’ disputes in major engineering and infrastructure construction projects with complex issues. As project counsel, Karie works closely with clients to avoid or achieve early resolution of disputes through structured negotiation, mediation, risk management and contract compliance measures. 

Karie also has significant experience advising clients in matters before the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts and has worked closely with local counsel advising clients in disputes before the Abu Dhabi Courts, including the Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation. Karie has developed an extensive knowledge and understanding of the UAE legal system and has been recognized in the dispute resolution section of The Legal 500 for the United Arab Emirates.  

The Legal 500 has quoted Karie being “intelligent, hardworking, and knowledgeable of the construction dispute process” and “commercially minded and laser-focused on the issues that matter. She is dedicated to her clients’ cause and really goes the extra mile to get the outcome they want”.

Karie speaks English, French and Arabic.

Professor Khawar Qureshi KC

Professor Khawar Qureshi KC has a worldwide practice from McNair International’s offices in London and Qatar. Khawar specialises in Commercial Litigation, International Arbitration and International Law. He is consistently identified as a leader in his fields of practice. He has undertaken arbitrations and litigation for and against commercial and State parties from more than 70 States, including representing the USA, Russian Federation, India, Pakistan and many other States. From 1999-2006 he was one of around 20 “A” Panel UK Govt Treasury Counsel advising and representing UK Government Ministers and institutions on hundreds of matters.

Professor Qureshi KC  was appointed a Visiting Professor in Commercial Law at London University in 2006, a Deputy High Court Judge (civil) in 2013, a Bencher of Middle Temple in 2014 and was Chairman of TheCityUK Legal Services Group from 2010-2015. (www.mcnairinternational.com)

Salman Al-Oraifi

Senior Associate, Dentons

Salman graduated from King Abdulaziz University majoring in law (with first class honours and was top of his class). He then obtained an LLM degree (with honours and Dean’s List) from Georgetown University. Salman joined  international law firm Dentons from a tier 1 practice, along with having international arbitration experience in Washington, DC.  Salman is a top-ranked litigator who has successfully represented both local and foreign corporates in some of the most high profile litigation and arbitration matters in Saudi Arabia. Salman also has training at previous firms in the United States where he experienced best practices in international arbitration for oil & gas disputes. Salman advises clients in wide range of industries in Saudi Arabia, providing them with litigation and arbitrations expertise in accordance with best practice.

Faten Al Naqeeb

Attorney Faten Al Naqeeb

Ms. Faten Al Naqeeb is recognised as one of the powerful and most influential women of the 200 powerful women in the world in Forbes magazine for the year 2014, ranking 44th worldwide, 11th in the Arab world, and 3rd in Kuwait. She is in the Top 100 Powerful Women in the Arab world for 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 , 2016 , 2017 and 2018 in a raw according to Arabian Business Magazine, who also named her Businesswoman of the Year in 2013. Attorney Al Naqeeb’s firm, Al-Naqeeb & Partners, has been distinguished as an Enterprise Agility Achiever in the Legal Sector Awards: Entrepreneur of the Year. As such, she was recognised as one of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region’s achieving women by Entrepreneur Middle East.

In addition to publishing in 2015 the first edition of her book: The Legal Guide to Doing Business in Kuwait, for which she drew on her 30 years of experience as an international business law attorney, Ms. Al Naqeeb assisted/co-authored a chapter in Getting the Deal Through: Oil Regulations 2008–2009 for the Oil Sector in Kuwait with Law Business Research Ltd.

Attorney Al-Naqeeb earned her bachelor degree from the Faculty of Law at Kuwait University in 1987, and her Master’s degree in International Law from Cambridge College, She also holds a Diploma in International Contract Drafting and Negotiations from the University of London. And she recently attained an advanced certificate in International Money Laundry “AML” from ICA and University of Manchester. She is licensed in Kuwait as a practicing lawyer before the High Appeal, Cassation and Constitutional Courts in Kuwait since 1987. Ms. Al Naqeeb’s practice areas include general corporate, business, and commercial matters, IT, banking, insurance, and securities laws. Her experience extensively extends to mega infrastructure projects, project finance, and all aspects of the oil and gas industry. More prominently, she serves on a regular basis as an expert before the courts of the US, and many other countries on the laws of Arab countries including Kuwait’s laws; the laws of the GCC countries and other middle east countries. She was also invited to give her professional opinion at institutions such as, the International Court of Arbitration of the international Chamber of commerce (ICC), The London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and many other International Arbitrations institutions around the world.

For these reasons and many more, Ms. Faten Al-Naqeeb was chosen to serve as legal consultant and head of the Kuwait legal group responsible for reviewing and submitting the Kuwaiti government compensation claims against Iraq to the United Nations Compensation Commission as a representative of the Kuwaiti government.

She has given numerous lectures and presentations on various aspects of the Kuwaiti laws in several Middle Eastern countries. She has also assisted in authoring articles and chapters in various international legal magazines on various issues relating to Kuwaiti & GCC laws. Ms. Alnaqeeb has given many lectures and workshops at the American university of Kuwait. Further, Ms. Al – Naqeeb speaks in the Women in leadership forums tackling the women in business issues from a legal perspective and in various women empowerment forums. She is also registered and an active mentor at the WMF Kuwait. Ms. AlNaqeeb recently authored and published a journal in Arabic with some of her own poetry titled as “ﻗﻠﺒﻲ ﻣﺎذا ﯾﻘﻮل ﻟﻲ “. “what my heart tells me” The purpose of this journal is to empower and encourage women to achieve their dreams and goals. The journal launched at many libraries and bookstores in Kuwait and the GCC with great success.

One of her imperative recognised efforts in Women empowerment Ms. Al Naqeeb worked with Kuwaiti parliament members and upon their request to draft a bill of law for protection of childhood and motherhood particularly in view of the international treaties among others the protection of women and child against domestic abuse. The draft of law was accepted and approved by the legislators in Kuwait (parliament).Ms. AL Naqeeb was awarded as one of the women leaders in Kuwait where her picture poster was hanged on the walls of “Shaheed Park” as a recognition of her achievements. Also, in her recognition as one of the influential Arab Women in 2018 by Arabian Business magazine, her picture was seen on Dubai Mall pillars in reward for her contribution & achievements. Ms. alnaqeeb made it to the history of Kuwait being awarded as one of the Kuwait women leaders and her bio and achievement was published in the Kuwait leaders book ( a publication sponsored by the Kuwait government). Ms. Al Naqeeb is also considered as one of the first female attorneys who serves as independent Board member in various large corporations in Kuwait. She is currently residing in Kuwait where she oversights her law firm’s Intentional & local practice.

Andrew Maguire

Barrister, Littleton Chambers

Andrew is a highly regarded chancery and commercial advocate, who has built up an impressive reputation in the fields of contractual and fiduciary disputes; many involving banking and financial services claims, including personal guarantee and indemnity disputes, in addition to high value professional negligence disputes.

He has considerable experience in relation to international and domestic civil fraud and asset-tracing cases, often involving pre-emptive injunctions, particularly freezing and proprietary injunctions and cross-border enforcement of judgments and anti-suit injunctions.

Andrew is regularly instructed in matters concerning breach of trust and fiduciary duties and joint ventures and disputes between shareholders and company directors and co-venturers involving claims for breach of fiduciary and directors’ duties, as well as disputes arising from sales of businesses and misfeasance and wrongful trading claims. This also includes business protection claims, involving restrictive covenants, confidential information and breach of fiduciary duty as well as the economic torts.

Andrew has been instructed on various cases involving mis-selling of financial investment products and pension products; some of which have involved judicial review applications and Group Litigation Orders and cross-border claims.

Much of Andrew’s work, in litigation and arbitral proceedings, has a strong international element, with his international clients based in the Middle East, Africa, India, China, Russia, and the USA. The cases on which he is instructed often raise complex jurisdictional and conflict of laws issues and involve English court proceedings in aid of arbitral proceedings and in connection with the enforcement of arbitration awards and foreign judgments.

Andrew is a registered practitioner at the DIFC and registered to appear at the Abu Dhabi Global Market Courts and a member of the DIFC/LCIA arbitration and mediation Panel, in Dubai.

Nasser Messaike

Associate, D&C Legal Services

Mr. Messaike is an Associate at D&C Legal Services. He is a talented lawyer who already has the opportunity to interact with and advise on some of the most delicate litigation, arbitration, real estate, commercial, and corporate matters.

Mr. Messaike specialises in corporate, commercial, IP, labour, and real estate law. He has extensive experience in providing legal opinions and conducting research tasks on different legal issues in the aforementioned fields of law.

He has participated in various commercial and corporate projects, in which he assisted partners and clients on complex issues, including corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, joint venture establishments, a variety of commercial agreements, etc.

Moreover, he has also attended court and arbitral tribunal hearings in civil, commercial, and corporate litigation and in arbitration proceedings.

Luigia Ingianni

Commissioner at the Employment Standards Office-QFCA

A Lawmaker with more than 3 decades of exponential experience in employment, labour law and human resources, organisational development, values-based leadership, inclusion and diversity, occupational safety and health and data privacy across different countries and legal systems – civil and common law jurisdictions.

Expert conciliator (ILO certified) and adjudicator of employment disputes, Luigia has established the first administrative employment dispute resolution centre in the Middle East operating under the ILO guidelines.

Policy maker, transforming the labour law landscape in Qatar, Luigia has designed innovative legislation and policies with particular focus on gender equality, decent work, justice and partnerships – UN SDGs 5, 8, 16 and 17.

Experienced gender equality activist with a background in drafting policies and legislation to attract, retain and empower women in the workplace, fostering male engagement in diversity and inclusion to achieve gender balance.

A passionate advocate and a voice to end gender-based violence, in 2019 Luigia has published the first QFC policy for the elimination of bullying, harassment and all forms of violence in the workplace.

Empathetic, human-centered and values-based leader, Luigia is committed in empowering team members to unlock their potential and achieve ambitious client-focused goals leveraging personal and corporate values.

International strategic counsel, diplomatic-sensitive and aware of cultural influence, Luigia uses her 360-degree vision, strategic thinking and rhetorical skills to influence and persuade different audiences.

Goal-oriented, excellence-driven and client-focused, Luigia keeps abreast of latest researches and analyses labour market trends to anticipate the needs of the clients and ensure timely delivery and high satisfaction.

Recognized for excellence, Luigia is member of the WHO working group of the World of Work Dialogue and is regularly invited as speaker at national and international conferences and seminars, including Chatham House, International Labour Organization (ILO), World Health Organisation (WHO), International Bar Association (IBA), International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO), Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs of the State of Qatar, as well as Universities including Hamad bin Khalifa University, Qatar University and Carnegie Mellon University Qatar.

Saurbh Kothari

Senior Associate, Afridi & Angell

Saurbh joined the firm in 2008. He advises both local and international clients on a broad range of corporate and commercial, mergers and acquisitions, and employment matters.

Saurbh’ s practice includes:

• Advising on all aspects of the purchase and sale of businesses, including due diligence, structuring of the transaction, negotiation and documentation of the deal;
• preparing a broad range of commercial agreements;
• advising on a wide variety of UAE corporate and commercial legal issues;
• advising on the structuring and establishment of businesses in the UAE; and
• advising on UAE employment matters, including within the UAE’s various free zones.

Representative transactional experience includes:

• Advising a buyer in the acquisition of 60 per cent shares and investment in a UAE based aluminium extrusion company for AED 80 million.
• Advising the sellers in the sale of 100 per cent shares of a UAE based carton boxes and packaging manufacturing company for approximately AED 50 million.
• Advising a U.S. food manufacturing and distribution company on a joint venture with a UAE based food manufacturing and distribution company for setting up regional food processing and distribution plants.
• Advised the insolvency administrator of a German listed company on the restructuring of the said company’s UAE operations and asset sale to a Spanish multinational financial services company.
• Acting as local counsel for a Saudi Arabian multinational listed company in relation to due diligence over the UAE entities in the business of baking products manufacturing.
• Advising the sellers in the sale of shares of UAE entities in the water purification and bottling business for approximately AED 160 million.
• Acting as local counsel in relation to the sale of shares of UAE entities in the packaging materials business for approximately US$199.70 million.
• Advising a UAE entity on a joint venture for the setup of restaurants in Dubai with an initial investment of approximately AED 29 million.