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.

Sarah Malik

Sarah achieved ‘Litigator of the Year’ (2022) at the first GCC Women in Law Awards and received an honourable mention as ‘Law Firm Leader of the Year’ category at the same awards. In March 2022, SOL was named by Legal 500 EMEA as ‘A Firm to Watch in Dispute Resolution: Arbitration and International Litigation’.

Sarah was finalist at the First Middle East Blockchain Awards 2022 for ‘Most Influential Woman in Blockchain and Crypto’ in November 2022.

Sarah has been featured in the special edition of the UAE Managing Partners Report for two consecutive years published by LexisNexis for International Women’s Day.

Sarah is appointed to various boards regionally and internationally which include Advisory Committee for the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC), the Advisory Board for ThoughtsLeaders4 FIRE: Middle East Summit 2023, the Advisory Board for Juris Centre for Excellence in Legal Education and Training at Middlesex University, Dubai, and the DIFC Court Users’ Committee.

In March 2022, she was appointed to advise female tech startups in investment-readiness for She Wins Arabia, a joint initiative between International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).

Sarah is the external General Counsel for Dan Holdings since 2019, a multinational technologies firm founded in Dubai in 2018 that invests in blockchain, technology, and green energy startups and has developed blockchain-powered products and services, including Telechat, CoinsApp and BlockFinex.

In August 2022, Sarah was appointed as the External General Counsel for Pixelated Apes, the largest  digital marketplace for crypto collectibles and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Sarah is well versed in negotiating multi-jurisdictional tech deals, SAFE Agreements, SAFT Agreements, and has advised a number of start-ups in the UAE. Sarah has a hands-on approach with the work she is involved in and is currently in communication with overseas regulators in respect of Crypto and Blockchain regulations.

Sarah is frequently invited to speak at conferences within the UAE, GCC and internationally including for ICC, CIArb and IBA.

In November 2023, Sarah will chair a panel for ThoughtsLeaders4  Middle East on ‘Metaverse Litigation: The New Age of Disputes in the Virtual World’.

In November 2023, Sarah will speak on ‘Litigating in and About the Metaverse’ at the IBA Conference 2023 in Paris.

In October 2023, Sarah is speaking on ‘AI and Tech in Disputes’ at the Inaugural Arbitration Day in Algiers.

Sarah spoke at the 7^th International Arbitration Conference: A New Era of Dispute Resolution in Africa on the topic ‘Keeping up with the moving face of technology in Arbitration: The Metaverse, AI, Blockchain and Fintech’ in Kenya in July 2023.

In June 2023, Sarah spoke on ‘Exploring the intersection of women in Web3 and blockchain through the lens of business and law’ in an event hosted by Bin Sevan Advocates & Legal Consultants and LexisNexis.

In May 2023, SOL International Ltd co-hosted and moderated an event at London International Disputes Week (LIDW) 2023 on the topic ‘Bridging the gap: UK and UAE’. Sarah also wrote an article, published by Bond Solon on ‘ChatGPT and the Law: Navigating the Legal Implications of Artificial Intelligence” for LIDW 2023.

Sarah delivered a course as part of the DIFC Professional Development Series on ‘The Metaverse and NFTs Uncovered’ in May 2023 and spoke at CIArb Qatar Conference and AGM on ‘The Use of AI in Arbitration’ in May 2023.

Sarah published an article for the Bombay Stock Exchange Brokers Forum on ‘Emotional and Artificial Intelligence in the Legal Sphere within its Global Insights’ in May 2023 and on ‘Regulation of Virtual Assets Dubai Law No 4/2022’ for LexisNexis Middle East in April 2023.

In March 2023, SOL co-hosted a seminar on ‘ChatGPT and AI in Law’ in collaboration with the DIFC Academy and delivered a course with Disruptive Focus on ‘NFT as Digital Property and Real Assets’.

In November 2022, Sarah spoke at the IBA Young Lawyer Training at the University of Miami on ‘Metaverse: Law and Technology’ and spoke at the Young IBA on ‘The changing landscape  in arbitration: new trends – how the metaverse fits into arbitration.’

In September 2022, SOL organised a webinar on ‘Smart Contracts, NFTs and the Metaverse: Use of Law in a New Virtual World’ in collaboration with 36 Commercial Chambers and  LexisNexis.

Sarah spoke at the 6th ICC Africa Conference on International Arbitration in Lagos in June 2022 on ‘Metaverse and Arbitration’.

Sarah undertakes commercial work at the DIFC and ADGM Courts often with multi-jurisdictional issues.

In addition to practice, Sarah trains various academies, arbitral institutions, and judiciary worldwide including AIFC, ADJD and DIFC. Sarah is a visiting lecturer on the LLM at Middlesex University, Dubai.

 

Nikita Vaidya

 Nikita Vaidya is a Managing Director at Ankura based in Dubai. She is focused on asset tracing and complex investigations.

Nikita has over 13 years of experience in forensics with specific focus on asset tracing, intelligence gathering, investigations, integrity and reputational due diligence, multijurisdictional asset tracing and recovery, dispute and litigation support, and other complex fraud investigations.

Prior to Ankura, Nikita held senior management roles in the forensic practice of a Big 4 in Dubai and India. She started her career in the investigations and transaction risk management function of Amazon in Germany and India. Throughout her career, Nikita has successfully led several assignments focused on intelligence gathering for due diligence and asset search and recovery support for international and middle eastern banks, sovereign wealth funds, multinational companies across various sectors, and government and semi-government clients.

James Tebbs

James Tebbs is a Senior Managing Director at Ankura based in Dubai, focused on risk, forensics, and compliance. He is an experienced forensic professional with over 20 years in professional practice in the UK and the Middle East.

James has extensive experience in advising clients on financial crime compliance having led the regional practice for one of the Big 4. He has advised major local and international banks, insurance firms and asset managers in all aspects of AML and broader financial crime matters from regulatory compliance to licensing and remediation.

In addition James’ practice covers fraud prevention, fraud detection, and investigation across a range of sectors including financial services, government, construction, family offices, telecoms, healthcare, real estate, media, hospitality, and oil and gas. Prior to joining Ankura, he held senior leadership roles in the forensic practices of two other global professional services firms in the Middle East.