Maria Andraos

Maria advises clients in various jurisdictions across the MENA region in arbitration proceedings (including ICC, DIFC-LCIA and UNCITRAL ad hoc arbitrations) and litigation proceedings.

Her experience covers a range of industries, including real estate, transport and defence logistics, construction, media and banking sectors; and her practice encompasses a variety of disputes relating to, inter alia, international sales and services agreements, agency agreements, shareholders agreements, and general commercial disputes.

Prior to joining Clyde & Co, Maria gained experience between Paris and Beirut, where she worked in international and regional law firms focusing on international arbitration and litigation.

Maria is fluent in English, Arabic and French.

William Prasifka

William is a barrister with a practice focusing on arbitration as well as litigation before the DIFC and ADGM Courts. He has represented major financial institutions, media and technology companies and various firms operating in the energy and marine sector. William acts as an advocate in complex international arbitrations, freezing injunctions and a variety of commercial disputes. Having been based in Dubai over three years, he has a thorough knowledge of the freezone courts and their integration into the UAE’s legal system.

William holds a degree in history from Columbia University and a law degree from the University of Cambridge. He is called to the bar of England and Wales.

Sherif Maher

Sherif is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution Group at Clyde & Co’s Dubai office and Cairo office. He
divides his time between the two offices.

Sherif advises both local and international clients on commercial contentious matters across the MENA
region. He handles a wide range of commercial dispute resolution work with focus on advising clients in
commercial litigation before the local courts in the MENA region. He further advises multinational
corporations and government-owned entities in international commercial arbitrations under a variety of
rules including those of the CRCICA, DIAC and ICC with a focus on arbitrations involving interests in
the Middle East. He has a strong expertise on regional laws and procedures.

Sherif has extensive experience in complex, high value local and international disputes and his practice
primarily focuses on resolving Middle East disputes arising out of commercial agreements (e.g.
commercial agencies, sale of goods and services agreements, real estate and lease agreements, joint
venture and partnership agreements and management contracts). In addition, he advises regularly on
disputes involving the enforcement of judgment and arbitration awards, debt recovery and bankruptcy.
Sherif lived in Paris, London, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Cairo. He is fluent in English, Arabic and French.

Bassam Al-Azzeh

Bassam Al-Azzeh is a senior associate in the field of intellectual property (IP), Customs and International Trade, with more than a decade of experience in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. He advises and represents clients on a wide range of legal services related to IP matters across various sectors, such as FMCG, tobacco, media, technology, pharmaceutical, automotive, and luxury brands.

Bassam is a well-rounded and versatile legal professional, who can provide high-quality and tailored solutions for his clients’ IP needs including:

Trademark prosecution: He can assist clients with trademark clearance, registration, renewal, and portfolio management in every jurisdiction in the region, as well as advise them on the protection and development of their brands and non-traditional trademarks.

Enforcement and litigation: He can help clients design and implement effective enforcement strategies and work with enforcement agencies to take anti-counterfeiting and infringement actions. He can also represent clients in IP disputes before authorities.

Copyright and media: He can advise clients on the protection and enforcement of their copyright and related rights, as well as assist them with copyright recordation and assignment. He can also represent clients in media disputes.

Competition and consumer protection: He can advise clients on the compliance with competition and consumer protection regulations in the region, as well as assist them with product recalls, price increases, unfair commercial practices, and exploitation of IP rights.

IP transactions: He can advise clients on the IP aspects of various commercial transactions, such as licensing, assignment, co-existence, and joint ventures.

Labelling and standards compliance: He can advise clients on the standards and regulations governing the labelling of various products, as well as assist them with obtaining approvals for the importation and distribution of their products. He can also advise clients on the compliance with health warnings, country of origin, pictorials, and other labeling requirements.

Domain names and online enforcement: He can assist clients with retrieving their domain names from cyber-squatters and infringers through filing complaints with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center or other relevant authorities. He can also assist clients with taking down infringing material from social media platforms and other online sources.

Bassam has a proven track record of success in the MENA region and a deep understanding of the IP landscape and the challenges and opportunities that clients face.

Ahmed Zaza

After earning his Bachelor’s and LLM degrees from the University of Jordan in 2006 and 2008, respectively, Ahmad embarked on a notable legal journey with Al Tamimi & Company in 2011. His expertise spans Intellectual Property, IT, media, transactional contracts, and IP litigation, making him a key player in IP law across multiple sectors. Ahmad’s skill set extends beyond litigation to include prosecution, enforcement and strategic problem-solving, evidenced by his training of government enforcement officers in IP intricacies.

Reef Hourani

Reef specializes in the commercial and regulatory aspects of corporate transactions in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the GCC region.

He has extensive experience in supervising and conducting all elements of the life cycle of commercial and corporate transactions, including supervising drafting and reviewing due diligence reports, prospectuses, share purchase and sale agreements, shareholder agreements, loan agreements and franchise agreements, amongst others.

Reef also has a solid knowledge of employment law matters. He maintains excellent working relationships with various regulatory bodies, which enables him to offer clients up-to-date and practical legal advice on their day-to-day business operations.

Zain Satardien

Drawing on his 15+ years of experience in these disciplines, Zain advises various major clients and multinationals on a range of issues, including trade law, tax law (such as income tax, excise tax, transfer pricing rules, zakat, withholding tax, economic substance), and related litigation.

Zain is also an award-winning author and recently published a book titled ‘Global Trade Law in the Middle East: Essential Principles for the Gulf States’. First of its kind, the book offers to present concise and practical guidance on the international trade law framework of the GCC.

Prior to joining Hourani & Partners, Zain served as a senior member of Ernst & Young’s Global Trade advisory in Dubai. Prior to this, he served in senior legal positions as head of legal in government tax and trade authorities.

Mohamed Alserkal

Mohamed is the chairman and champion of MAS Law, a leading regional law firm in UAE and KSA that offers unique legal services advising clients on local law and regulatory matters.

Mohamed is a fully trilingual, outstanding local Emirati lawyer with over two decades of progressive experience handling three main practice areas: litigation, white-collar crime and financial crime. His winning cases continue to cover wide areas within the UAE law. He is a highly experienced litigator with a core emphasis on commercial, onshore court, banking and corporate finance, real estate, and construction litigation.

Before establishing MAS Law, Mohamed served with the Dubai Police Criminal Investigation Department for over a decade, where he was involved in significant complex criminal and highly sensitive cases. He served with Baker McKenzie, Flydubai and Etihad Airways.

Mohamed brings his unique international law firm expertise, grace, etiquette, deep understanding of local culture, local laws and approaches to various clients while representing them in front of local courts, government entities and police stations.

His most notable current work is handling several high profile cryptocurrency and anti-money laundering dispute cases before local courts as this area reflects both his expertise and passion.

Peter Hodgins

Peter is a Partner and Head of Clyde & Co’s global corporate insurance group based in the Dubai office. Peter has been advising clients in the insurance and reinsurance sector for over 25 years.  His practice is focussed on non-contentious (corporate, commercial and regulatory) matters. As one of the few, and probably the most well-known, non-contentious insurance specialist in the region he has been involved in most major matters affecting the industry over the last decade.  With 25 years of experience working in the financial services sector, Peter regularly advises regulated entities, including (re)insurers, brokers, financial advisory firms, third party administrators, loss adjusters, regulators and other service providers in the Lloyd’s, London and international company and regional markets on a full spectrum of non-contentious matters across the life cycle of their business. He also has expertise in Islamic insurance (Takaful).

 

Alfred Thornton

Alfred is the Managing Partner of Clyde & Co’s Abu Dhabi office. He has been in Abu Dhabi since 2006 and has been a partner in the firm since 2016.  The primary focus of Alfred’s practice is dealing with disputes that are linked to energy, construction, engineering, and construction professional indemnity re/insurance covers throughout the GCC and other Middle Eastern jurisdictions.  Alfred has been based in Abu Dhabi and has resolved disputes across the GCC for 18 years. He has a wealth of experience and extensive knowledge of local law; and has conducted arbitrations and been involved in court litigation in most local and regional forums.