The Legal 500

The firm

With a century of experience since its establishment in 1912, the firm has achieved a record of success and growth that today makes it the longest established firm and one of the leading firms in Egypt and the Middle East. With over 82 attorneys, counsellors and paralegals, including 18 partners, 12 paralegals and a support staff of over 80 qualified professionals, the firm provides first-rate quality legal services to a broad base of multinational, regional and premium local clients through its offices in Cairo, Alexandria and Dubai. The firm is consistently ranked as a top-tier firm across almost all practice areas by the internationally recognised legal ranking organisations. The firm is proud to have recently won the ‘IFLR Middle East Egypt Law Firm of the Year 2011’ award as well as the Lawyer Monthly magazine ‘Best Litigation and Arbitration Team in Egypt 2011’ award.

The firm strives to provide personalised and efficient quality services across a broad spectrum of fields of practice, including anti-dumping and trade disputes, antitrust and competition, arbitration, aviation, banking and financial institutions, capital markets, corporate, commercial, agency and distribution, intellectual property, insurance, labour and employment, litigation, manufacturing, mergers and acquisitions, oil and gas, privatisation, projects and construction, real estate, tax, telecommunications and information technology, and tourism, hotels, travel and services.

The firm has been involved for decades in some of the most significant transactions taking place in the region, including many of the major mergers and acquisitions executed in Egypt on behalf of buyers, sellers and in certain cases, as transaction counsel. The firm’s tourism group participated in drafting and/or reviewing, amending and negotiating numerous hotel management and related agreements in Egypt, whether acting on behalf of owners or management companies.

The firm on average has around 800 on-going cases before all levels of the Egyptian courts and handles around ten new arbitration cases each year. The firm prides itself on having a very high success rate in both its litigation and arbitration work. Recently, the firm obtained favourable judgments in several high-profile commercial arbitrations, including cases for Millennium Hotels, Key Trade AG, Unilever, Galaxy Energy Group, and Tecnicas Reunidas. In litigation, the firm also obtained favourable judgments in a number of important litigation cases, including cases for MAS International Company, Sonat, Galaxy, Mena House Oberoi Hotel, Tourah Portland Cement, The Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (Mobinil), and Misr Glass Manufacturing Company.

Shalakany represents both domestic and international corporations from a broad spectrum of industries. The firm is a ‘full-service’ law firm that offers a broad range of legal services to its clients. The firm’s client base includes leading international, US and UK corporations, financial institutions, trade associations and foundations with an interest in cross-border operations. A significant portion of the firm’s clientele is represented by non-Egyptian corporations and institutions requiring advice on a full range of legal issues related to their operations or international transactions within the Egyptian and UAE jurisdictions.

Shalakany Law Office is the exclusive member firm for Egypt of Lex Mundi, the world’s leading association of independent law firms.

Representative clients include: HSBC, National Société Générale Bank, BNP Paribas, Arab African International Bank, Commercial International Bank, Kraft Foods Egypt, Microsoft, Nokia, Yahoo!, Sony, Panasonic, SODIC, Madison PetroGas Ltd, General Motors, Amlak Finance and Real Estate Investment, Emaar Misr, Merrill Lynch, Al Ahram for Beverages, Cleopatra Group for Integrated Development & Touristic Projects, IBM, INTEL, Masdar, the Fairmont Nile City Hotel and the Fairmont Heliopolis Hotel and Tower.

Contact Dr Khaled El Shalakany (senior and managing partner)

Languages
Arabic
English
French

Other offices
Alexandria
Dubai

International groupings Exclusive member firm for Egypt of Lex Mundi, a worldwide network of independent law firms covering more than 100 countries

Number of lawyers 82
at this office 77