Christopher Grout is a barrister (England & Wales) and Registrar of the Qatar International Court and Dispute Resolution Centre. He holds a LL.B degree from Newcastle University and a LL.M in Canon Law from Cardiff University. He is a Deputy District Judge in England & Wales (assigned to the South Eastern Circuit) and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Huw works within the Legal Department in the Qatar Free Zones Authority. QFZA was established in 2018 to oversee and regulate the world- class free zones in Qatar.
Huw is a qualified barrister of England and Wales, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors accredited mediator. Huw joined QFZA in 2019 after previously working in Qatar for eight years and has extensive experience advising both private and public sector firms in developing and securing commercial contracts and regulatory frameworks and translating complex legal and compliance requirements into practical solutions.
Prior to working in Qatar, Huw held a number of senior governmental positions in Wales, United Kingdom, working as a legal advisor to the government.
Barbara is Business Development & Marketing Director at Al Tamimi & Company, the leading law firm in the MENA region. She is based in Dubai and has over a decade of experience in the professional services sector and is the author of the business book Beyond Billable Hours which was published in April 2020. She was previously Global Head of Business Development and Marketing at AIM-listed company The Ince Group plc, a legal and professional services provider with offices across Europe, the Middle East and Africa and she has also worked for magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Dubai, and for Deterink Attorneys and Notaries (now Taylor Wessing) in the Netherlands. Prior to moving to Dubai she worked in Doha, Qatar; and before starting her career, she interned in New York. Barbara was awarded an MSc in Business in Barcelona.
Barbara is also the founder of the leading e-learning platform for professional services www.beyondbillablehours.com and is very passionate about helping fee earners in professional services firms to thrive as she knows how hard it is to focus on things beyond billable hours. She is regularly invited to speak at various BD and marketing events mainly for law firms such as the International Bar Association, The Law firm Marketing Summit and the Marketing Leadership Summit.
Mrs. Aurore Deeb is an Attorney at Law from Qatar and she is Senior Associate at D&C Legal Services. She has a vast experience in advising clients across all aspects of commercial, companies and Intellectual Property law, and she has defended clients involved in the franchise, hotels hospitality, automotive components, foreign exchange, Retails and mega construction project. She has also advised clients involved in the energy and ecommerce sector as well as the banking, corporate banking, and pharmacy law.
Specialized in intellectual property rights, she heads up the intellectual property team at D&C Legal Services, focusing on trademark and copyright law.
Aurore has vast experience in intellectual property rights, regarding which she advises regularly on brand protection, trademark applications, prosecutions and registrations, name clearances, and IP acquisitions.
She has proven her ability to manage a vast portfolio of intellectual property rights, especially trademarks, in Lebanon and in most of our offices in Morocco, Algeria, UAE, and Jordan. Aurore manages the filing, trademark maintenance, and advising of legal proceedings in the event of infringement or unfair competition.
She has also assisted start-up companies with developing a mobile application and helped them protect their ideas, trademarks, and copyrights. She has assisted clients on IP diligence within corporate transactions and has been integrally involved in drafting and reviewing franchises, intellectual property license agreements, trademarks, and copyright assignment agreements.
Simon Chan is a counsel in the Doha office of the international law firm K&L Gates and has been based in Doha since 2010. Before joining K&L Gates, he worked for Allen & Overy. Before moving to Doha, he spent 10 years practicing in London, from 1999-2009.
Ranked as a leading lawyer by Chambers Global 2021 for Corporate/Commercial: Banking & Finance in Qatar. Simon is well versed in a wide range of finance matters, acting for both borrowers and lenders. He is also noted for his skills in fintech and banking regulatory matters. Simon is also rated by The Legal 500: Qatar.
Simon has extensive experience advising financial institutions, corporate sponsors, and borrowers on general financing, including project finance, leveraged finance, asset finance and Islamic finance and also on restructurings.
Diana Abu Al Adel is an Associate in the Intellectual Property practice in Qatar. Diana has regional legal experience, which she has gained from working in Jordan, Bahrain and now Qatar.
Diana is a qualified lawyer in Jordan. She has previously acted as a Legal Counsel in Talal Abu Ghazaleh legal for several years, advising on various IP related matters including drafting and redrafting legal bilingual documents, meeting with clients and providing consultations on IP litigations.
Diana is specialized mainly in Intellectual Property, in addition to extensive experience in drafting and redrafting bilingual documents including commercial agreements.
Recent experience
Dr. Andrew Dahdal (LLB (Macq) (Hons)/B Com, PhD (UNSW)) teaches at the College of Law, Qatar University; He is Chair of the Commercial Law Discipline group at the International Association of Law Schools (IALS) and Section Head (Economic Diversification) at the Centre for Law and Development (CLD). Andrew is also an industry consultant that researches and publishes on a range of financial services topics particularly relating to technological innovations. He has taught law in Australia, Europe and the Middle East and currently heads an international project exploring the regulatory changes needed in Qatar to strengthen the fintech landscape.
Mr. Cattan has been active in Qatar since 1995 when he worked in Doha on the project financing of some of the first LNG production facilities in Ras Laffan. He has lived and practiced law in Qatar for the last 17 years.
Mr. Cattan has expertise in a number of specialty areas of practice. These including the energy sector in Qatar. Mr. Cattan is ranked at the highest level — “Band 1, Projects and Energy – Qatar” — in the Chambers Guide to The Legal Profession. He also authored the Qatar chapter in Chambers and Partners’ first edition of a practice guide on global “Energy: Oil & Gas” law published in November 2015, and an updated version published in 2019. Mr. Cattan also has substantial experience with international project finance, bank finance, and equipment finance transactions.
A large part of Mr. Cattan’s practice involves providing advice on the laws of Qatar, including the Qatar Civil Code, and on Qatar law-governed transactions.
Mr. Cattan obtained his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College and his Juris Doctor at Georgetown University. He is a member of the New York and District of Columbia (Washington DC) bars.
With over 16 years of leadership experience working in high performing FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies, Brenda brings hands-on experience of developing and leading teams, transforming cultures and successfully defining and executing strategies in a volatile world.
Brenda’s style is adaptive, intuitive and co-creative. Her work is underpinned with knowing that when we focus on connecting authentically to ourselves and to one another we transform teams and organisations by enhancing communication, collaboration and creativity.
Qualifications and Accreditations:
Certified Transpersonal Coach – IHE
Cultural Transformational Tools (CTT) Consultant – Barrett Values Centre
HeartMath Certified Practitioner
U Theory Visual Presencing – MIT
Nonviolent Comm. Prac. – CNVC
MTa Learning – Certified Facilitator
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Teacher Training – University of Oxford
Julia is a Partner specialising in Global Government Strategies and Compliance at Fragomen. She divides her time between London and Dubai. Julia supports clients worldwide to optimise global mobility strategies, enhance compliance and leverage best practice in all critical immigration-related policies including crisis management. In addition, Julia advises private clients on complex international migration solutions. Before joining Fragomen Julia was a Partner, Legal Markets Leader and Head of Global Immigration at PwC.
Julia has advised several governments on immigration matters. She liaised with the UK government and business on Brexit and has given expert evidence at the European Parliament. Julia was a formal advisor to the Home Office in the UK on business investment and growth and represented business at the UK Prime Minister’s immigration stock take meeting. She continues to participate in stakeholder engagement with the UK government and liaises closely with governments in the Middle East.
Julia is the co-signatory of a number of reports on the impact of migration and is publicly recognized as a thought leader in global immigration.