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.

Olivia Darlington

Olivia joined Clyde & Co’s Dubai office as a partner in the insurance team in April 2023, having spent three years in the UAE with another international law firm.  With a comprehensive understanding of the insurance sector, Olivia possesses a broad range of expertise in handling contentious insurance matters, with particular specialisation in the areas of professional indemnity, financial institutions and directors and officers’ liability, and leading the firm’s MENA cyber insurance practice. Olivia has a deep understanding of the local laws, regulations and practices relating to these specific areas of insurance in the MENA region and regularly presents on these topics. Olivia is also co-chair of the Dubai Sustainable Finance Diversity & Inclusion sub-working group.

Naser Hashem

Naser Hashem is an Associate based in our UAE and KSA offices. Naser has also worked on international disputes in our London office. By combining international best-practice with his local knowledge, he regularly advises on contentious and non-contentious matters across the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Naser is an LLM graduate from Queen Mary, University of London, and also holds a degree in business administration from the University of Miami. Naser is a qualified solicitor in England and Wales.

Keith Hutchison

Keith is recognised as a prominent dispute resolution lawyer in the UAE, with over 16 years’ experience with Clyde & Co in the region.

His expertise encompasses a wide range of commercial dispute resolution matters, with a particular focus on claims involving banking/finance and investment, insolvency and restructuring, fraud, asset recovery and enforcement. Keith has acted on many significant cases before the DIFC Courts (where he has rights to appear as counsel) and the ADGM Courts, including actions for substantive relief and interim remedies (e.g. freezing orders and other forms of injunction). He also has extensive experience acting in arbitration under various institutional rules. He regularly advises on issues under DIFC law, UAE law and ADGM law

In addition to his core dispute resolution work, Keith leads Clyde & Co’s renowned MEA Debt Recovery Unit acting for major trade credit insurers, export credit agencies, as well as regional and international corporations. The practice offers a comprehensive range of recovery services, including pre-action resolution of debt claims through to litigation or alternative dispute resolution.

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.