Bird & Bird

TMT

Based in Dubai, Saarah leads Bird & Bird's media practice for the UAE.

Through working in-house in the media & entertainment industry for many years, Saarah brings extensive regional knowledge, coupled with a practical and commercial approach.

Saarah has gained unique expertise and perspective through several senior regional in-house roles; leading the regulatory team of an Abu Dhabi government media authority, serving as Companies Registrar for a free zone and overseeing the commercial legal and compliance work for a regional pay-TV platform.

As she's been embedded in both a regulator and a commercial business, she is able to advise clients from both viewpoints, providing practical and realistic risk assessments, commercial legal advice and workable solutions. During her five-year tenure as Companies Registrar, she oversaw regulatory compliance for the free zone and has a hands-on understanding of new UAE regulatory regimes such as anti-money laundering, media, virtual assets and economic substance. She is an expert in policy development and regulatory drafting, having developed and implemented numerous policies and procedures, and drafted regulations, codes and guidelines.

Saarah draws on her expertise to offer advice on all aspects of the content value chain, from content development and talent agreements to distribution and carriage deals, from production services agreements to rebate applications and from script approvals to content compliance. She has also worked closely with gaming companies on a wide range of business matters from funding deals to in-game tokenisation and from content regulation to potential gambling aspects.

English

Saarah is an England & Wales qualified solicitor.

Saarah holds a Master's from King's College London in UK, EU and US Copyright Law.