K&L Gates

The Firm

K&L Gates’ Dubai office, established in 2009, supports clients doing business in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and beyond by helping them meet their legal, corporate, commercial, and regulatory needs in pursuit of their key objectives. The firm’s Dubai-based lawyers provide advice on all aspects of onshore UAE law and practice, including retention and supervision of local lawyers in the Dubai and UAE courts, as well as the laws and regulations applicable in the UAE free zones, including the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). The legal team comprises civil and common law qualified lawyers with full bilingual English and Arabic capability, to seamlessly advise clients across a wide variety of situations.

The UAE’s continued commitment to infrastructure development and position within the financial services sector make it an important location for the firm. Further, its proximity to Europe, Africa, and Asia enhances the strength of its international trading relationships.

The Dubai office focuses on construction, commercial, and corporate matters (including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity, venture capital investments, corporate advisory, and corporate governance); dispute resolution (including arbitration, litigation, and construction dispute resolution); capital markets; employment and internal investigations; investment funds; and regulatory advice. The office also works closely with the firmwide Islamic Finance and Investment group.

K&L Gates is one of the largest law firms in the world, with offices located in key capital cities and world commercial and financial centres. Its many offices operate as one firm, offering clients local market knowledge and access to both national and international capabilities.

Main Areas of Practice

Asset Management and Investment Funds:

The Dubai Asset Management and Investment Funds practice is part of one of the largest and most experienced global investment fund groups, with approximately 150 lawyers across more than 25 offices worldwide. The Dubai team is lean but highly experienced, advising financial institutions, investment advisers, and fund managers across the GCC on innovative, high-value transactions and investment products. The team supports a broad range of funds, including regulated and mutual funds, alternative funds, funds of funds, REITs, and Shari’a-compliant vehicles, acting for managers, investors, intermediaries, and service providers throughout the industry.

The lawyers are well versed in the full spectrum of issues that arise in the GCC, advising clients across the entire fund lifecycle—from structuring, formation, portfolio investments, and divestitures to regulatory compliance, operations, and enforcement. With longstanding relationships with key regulatory authorities in the UAE (SCA, DFSA, FSRA), and Arabic-speaking lawyers providing direct access to local decision makers, the team is uniquely positioned to deliver timely and commercially focused advice.

Corporate:

The Corporate M&A practice in Dubai provides a full range of corporate and commercial legal services, supporting clients on matters ranging from market entry and general corporate advice to highly strategic business transactions and critical matters. The team, consisting of civil and common law qualified lawyers, has extensive experience advising on all aspects of domestic and cross-border M&A transactions, private equity, venture capital, general corporate, licensing, and restructuring matters, and commercial contracts.

The team works as part of a highly integrated and collaborative global Corporate practice, delivering seamless service to clients across the Middle East region and beyond. Dubai-based lawyers regularly draft and negotiate arrangements and transactions in English and Arabic, and serve as trusted advisers to Fortune Global 500, middle market, and emerging businesses, as well as their investors and boards.

Construction Dispute Resolution:

The Dubai construction disputes practice is one of the most experienced and active in the UAE and wider Middle East, advising clients on some of the region’s largest, most complex, and high-value construction and infrastructure disputes. Tailored solutions are provided to a wide range of project participants, including owners, contractors, subcontractors, investors, and consultants, across every stage of the dispute process. With extensive experience in international arbitration, litigation, mediation, and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, the lawyers bring both technical construction knowledge and deep dispute resolution experience to each matter. They are regularly engaged on major claims, from delay and disruption to defects and termination, and are often called upon early to investigate facts, assess risks, and develop strategies to support or defend claims.

With decades of collective experience in UAE law and the wider GCC region, and strong relationships with leading local advocates, they combine international standards with local knowledge to deliver effective outcomes. The team offers a full spectrum of services across construction disputes, including claim preparation and defence, arbitration and litigation advocacy, mediation, negotiation, and enforcement.

Data Protection, Privacy, and Security:

The Data Protection, Privacy, and Security practice group in Dubai benefits from the global practice’s experience with various technologies and methodologies. From assessing risk to incident response, breach, and crisis counselling, lawyers are qualified to handle any data privacy and security compliance issue. They address a wide range of commercial, regulatory, data protection, privacy, and security issues.

Employment:

The Dubai Labour, Employment, and Workplace Safety practice provides a full-service labour and employment law practice advising in both contentious and noncontentious matters in the MENA region. This experience includes conducting investigations into complex employment policy breaches as well as advising on compliance with the local employment regime (i.e., immigration and residency requirements), employment contracts, termination procedures, pension obligations, gratuity payments, and redundancy procedures.

Lawyers represent clients on contentious claims relating to breach of restrictive covenants, arbitrary dismissal, discrimination, unpaid dues, and more, in the DIFC courts as well as the local courts.

Intellectual Property:

K&L Gates’ Intellectual Property (IP) capability in the UAE is a part of the global full-service IP practice. Work includes a wide range of commercial, regulatory, data protection, privacy and security, technology transactions, and IP matters, particularly in the technology, retail, luxury, sports, consumer products, and gambling sectors. The global practice has a market reputation for trademark, design, copyright, and licensing, with experience in cross-border counselling, registration, clearance, portfolio management, licensing, enforcement (opposition and cancellation proceedings), and disputes.

Litigation and Dispute Resolution:

The Litigation and Dispute Resolution lawyers based in Dubai are trained and experienced in international dispute resolution techniques and regularly advise and represent regional and international corporations, as well as individuals throughout the MENA region. They are regularly called upon as counsel on major arbitration and litigation matters in the UAE, the GCC, and wider Middle East region and on high-profile cases in a wide range of industry sectors, including energy, construction, hospitality, real estate, defence, insurance, international joint ventures, and investor-state disputes.

The team works with clients to resolve disputes through litigation in the DIFC, ADGM, and local courts, as well as arbitration, mediation, and other alternative dispute resolution techniques. Lawyers offer a wide range of services such as strategic advice, internal investigations, dispute avoidance, and cross-border enforcement issues.

The team includes lawyers registered as advocates in the DIFC Courts. The Dubai office also has established long-standing and solid relationships with leading, locally based advocates in jurisdictions across the region and can effectively supervise and manage litigation in the onshore courts across the MENA region.

The office has extensive local experience and regularly works with colleagues in the firm’s network of fully integrated offices around the globe in order to offer clients access to more than 300 full-range litigation lawyers across multiple jurisdictions.

Policy and Regulatory:

K&L Gates’ Dubai Policy and Regulatory team has a deep understanding of the regulatory and compliance framework in the UAE, and regularly advises domestic and international clients on complex, developing, or novel areas of the law.

The team is bilingual, understands the legal text in its original language, and does not rely on translated texts to comprehend the legislator’s intent. Combined with extensive experience, the team is perfectly suited to guide clients on strategic and critical business decisions from a compliance and practical aspect, and through a focused yet local lens and mindset.

Services include providing clients with corporate and commercial regulatory advice; due diligence reporting and documentation; risk and compliance (including anti-money laundering related); legal searches and updates; business licensing and permit applications; operational regulatory compliance; data privacy; and environmental, social, and governance matters.

Managing Partner: Tony Griffiths (Managing Partner, Brussels, Dubai, and Doha Offices and Managing Partner, Europe and Middle East)

K&L Gates Offices:

Austin, Berlin, Boston, Brisbane, Brussels, Charleston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Doha, Dubai, Dublin, Fort Worth, Frankfurt, Harrisburg, Hong Kong, Houston, Kansas City, London, Los Angeles, Luxembourg, Melbourne, Miami, Milan, Munich, Nashville, Newark, New York, Orange County, Palo Alto, Paris, Perth, Pittsburgh, Portland, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, San Francisco, Seattle, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, Tokyo, Washington, DC, and Wilmington.