Nicola Kneizeh

Nicola Kneizeh, Associate, Clyde & Co

Nicola is an Associate in the Dispute Resolution Group at Clyde & Co’s Dubai office. Nicola advises clients on contentious and non-contentious commercial matters in the MENA region.

Nicola has an extensive experience in handling commercial litigation disputes before the local courts in the MEAN region including but not limited disputes arising out of commercial contracts, maritime and shipping ventures, international trade contracts, insurance and reinsurance, and real estate.

Nicola’s experience extends to include advising on disputes involving bankruptcy. He also advises on disputes involving enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitration award in the MENA region.

Nicola is fluent in English and Arabic.

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.

Lily Hurley

Lily Hurley, Associate, Stephenson Harwood. 

Lily is an associate within the private wealth team based in our Dubai office. She specialises in advising on all aspects of international wealth structuring and succession and tax planning for high-net worth individuals and families, family offices and trustees.

Her expertise spans a wide spectrum of private wealth matters, including the preparation of English wills, DIFC Wills and Abu Dhabi wills, as well as designing family and charitable trust and foundation structures (specifically focussing on DIFC and ADGM) for succession planning purposes and tax efficiency. This involves collaborating with advisors from various jurisdictions to deliver comprehensive solutions for clients seeking succession planning guidance, including drafting of the constitutional documents, guidance memorandums and family charters.

Additionally, Lily advises on UK tax matters, particularly concerning investments in UK real estate, and UAE corporate tax in relation to both private and corporate structures. Drawing from her experience, Lily also advises executors and trustees on the administration of English and cross-border estates.

Alastair Glover

Alastair Glover, Partner, Stephenson Harwood. 

Alastair Glover is a Dubai-based partner and leads Stephenson Harwood’s Middle East private wealth practice. He advises high-net worth individuals and families, family offices and trustees on global estate planning, tax efficient investment structures, assets protection (including prenuptial agreements) and philanthropy.

He has significant experience in international succession planning including regional and international trust and foundation structures, tax advice, immigration and family governance. Alastair also advises on the use of trusts and foundations in commercial transactions and on employee benefit and pension schemes in the UAE.

Alastair’s prominent reputation in the market is reflected through him being ranked as a Band 1 “Leading Individual” for Private Wealth Law by Chambers and Partners High Net Worth Guide 2023, where clients praise him for being “astute, commercial, and creating very good working relationships, with a deep knowledge of UAE and international matters.”

Alastair is also the technical director for the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners (STEP) Arabia and a member of the International Academy of Trusts and Estates Lawyers.

Rekha Simpson

Rekha Simpson, Director, Middle East Immigration, Vialto. 

Rekha is a UK qualified lawyer and Director at Vialto Partners and leads the UAE Immigration practice. She has worked in London, Singapore and Dubai, and her corporate Immigration experience over the last 13 years spans these jurisdictions. Rekha has worked closely with senior HR stakeholders in managing the end-to-end Immigration process, strategizing international employee moves, consulting and advising on projects from an Immigration compliance perspective.

She has liaised with Government officials and bodies throughout her career, consulting on Immigration changes and complex client scenarios to ensure the best possible outcomes. Rekha is responsible for advising clients on market entry and expansion and has extensive experience working with investors as well as large multi-national organizations.

Omar Obeidat

Partner, Head of Competition, Al Tamimi & Company

Omar Obeidat is a Partner in Al Tamimi & Company and the Head of Competition and Intellectual Property and enjoys over 22 years of experience in this field.
Omar obtained his LL.B degree in 1996 from Yarmouk University, Jordan, and his LL.M. degree in 1997 from the University of Georgia at Athens, USA and he is qualified before Jordan Bar Association. He advised on a number of areas including Intellectual Property, Competition, Media, Regulatory Affairs and Compliance and Consumer Protection in the UAE as well as the Arab region. Omar had previously advised, with a team of lawyers, the Jordanian Government on the accession to the World Trade Organization.
Omar has overseen the Competition Law in the UAE from its inception initially commenting on the draft law to its adoption later on and implementation. In this regard, Omar is quite active in liaising with UAE Competition Authority in addressing compliance or defending clients’ interests.
On Competition disputes, Omar was successful in defending a move distributor and cinema operator in the first of its kind Competition Law investigation in the UAE.
On merger clearances, Omar was successful in obtaining approval for economic concentration decision by the Minister of economy for Uber acquisition of Careem assets. The significance of this transaction being in a dynamic ever-developing mobility sector and was the first merger control clearance worldwide for this transaction.
On the legislative side, Omar assisted in drafting or commenting on Trademarks Regulation, Industrial Property (Design & Patent) Law, Trade Secrets Draft, Competition Law, Cyber Crimes Law, and Plant Varieties Law.

Alessandro Tricoli

Parnter, Fichte & Co

Legal Expert for ship finance matters, Alessandro Tricoli‘s broad knowledge further encompasses many areas of the firm’s contentious work, with a particular emphasis on charter party and cargo disputes in which he advises a number of the firm’s shipping clients and P&I Clubs. Consequently, Alessandro regularly deals with foreign counsel and drafts counter expert reports for the UAE Courts.

Given his finance background, Alessandro’s clients naturally include ultra-high net worth families and individuals, and their family offices or private investments companies, for whom he regularly advises on wealth structuring and management as well as wealth and legacy protection.

Before joining Fichte & Co Alessandro practiced in Italy with a top-tier insurance law firm, during which time he also assisted the Chair of Maritime Law at the University of Bologna. He then moved to the UK to enhance his knowledge of Maritime Law, studying at the University of Southampton and gaining international work experience in London.

Alessandro Tricoli is named as a recommended lawyer in the Legal 500 EMEA since 2011, who “gives sound, relevant, advice on the matter at hand.” He is included in the Who’s Who Legal (Transport), and was recognized as Shipping & Maritime Lawyer of the Year (UAE 2016). He is a regular speaker at presentations and seminars as well as a habitual contributor to different journals on various legal topics.