Latham & Watkins LLP

The firm: Latham & Watkins is a leading international law firm serving multinational companies, state-owned enterprises, investment banks, private equity funds, venture capital firms, sovereign wealth funds, governments and other organisations. The firm’s global platform spans Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US, and consists of internationally recognised practices across a wide spectrum of transactional, litigation, corporate and regulatory areas. Latham lawyers offer unrivalled legal resources and strategic commercial thinking to provide clients with innovative solutions to complex business and legal matters.

Latham lawyers have been advising some of the most active strategic and financial dealmakers in the Middle East for over 20 years.  The Middle East practice combines regional knowledge and experience with an international network of offices to provide comprehensive service to clients with interests in the Middle East, Africa, Turkey, South Asia and beyond.

Latham established an on-the-ground presence in Dubai in 2008 and has witnessed the rapid growth of this dynamic city, as well as its recent economic challenges. Latham’s Dubai team has a commitment to continue growing and serving their clients in the UAE and the GCC, as well as those located internationally with interests across the region.

Areas of practice: Latham has a team highly experienced in banking & private credit, project development and finance, capital markets, investment funds, Islamic finance, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property and technology transactions across industries such as education, energy, power, oil and gas, financial services, government entities, healthcare, infrastructure, mining and metals, construction, retail, and telecommunications.

Latham & Watkins is one of the few firms to have full English and US securities capabilities on the ground in the Middle East. Latham is a leader when it comes to debt and equity capital markets offerings in the Middle East and other emerging markets. Over the past decade, Latham has been the top law firm in global project bonds – ranked by value of bonds issued and by number of offerings. In addition, its lawyers have advised financial institutions, regional government agencies and corporate clients on many high-profile capital markets transactions and a wide range of GCC regulatory matters.

Latham’s M&A and private equity team has the in-depth knowledge and resources necessary to structure and execute complex transactions involving cross-border legal regimes throughout the GCC and the globe.