Levari > New Cairo, Egypt > Firm Profile

Levari
Villa 294
District 2, Area 1, 5th Settlement
Egypt

Egypt > Commercial, corporate and M&A Tier 2

Levari is a ‘remarkable legal practice’ that combines ‘wide experience regionally’ with a strong track record of managing significant foreign investments and cross-border transactions. The team’s expertise covers the full spectrum of corporate and commercial areas, spanning corporate restructurings, M&A, fundraisings, joint ventures and commercial contracts. Co-founder and managing partner Sherif Hefni leads the practice alongside Mohamed Raslan, who has extensive experience in commercial law, capital markets and litigation. Senior associate Amr Hareedy continues to develop his reputation across a broad range of transactions, including strategic ventures, joint ventures and corporate restructurings.

Practice head(s):

Sherif Hefni; Mohamed Raslan

Other key lawyers:

Testimonials

‘The team is highly professional, responsive, and helpful. What I find exceptional is their fast response with professional answers to my queries. Their wide experience regionally and internationally is another unique quality that I receive from Levari that I did not find in different firms.’

‘Fast responses with professional, valuable answers.’

‘They always manage to put the right person in place so as a client you always feel safe because they have your back. Very helpful associates and partners; they don’t only help with making the right decision, but they always try to explain and showcase all available solutions so as a client you fully understand the situation.’

‘Amr Hareedy is the best. He calls to check up if anything is needed or there is anything he can help with, even if it’s not within the scope of the matter. He makes you feel that he is always there for you. Which makes me, as a client, trust him even more and builds credibility between us.’

‘The team are well organised and they listen well.’

‘Helpful, responsive and diverse team. Aware of local, regional and global regulations and laws.’

‘Very responsive, reachable, friendly and professional.’

‘Levari is a remarkable legal practice distinguished by its unique blend of expertise and innovation. Their team’s strengths lie in their extensive legal knowledge and a collaborative approach that ensures comprehensive and effective solutions.’

Key clients

AlGooru

Bringly

Boost Technology

Empoweromics

Valify

Blom Bank

Emaratech

Elite Valet

Le Kareem

Spectrum LT

Ma3azef

KENZ

EquiTie

Saab

Innovate Quality Solutions

Salem Food

Averroes

Brimore

CVentures

FlutterWave

Impactyn BV

IndustrialX

ZoomCar

Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF)

HydroFarms

Migrate World

Kailo Labs/GameBall

Madfooatcom

STC

Compete System

M&W Group for Food Production

Macber

Ten for Production

Travelstart Egypt

International Data Corporation

Azulejous y Pavimentos

STCS for IT

Noon Academy

Flat6labs

Andela Egypt LLC

Careem Egypt for Smart Networks

Instabug

Netflix

TotalEnergies

Start Egypt, powdered by Flat6Labs

StartMashreq, powdered by Flat6Labs

Gridtech

KPMG

Iqraaly Inc.

Datexcorp

Sudo Rox

Moove Africa

Teleindia Networks

UPI

EshraTex

AS3A

Musala Soft

Vatrin

Arab Therapy

Hakini

Bloomit Incorporated

Dispatch Egypt LLC

Rainmaking Innovation

Thompsons Solicitors

Smart Med Storage

Digital Marts, Inc.

FACEKI, INC

Africa Innovation and Healthcare Fund VCC – AAIC

Kamco Invest

Caremed

Dabchy

Kemitt

Work highlights

  • Advising Flutterwave regarding compliance with fintech regulations.
  • Assisted Careem with its restructuring process of Careem and with closing a 400 million dollar acquisition deal with E&.
  • Advising Tide Africa on the due diligence process for a target company.

Egypt > Dispute resolution: litigation Tier 3

The dispute resolution team at Levari is 'very efficient and experienced regarding litigation in Egypt and the wider MENA region', and regularly handles corporate and commercial disputes. Sherif Hefni advises on contentious corporate law matters, and Mohamed Raslan brings expertise in finance, commercial and tax law.

Practice head(s):

Sherif Hefni; Mohamed Raslan

Testimonials

‘Sherif Hefni and Mohamed Raslan are very experienced in litigation.’

‘Able to prepare liability reports quickly and in great detail in a format required by the Courts of England and Wales.’

‘Approachable and able to communicate in different languages to make enquiries seamless.’

Key clients

Delta Timber Egypt

Frank Felay

Careem Egypt for Smart Networks

Travelstart Egypt

United Mud-Chem

Gemma May

GV Health

Artiyapi Construction Engineering Architecture Consultancy Co.

Arkam Integrated Solutions

Delta Timber International

Rania Mahmoud Abdelhamed

Work highlights

  • Acting for Artiyapi Construction Engineering Architecture Consultancy Co. in a case involving alleged fraud brought before the Egyptian Prosecution Authority.
  • Representing Delta Timber Egypt in multiple disputes.
About Levari

Levari was established in 2012 and is a full-service international law firm based in Cairo with international presence in Dubai, Amman, Washington DC & London.

– Ranked top 20 law firms in MENA;

– Ranked top 5 law firms in Egypt;

– Tier 2 ranking in Legal 500;

– Tier 3 ranking in Chambers & Partners;

– Member or the Egyptian British Chambers of Commerce; and

– Members of the American Chamber of Commerce.

– Levari has established its own international network of lawyers with offices in more than 70 countries worldwide from the Americas to Asia, which enables us to offer an integrated service worldwide especially in Europe & the Middle East.

Our Approach

Levari aims to build long-term relationships with clients and adjust our approach to suit their different needs and preferences. We take the time to understand our clients’ needs and where best we can help to add value to the services they deliver. We always strive to take a friendly professional approach. We aim to work in harmony with you and your other advisers.

From our offices in Amman, Cairo, Dubai London, and Washington D.C., we are well aware that parent company clients operating outside of their usual jurisdiction face many practical challenges, in addition to the standard legal ones. Levari has significant experience working with local businesses to negotiate service contracts for international clients to protect their interests while maintaining business efficacy.

Levari has access to a pool of experts that, at a client’s request, can be accessed to provide industry-specific local knowledge, trends and advice. Once the client requests an expert, they join the team of lawyers and work directly with them to provide tailor-made solutions.

We believe that the benefits of using our team for legal advice include:

  • A personal, partner-led service – we give you bespoke advice to satisfy your needs;
  • One team working together across national borders – working closely as one team with our international partners;
  • A team at your doorstep – we are on hand to meet with you at your offices at short notice and we work closely as your inhouse counsels;
  • A swift and efficient response – you will have our direct dial and mobile phone numbers;
  • An up-to-date team – we keep the team and clients abreast of changes and developments;
  • A competitive fee structure – to deliver value for you;
  • Timely advice – we will agree upon and meet deadlines;
  • A proactive approach – we email a brief synopsis of legal developments which may affect the you as and when they happen;
  • Client consideration – we want our clients to be happy with the service we provide, and periodically will review with you how we are performing.
  • Quality and Risk Management – Before advice or documentation is delivered, it is Levari policy to subject it to a process of internal peer review. Coupled with the experience of dealing with similar issues for other clients, this ensures that you can be confident that the advice we give is technically accurate. The in-house team meets monthly, with each meeting including training delivered by one or more of the team on a particular area of practice.
  • Supplementary materials – We aim to keep clients informed of recent legal developments, and comprehensive updates on these are provided via email free of charge. We are then able to follow up with a telephone call to consider with you what action, if any, is required, and whether that action is needed immediately, or might be left for a period in order to combine it with other steps you need to take so as to maximize efficiency and minimize costs.
Areas of Practice:

Media

Lawyers at Levari are both transactional and litigation specialists. We advise our clients on how to comply with the law and regulations of media in different jurisdictions. We may also negotiate media contracts. We keep our client updated with the new media laws.

Commercial, Corporate, and M&A

We provide legal advice to clients in every aspect of their business activities. We offer comprehensive services from the incorporation of companies to mergers and acquisitions, management buyouts, cross border transactions, agency, distribution and franchising agreements, and joint ventures. We have exceptional cross-border transactional skills, particularly in advising multinational investors (acquirers, targets, sellers and financial institutions) on high-end M&A deals in the region.

Corporate Structuring and Offshoring

We are able to provide incorporations services in most offshore and tax efficient countries for business start-ups as well as establishing offshore trusts or an offshore holding company, registered offices, and company secretariat. We have experience in BVI, Caymans, Mauritius, Gibraltar, Delaware (US), Ireland, Netherlands and UK.

Banking & Finance

We advise leading Egyptian and international banks, financial institutions, investment banks, and private equity funds on credit facilities and syndicated loans. We have a strong commercial focus and project management abilities to achieve our clients’ objectives.

Dispute Resolution

We are well placed to deal with all aspects of your dispute. We are regularly involved in complex high-profile litigation, and we have particular expertise in the field of commercial contracts, professional negligence, construction, and property disputes as well as court support for schemes of arrangement/capital reductions. Our Dispute Resolution practice handles local and international Arbitration, and litigation.

Employment

We advise both employers on contentious and non-contentious issues in the workplace such as the pre-contract negotiation of working conditions, employment contracts, the transfer of employment on the sale of a business, and supplementary employee benefits schemes.

Real Estate

Our services include deducing and reporting on title, acquisition and disposal contracts, specialist planning real-estate tax advice, property and securitization and property development. We provide a comprehensive property service for any type or size of deal under different jurisdiction.

Intellectual Property

We offer services in protection and registration of trademarks in Egypt and extension around the world as well as certificates of origin, protection of designs and patents, issues of copyright law, and domain name licensing and the expertise to protect your intellectual property through contractual safeguards.

IT & Telecoms

We offer comprehensive advice in the complex field of information technology, not only to IT companies but also to the end-users. Whether it is software development contracts, licensing and user contracts or maintenance and service agreements, we always have the technical expertise to assist.

Oil & Gas & Renewable Energy

We can advise on transactional and operational issues at home and overseas, ranging from licensing, joint venture work, and unitization through the value chain to project contracting and oil and gas transportation. We also provide legal services to developers, investors, utilities, and project owners in the burgeoning renewable energy sector in Egypt.

Our Technical Expertise

Levari is a full-service international law firm. Levari has the expert local knowledge to help drive local and international businesses as well as the experience and proficiency to manage significant foreign investments and cross border transactions. We offer clients strength and depth of service provision and commercially astute legal solutions. We boast regional leadership with a national reputation for delivering quality advice. www.levarilaw.com We understand that national borders frequently apply to legal systems, but not to client’s businesses. We have the ability to undertake cross-border transactions and advise across different jurisdictions.

Our Corporate and Commercial Team

Our Corporate and Commercial teamwork for a range of clients on corporate restructuring, merges, acquisitions, fundraising, joint venture, corporate advisory and commercial contract matters. Our client credentials are solid and we aim to build long-term relationships based on value and consistency of service. The Commercial team undertake contracts and negotiations on behalf of our client and we provide contract in Arabic, English and French.

Our Litigation Team

Our Litigation team do not only cover their local market by cross border litigation, covering Dubai, London and Cairo. The team undertakes labour, corporate and commercial litigation on regular basis and thus is always ware of legal and proceedings updates. Within the team we have special IP, www.levarilaw.com construction and energy litigation specialist. The team has a strong reputation for seeking and protecting our clients’ rights in addition to giving sensible and cost-effective advice. The team also has experience in local and international arbitration in addition to the execution of international arbitration awards in local jurisdictions.

Our Vision

Is to be recognized as the firm of choice for the most challenging legal issues, significant business transactions, and major critical disputes and therefore we are always keen to exceed our clients’ expectations.

“Always exceeding our client expectations”

Our Values

In fulfilling our mission, we endeavor our strength through the following:

  • Covering the entire spectrum of business law in addition to offering tailor-made solutions in order to address issues related to business law.
  • Working with our clients to find pragmatic and comprehensive solutions to all issues affecting different professions and industries.
  • Ensuring that the right people are deployed on the case at the right time, coordinated by experienced partners who serve as personal contact and who know our client’s needs and requirements, so they can expertly represent the client’s interests.
  • Offering our clients strength and depth of service provision and commercially astute legal solutions.
  • Bringing together the best specialists to create an efficient, incisive, and principled team of lawyers committed to delivering the highest possible quality.

At Levari, we are committed to excellence in all aspects of our service, and we seek to provide the best, most economic and innovative legal solutions to our clients.  In summary, our ethos is based on being:

  • Dedicated to Our Clients –  we believe that to help you succeed we need to learn your strategic objectives and operational practices. We work hard to understand and accommodate your needs and even harder to exceed your expectations.
  • Service and Solutions-Driven -we are committed to providing definitive, pragmatic and commercial advice. We consider it essential to provide reasoned, technically correct, practical, and clear recommendations of how to proceed on any issue on which we are asked to advise.
  • Tried and Tested we have a proven track record of successfully advising companies, from local business to global entities. Levari’s founding partners can call on almost 40 years of experience in the business and financial industries.
  • Experienced, Expert and Highly Recommended – we have strong technical capabilities and are able to advise on acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, management buyouts and debt related transactions of all sorts. Our project teams consist of specialist lawyers, experts in their respective fields. Our team is accustomed to delivering first class professional advice.
  • Across National Borders – Levari can provide an integrated international service that utilizes its Interact Law network of lawyers across the world.
  • Informed and Ahead of the GameWe have the resource base, breathe of experience, and connections to allow us to be creative and to assist you proactively with the issues you encounter.
  • Private and Confidential – We protect our clients, their privacy and confidentially. The relationship between our clients and Levari is a sacred one. As such all matters are kept safe and secure from conversations, emails to transactional work.
  • Cost Effective sensible and efficient working methods with competitive and transparent pricing structures giving you cost certainty and therefore complete budgetary control.
Department Name Email Telephone
Levari UAE Office lucy@levarilaw.com (+971) 42 666699
Levari Egypt Office lucy@levarilaw.com (+2) 01015800009
Photo Name Position Profile
Shaza Bassam​ photo Shaza Bassam​ Junior Associate
Ali El-Mahdy photo Mr Ali El-Mahdy Junior Associate
Amr Hareedy photo Mr Amr Hareedy Associate​
Sherif Hefni photo Mr Sherif Hefni Co-Founder and Senior Partner of Levari​
Ahmed  Khaled​ photo Mr Ahmed Khaled​ Junior Associate​
Mohamed Ramadan photo Mr Mohamed Ramadan Associate​
Hisham​ Rashed​ photo Mr Hisham​ Rashed​ Junior Associate​
Mohamed Raslan photo Mr Mohamed Raslan Co-Founder and Senior Partner of Levari  
Eyad Zamazam photo Mr Eyad Zamazam Associate
Number of lawyers at this office : 35
Arabic
English
French

CLIENT: Marie-Therese Fam – Managing Partner
COMPANY/FIRM: Flat6labs Cairo
TESTIMONIAL: “We do recommend Levari who has been acting as our legal advisor in Egypt since 2013. We engaged Levari to advise us on any related corporate matters, shareholders agreements structure and corporate governance along with our start-up’s full corporate matters. They aim to build long-term relationships with their clients based on value and consistency of service.”


CLIENT: Emad Fouad – Managing Partner
COMPANY/FIRM: Cventures
TESTIMONIAL: “We at Cventures are fairly exposed to markets outside Egypt with different legislation systems, that’s why we usually need Levari’s legal advice.”


CLIENT:
COMPANY/FIRM: Proger Egypt
TESTIMONIAL: “We are exclusively engaging Levari for any related legal matters in Egypt and we have no hesitation in recommending their services to other multinational companies.”


CLIENT: Ashraf Shaaban – Group Chief Legal Counsel
COMPANY/FIRM: The National bank of Egypt
TESTIMONIAL: “Levari, as a law firm, has been always very close to the transactions. We never felt at any point that they are an external counsel. They understand the businesses very well and has become one of the approved law firms of the National Bank of Egypt”


CLIENT:
COMPANY/FIRM: Legal 500
TESTIMONIAL: ‘What makes this practice unique is the team’s strengths and capabilities which include sharing skills and expertise with its clients, providing back-up and additional help when needed, sharing resources, and using highly trained associates, legal assistants and support staff.‘

‘Competent, hardworking, focused Lawyers. Committed to quality, accountability and loyalty.‘

‘The lawyers show a willingness to place the interests of the client ahead of personal Interests, and they have a positive legal attitude and spirit.‘

‘The team members always show a genuine commitment to the work, and they are are reliable, responsible, always ready to help and flexible. They are problem solvers and active listeners.‘

‘Sherif Hefni and Mohamed Shaaban stand out in a team that is dynamic and flexible. I would say that Levari is one of the best professional service providers we are dealing with.‘

“The lawyers at Levari are ‘always open-minded and search for solutions; they give the honest impression that they are in-house legal counsel. Mohamed Raslan and new hire Mohamed Shaaban, who joined from the Commercial International Bank, are the key partners. National Bank of Egypt UK is a key client.”


CLIENT: Moataz Mohi – Country Manager
COMPANY/FIRM: Payfort
TESTIMONIAL: “We have reached out to Levari to understand the rules and regulations related to the Ecosystem and the legal form of Fintech in Egypt”


CLIENT: Khaled Zaidan, Head of Alternative Investments
COMPANY/FIRM: Watheeq Capital
TESTIMONIAL: “One of the most important parts of doing any investment in a startup is conducting legal due diligence. By partnering with Levari, we are more confident about our process as well as doing business abroad. We made our first investment in Europe with Levari’s help and are able to deploy investments all over the world because of our legal partner.”


CLIENT NAME:
COMPANY/FIRM: Al Guru
TESTIMONIAL: “The corporate team at Levari is very responsive and easy to work with. We are glad to have entrusted Levari with our work as they are quite attentive to details when it comes to finalizing legal work.”


CLIENT NAME:
COMPANY/FIRM: Sanad Cash
TESTIMONIAL: “We highly attest to the professional legal services of Levari. This firm is highly specialized in corporate law matters within a wide variety of industries.”


Levari was established in 2012 and is a full-service international law firm based in Cairo with international presence in Dubai, Amman, Washington DC & London.

The firm offers its legal services in the following practice areas: Media, Commercial, Corporate, and M&A, Corporate Structuring and Offshoring, Banking & Finance, Dispute Resolution, Employment, Real Estate, Intellectual Property, IT & Telecoms, Oil & Gas and Renewable Energy.

The firm has a responsibility to respect human rights in the conduct of its operations and in its relationships. We respect internationally recognized human rights. Our respect for human rights means an understanding not to cause, contribute to, or, through our business operations, be linked to any activities that may harm our surrounding community. This that we run our business based on values that include respect for internationally recognized human rights. This undertaking does not affect our employees’ ability to act in the best interest of their clients according to the rules on professional ethics for lawyers.

We strive to be a good employer for all employees and to offer an attractive workplace infused with our core values. The firm’s work related to the physical and psychosocial work environment is based on the following principles:

  • Zero tolerance against discrimination – We do not accept any form of discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, religion or other beliefs, disability, or age. We take forceful action against any transgressions. We strive actively to promote equal treatment and increase diversity and equality.
  • A workplace characterized with respect and sensitivity – All employees are respectful in their treatment of others and treat other employees in the manner they wish to be treated themselves. All employees are loyal to the firm and to other employees. All employees act as good ambassadors for Levari.

In an attempt to give back to the community, Levari has been involved in several pro-bono cases that have been aimed at serving the public good. Our main communal work mainly revolves around being heavily involved in several social programs and initiatives in Jordan and across the region. The Firm serves as pro-bono counsel to medical non-profits, start-up incubators, and legal clinics in the Middle East, with special emphasis on those in the West Bank and Gaza. The firm has also localized and adapted nearly a dozen template agreements that are used among U.S. start-ups for application in the Middle East. Those templates are often given free of charge to any start-up and will soon be available for public download from several different venture capital funds and start-up accelerators in the region.