Middle East

Gibson Dunn has offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Our full-service UAE team – which has worked on-the-ground in the UAE for many years – covers M&A, private equity, energy and infrastructure, project development and project finance, finance (including Islamic finance) and restructuring, capital markets, regulatory and legislative matters (including financial regulatory), international arbitration, and dispute resolution.

Our clients include Government-related entities (including sovereign wealth funds), family offices, multinational corporations and financial institutions. In particular, our UAE team works closely with Abu Dhabi Government entities, across various different practice areas, which has given us a holistic understanding of their requirements, preferences and negotiation positions. Also, several of our team members have experience being seconded to Abu Dhabi Government entities.

In Saudi Arabia, Gibson Dunn has an office in Riyadh. Our large, on-the-ground team has extensive experience advising clients on all aspects of Saudi law, including corporate and capital markets transactions, regulatory and legislative matters, all aspects of financing (including project, Islamic (including sukuk issuances) and structured financings, and financial restructurings), international arbitration, and dispute resolution.

Our team combines its market-leading experience in Saudi Arabia with the experience of Megren M. Al-Shaalan in his former position as Senior Legal Advisor and the Secretary General of the National Committee for Law Development at the Royal Court and currently as the Chairman of the Regulations Committee at the Royal Commission for Al-Ula.

A key strength of our team lies in its ability to integrate the skills and resources of our practitioners across different practice areas and jurisdictions within the Middle East. Whether it’s cross-border transactions, regulatory matters, or complex dispute resolution, our team is equipped to handle the most challenging legal issues in the region. We are also a first choice for many of the most prominent Middle East sovereign wealth funds for their global and regional investments, in particular investments into the United States. Our team members have a deep track record of executing unique projects and complex transactions across a range of sectors in Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Palestine, and Lebanon.