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Sahar Abas

Jasem Alanizy

Jasem is a senior counsel in Akin's corporate department, based in the Riyadh office. He is a trusted advisor to private and public clients on complex M&A and private equity transactions across the Middle East and North Africa. His clients include corporate entities, private equity firms, sovereign wealth funds, venture capital investors, government stakeholders, sponsors, developers and investors.Jasem's practice encompasses acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures and investments spanning multiple sectors across Saudi Arabia, UAE and the wider Middle East region.To learn more about Jasem, please visit his profile here: Jasem Alanizy, Senior Counsel, International Corporate | Akin 

Mazen Baddar

Mazen provides comprehensive advice on a wide array of corporate and commercial transactions. His clients include leading sovereign wealth funds, private equity firms, holding companies, international private companies, government-owned entities, investment authorities and other investors and corporates.Mazen’s practice is centered on private equity, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and co-investments, with a particular focus on cross-border transactions. He brings deep experience in technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, digital assets and fintech, as well as financial services regulatory matters. His sector coverage also spans energy and infrastructure, health care and life sciences, and aviation, space and defense. Based in the United Arab Emirates and fluent in Arabic, Mazen is ideally positioned to advise clients on international deals involving the Middle East, the United Kingdom, Europe and Africa—delivering commercially minded counsel at the intersection of complex legal frameworks and dynamic markets.In addition, Mazen advises on general corporate matters across industries. Clients rely on Mazen as a strategic advisor and experienced dealmaker. He guides clients through complex transactions while delivering bespoke solutions and providing tailored advice on both legal and broader commercial issues.To learn more about Mazen, please visit his full profile here: https://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/mazen-baddar

Hannah Braiding-Watson

Mahmoud Fadlallah

Mahmoud (Mac) Baki Fadlallah is the partner in charge of Akin’s Dubai office. He focuses his practice on the application of U.S. law to non-U.S. entities and operations, particularly with respect to global investigations and compliance with international sanctions, export controls and anticorruption laws. Mr. Fadlallah has been based in the United Arab Emirates since 2012, where he counsels clients across a variety of sectors, including aerospace and defense, satellite, logistics and freight forwarding, communications and technology, financial/banking, energy, automotive, health care, industrial and chemical. To learn more about Mr. Fadlallah, please visit his full profile: https://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/mahmoud-b-fadlallah.html

Andrew Heller

Wael Jabsheh

Wael is the partner in charge of Akin's Abu Dhabi office and leads the firm's M&A and corporate law practices in the Middle East. His practice encompasses the full spectrum of domestic and cross-border transactions, including public and private M&A, joint ventures, private equity, co-investment deals and fund-of-one structures.Based in the United Arab Emirates since 2005 and fluent in Arabic, Wael advises on domestic and outbound investments across the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Africa. His practice spans investment management and private equity, financial services, energy and infrastructure, communications, intellectual property, entertainment and hospitality. Wael is highly regarded for his representation of corporate and funds clients pursuing opportunities in the technology sector, including strategic capital investments and transactions involving digital infrastructure and emerging technologies such as cryptocurrency, blockchain and AI.To learn more about Mr. Jabsheh, please visit his full profile: http://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/wael-jabsheh.html

Shane Jury

Shane advises clients on complex, high-value commercial disputes and investigations, with a particular focus on arbitration, litigation and enforcement in the Middle East. He co-heads Akin’s disputes offering in the Middle East, together with Graham Lovett. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb). Shane has over 13 years’ experience acting on some of the region’s most significant shareholder, joint venture, post-M&A, banking, funds and fraud-related disputes and sensitive investigations. He has extensive experience across international arbitration under all major institutional rules, as well as litigation in the DIFC, ADGM and regional courts, and regularly sits as an arbitrator in both domestic and international matters. He is also widely recognised for his expertise in global asset tracing, enforcement and judgment and award monetisation, advising on multi-jurisdictional enforcement strategies worldwide. Shane is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a former member DIFC Courts’ Rules Committee.

Rizwan Kanji

Rizwan Kanji’s practice focuses on debt capital markets, finance and securitizations using both conventional and Islamic finance structures. He advises investment banks, financial institutions, multilateral development banks, sovereign states, insurance companies and multinational regional corporations on high-profile transactions across the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. To learn more about Riwan Kanji, please visit his full profile: https://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/rizwan-kanji.html

Natasha Kohne

Natasha is a recognized leader in complex, U.S. and cross-border investigations and litigation involving financial institutions, sovereign entities, investment funds and technology companies. With over two decades of experience, Natasha has become a trusted advisor to boards of directors and sovereign entities. She navigates complex dynamics involving foreign investment, national security, crisis management and corporate governance. Natasha advises global entities at the intersection of national security and foreign investment, particularly in areas that intersect with technological advancements such as AI, cybersecurity and data protection. Natasha is the global co-leader of Akin’s cross-disciplinary technology and artificial intelligence & machine learning groups, as well as the firm’s cybersecurity, privacy & data protection practice, which was ranked in Band 1 by Chambers Global 2023. Natasha’s practice is at the forefront of emerging technologies, advising global companies on complex issues involving artificial intelligence, biometrics, autonomous vehicles, the metaverse, digital assets and cryptocurrency, among others. To learn more about Natasha, please visit her full profile: http://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/natasha-g-kohne.html

Graham Lovett

Graham has extensive, market-leading commercial litigation and international arbitration experience covering a wide range of sectors and a variety of disputes. He handles complex, sensitive disputes involving joint ventures, shareholders, banking and finance, fraud, as well as more technical matters involving infrastructure, project and energy disputes. Graham is a solicitor-advocate (with full advocacy rights in all Courts in England and Wales). He regularly appears as an advocate before the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts, and undertakes his own advocacy in arbitration hearings. He also sits as an arbitrator in both domestic and international arbitrations. To learn more about Graham, please visit his full profile here: https://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/graham-lovett  

Zahra Mashhood

Nicola Minervini

Syed Muhammad Rizvi

Syed has extensive experience advising on public and private mergers and acquisitions (M&A), joint ventures, restructurings and outbound investments across the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the United States. His practice focuses on complex, multijurisdictional mandates involving strategic acquisitions, divestitures and capital deployment across both high-growth and established sectors.Syed regularly advises clients on transactions across a range of sectors, including technology (artificial intelligence (AI), digital assets and data infrastructure), health care and life sciences, energy and infrastructure, financial services and natural resources. His work frequently involves structuring and executing cross-border investments, supporting long-term capital deployment strategies, and navigating legal, regulatory and governance considerations in highly complex transactional environments.To learn more about Syed, please visit his full profile here: https://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/syed-rizvi

Tim Pearce

Tim Pearce is a partner in Akin’s investment funds group. He works with alternative fund managers, particularly hedge and credit managers, and other asset managers ranging from the largest global houses to smaller start-ups. He assists clients as they launch and manage funds in key jurisdictions around the world. He also provides general investment management support and advice on the regulatory obligations that alternative fund managers face. Tim advises on a wide variety of issues connected with alternative investment vehicles, including launching of hedge funds, credit funds and funds of hedge funds; legal considerations for segregated account agreements and managed account platforms; fund restructurings; side-letter and investment negotiations; distribution arrangements; regulatory advice; and structuring of asset management businesses. To learn more about Mr. Pearce, please visit his full profile: https://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/tim-pearce-1.html

Simon Rootsey

Simon is an experienced private equity and M&A lawyer who advises private equity firms, sovereign wealth funds, infrastructure investors and corporates on complex cross-border transactions. His experience spans all aspects of M&A and private equity, including consortium arrangements, joint ventures, co-investments, carve-out transactions, public takeovers, IPO exits and special situations investments.He frequently represents clients in the energy (especially downstream and midstream), infrastructure and healthcare and life sciences sectors.  Simon works with clients on transactions across Africa (where he has worked on deals covering over 30 African jurisdictions), Latin America and transatlantic take-private or other transactions where U.S. clients are investing in Europe. To learn more about Mr. Rootsey, please visit his full profile: https://www.akingump.com/en/lawyers-advisors/simon-rootsey.html

Michael Stewart

Lauren Talerman

Lauren advises on export controls, sanctions, anti-corruption, and anti-money laundering (AML) laws and regulations for a diverse array of global clients given her central location in Dubai. Lauren also supports clients in conducting internal investigations and risk assessments and represents clients facing government investigations and enforcement actions concerning trade controls, including sanctions regulations administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and U.S. export controls, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Lauren also counsels clients in connection with proposed transactions and business relationships by conducting due diligence in mergers & acquisitions (M&A) and other corporate and financial transactions.