MENA City Lawyers

The firm

Founded in 1987 under the name of Jamaleddine Law Firm, MENA City Lawyers (MCL) was established as a civil partnership company, a unique model in a region where the legal practice remains dominated by individual general practice lawyers.

In 2010, MCL started building an international Arab network of law firms in several Arab countries. It was joined by the eminent Kuwaiti law firm of Al-Bisher, the dynamic offices of the Syrian law firm of Karawani, and the well-known Qatari law firm of Al-Sulaiti. The firm continues to expand in the Arab countries. Additionally, MCL has built strong relationships and collaboration ties with major law firms from across the globe with the aim of providing its clients worldwide with top legal services at the most competitive fees.

The firm prides itself on providing straightforward solutions and legal advice to local and international companies as well as Lebanese and foreign high-net-worth individuals for more than 30 years. With its diverse team of locally and internationally educated and qualified lawyers, MCL offers specialised knowledge, skills and world-class expertise.

Areas of practice

MCL covers a wide range of practice areas including the following:

Banking and finance: providing legal services to leading banks of the MENA region, financial institutions, listing authorities, and private investors.

Commercial: providing tailor-made commercial agreements catered to the clients’ individual needs; offering comprehensive advisory services to clients in respect of distribution, agency, licensing and franchising agreements.

Corporate, mergers and acquisitions: providing advice on corporate governance issues, corporate restructuring, corporate recovery and insolvency, mergers and acquisitions, in particular those with a cross-border element, and joint ventures.

Criminal: advising and representing clients in criminal law cases involving offences against the person and crimes against property.

Family, estate planning: representing clients in divorce and child custody cases; advising and assisting clients on estate planning, inheritance issues and wills.

Intellectual property: providing consultations on all aspects of intellectual property law; registering trade marks and patents in the MENA region.

Labour and employment: drafting and negotiating employment contracts; advising on numerous labour and employment matters, including rights and obligations of employers and employees, human resources and recruitment, and disciplinary and dismissal issues.

Litigation and dispute resolution: advising clients on pre-litigation options; representing clients in all pre-litigation negotiations, managing large-scale and complex litigation and providing post-litigation advice.

Maritime and aviation: providing clients operating in the sector with comprehensive support and advice on various matters including finance, sale and purchase, leasing and other commercial transactions, litigation and dispute resolution, liability claims, and insurance issues.

Oil and gas, PPP practice: providing legal services at the upstream, midstream and downstream stages of the oil and gas industry operations; offering a full range of services for public sector authorities, financiers, and sub-contractors on all aspects of delivering public-private partnerships.

Real estate and construction: assisting clients in relation to the sale, purchase and development of commercial real estate projects, and the sale, purchase and lease of residential properties; handling all legal issues between landlords and tenants.

Tax: advising on domestic and multi-jurisdictional taxation issues, tax planning, taxes applicable on income, property, and goods and services.

Technology, media and telecommunications: advising technology, media and telecommunications companies on various legal issues and assisting them in adhering to all aspects of regulation in the field.