Nooree Moola is an English and Australian-qualified partner in the Dubai office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  She is a member of the firm’s International Arbitration, Enforcement of Judgments and Arbitral Awards, and Litigation practice groups.  She has practiced in the Middle East region for nearly a decade.

Ms. Moola specialises in international arbitration and complex commercial litigation.  She has been instructed on multiple landmark commercial disputes before the DIFC Court, creating new law in the process.   Ms. Moola also sits as an arbitrator, and has recently been appointed as arbitrator in DIFC-LCIA proceedings. She is a member of the DIFC Court Rules Drafting Committee and is appointed to the United Nations Global Arbitration Counsel List.

Ms. Moola regularly represents clients in relation to shareholder disputes, investment disputes, M&A disputes, infrastructure and energy disputes, and matters involving fraud, anti-corruption and white collar crime. Ms. Moola acts in arbitrations under all of the major institutional rules. She has broad experience, including domestic and transnational litigation at the interlocutory, trial and appellate levels, before the DIFC Courts, the High Court of England & Wales, the English Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Australia, the Supreme Court of Victoria, the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia. She has also acted on multiple campaigns for the enforcement of ultra-high-value arbitral awards across jurisdictions, against sovereign and private entities. She has acted for a broad range of clients including international oil companies, multinational corporations, banks, investment firms and sovereign governments.

Ms. Moola is named on Legal 500’s Arbitration Powerlist for the Middle East Region, and was named a “Rising Star” by Legal 500 EMEA 2022 for Dispute Resolution: Arbitration and International Litigation. Clients describe her as “very client-focused, commercial and pragmatic”, “very articulate and cool under pressure”, and “a tenacious and persuasive lawyer” who “quickly cuts through the noise to hone in on what is important”.

Recent work includes:

Arbitration

• Acting in a shareholder dispute between members of an oil and gas joint venture in multiple high-value LCIA arbitrations seated in London, with claims in excess of US$ 2 billion;
• Defending a sovereign state in a US$ 3 billion Singapore-seated commercial and investment dispute relating to a key piece of railway infrastructure;
• Acting in a shareholder dispute between members of a telecommunications joint venture in a high-value, DIFC-seated LCIA Arbitration, with claims approaching US$ 1 billion;
• Acting for a sovereign state in an LCIA arbitration relating to container terminals and related infrastructure, involving allegations of bribery and State expropriation;
• Acting in ICC arbitration proceedings for breaches of contract and fiduciary duty by the majority shareholder of a joint venture entity.

Litigation

• Acting in the first ever state immunity case to be heard by the DIFC Courts or Dubai courts, creating new law in the process;
• DIFC Court derivative proceedings against the directors of a holding company alleging breaches of fiduciary duty (such as self-dealing and conflicts of interest) and directors’ duties;
• Injunction proceedings before the DIFC Court of First Instance to prevent a pledge of our client’s shares being granted to a Lebanese Bank;
• Representing an African sovereign state in connection with English High Court proceedings relating (in part) to a port development in Africa;
• Providing pre-litigation and strategic advice for various private equity investors in connection with investments in MENA.

Enforcement and arbitration-related litigation

• Acting for a Middle-Eastern investor in the enforcement in London, New York, the DIFC, the Netherlands and Switzerland of a multi-billion dollar LCIA arbitral award against a foreign government entity;
• Advising an Asian sovereign state in relation to the enforcement of a high-value UNCITRAL award in multiple jurisdictions;
• Seeking an injunction in aid of arbitration before the DIFC Courts, to restrain a security holder from enforcing a share pledge whilst arbitration was underway;
• Obtaining worldwide disclosure orders from the DIFC Court in connection with the enforcement of an arbitral award;
• Representing a multi-national company in relation to a jurisdiction challenge in support of an arbitration agreement.

In addition to her client work, Ms. Moola is also active in the dispute resolution community in Dubai, and attends all of the major think-tanks and conferences. She is a member of ArbitralWomen, YIAC, Young ICCA, the Green Pledge and the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge. Ms. Moola speaks at international conferences, and has lectured and published on a number of topics, including delivering training on international arbitration and state immunity to the staff of the Office of the Solicitor General of an Asian country.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Ms. Moola trained and practiced as a solicitor in a top-tier international law firm in Melbourne, Australia. She was admitted as a solicitor in Australia in November 2009.

During her studies, Ms. Moola was awarded a Dean’s Academic Excellence Award for having the highest finishing grade in both her Law and Applied Science (Genetic Engineering/Medical Biotechnology) degrees. She also received Dean’s Commendations for Excellent Academic Achievement each year between 2005 and 2008. Ms. Moola was also awarded the LESANZ Academic Achievement Award as top student in the course of her LL.M., completed at the University of Queensland.

Ms. Moola also serves as Director on the Board of Pack for a Purpose, a s 501(3)(c) non-profit organization which encourages travellers to use extra luggage space to deliver supplies (from books to medical tools) to community-based programmes around the world. It supports more than 450 community projects in 66 countries across the world, with a key focus on education, health and child welfare.