Obeid & Partners

Our Dubai office acts as a central hub for our regional operations across numerous jurisdictions, including Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Libya, the UAE, and Qatar providing a full-service offering across a diverse range of business and practice areas.
Obeid & Partners is particularly known for its expertise in Middle Eastern legislation, Islamic finance, complex cross-borders matters, projects, construction and its International Arbitration and ADR practice which has been consistently recognized by professionals and institutions as a world-leading practice. Our expertise which is grounded on a strong understanding of local laws and practice, extends from Lebanon, to the wider MENA region.
Our Dubai office serves as a central hub for our clients in the Middle East. We regularly advise foreign governments and multinational corporations, institutions, and private equity firms in multiple sectors such as energy, financial services, construction, telecommunication, pharmaceutical, aviation, real estate, manufacturing, aerospace, information technology and mining.
Our expert lawyers are also frequently asked to serve as legal experts on MENA legislations before international arbitral tribunals and before various courts in international litigation.
Our team has also been involved in several legislative reforms across the region and at the forefront of drafting model ADR laws and arbitration rules for several institutions such as DIAC, DIFC-LCIA, ICC, CRCICA, the Arab League and other similar institutions in the region.
Obeid & Partners are highly commended by international institutions and professional publications, including Legal 500, Chambers Global, Who’s Who Legal and the Global Arbitration Review (GAR). In addition, we have also been consistently ranked as having one of the top 100 arbitration practices in the world and is recognized globally as having a Tier 1, Number 1 ranking in dispute resolution in Lebanon.

International arbitration

We are a recognized global leader in dispute resolution and international arbitration, with considerable expertise in complex cross-border disputes. We are widely acknowledged as having a leading specialist arbitration practice in the Middle East and North Africa by Chambers Global, Who’s Who Legal, the Legal 500 and the Global Arbitration Review (GAR).

We represent and act as trusted adviser to leading organisations and advise on many of the region’s largest, most complex and high-stakes litigation and arbitration cases. These often have a multijurisdictional element, and their outcome has a significant impact on the future of the sectors involved. We combine international best practice with in-depth local expertise, which extends from Lebanon to the wider MENA region and beyond.

Specialist construction-centric advice

Our multidisciplinary team of lawyers and engineers are experts in construction law and also in the construction industry – we have most likely seen your type of claims before and know how to handle them efficiently to obtain the best outcome for you. We are also experts in international arbitration and claims resolution processes. These skills combined mean we know how to win disputes and ensure client satisfaction. We have extensive experience in construction projects and disputes, Who’s Who Legal recognizes our managing partner, Ziad Obeid, as one of the world’s leading construction arbitration specialists. Partner Bryan Dayton is a co-author of a leading treatise on delay and disruption and Partner Dr Zeina Obeid has authored a definitive text on enforcing arbitral awards throughout the Middle East. Our in-house barrister and senior counsel Gerhardt Will, former general counsel of Areva SA, has managed one of the world’s largest construction arbitration disputes. From our extensive experience, we know what works at every stage of your construction projects from drafting EPC contracts, managing supply chains, preparing convincing claims, winning disputes, and enforcing awards.

Expert services on Middle Eastern legislation

Our team includes practitioners who regularly accept appointments as legal experts on various aspects of Middle Eastern and Shari’a law and have authored numerous publications relating to the laws of Arab countries.
Our lawyers are regularly called to give expert evidence on aspects of Middle Eastern legislations before international arbitration tribunals and foreign courts including the Grand Courts of the Cayman Islands and the English High Court. They have presented evidence on matters such as agency issues, shareholding rights, commercial representation, enforcement and recognition of foreign judgments and the enforcement of international awards and injunctions in Lebanon and the Middle East. We draw on this experience to provide our clients with a detailed insight into complex and multi-jurisdictional matters.
Obeid & Partners is regularly involved in cases where the following laws are applicable to the substance of the dispute:

§ Egyptian Law, Jordanian Law, Kuwaiti Law, Lebanese Law, Qatari Law, Syrian Law, Tunisian Law, UAE Law, Yemeni Law
§ English Law, French Law, Italian Law, Swiss Law, US Law
Special expertise in Islamic Finance
We have significant expertise in advising clients on Islamic Finance issues notably in arbitration proceedings. 
The firm’ founding partner, Prof. Dr. Nayla Comair-Obeid, has acted as member of the Corporate Governance Working Group of Islamic Banking (2004 – 2007) and has also authored numerous publications in Islamic finance and has co-authored the Diploma Course on Islamic Finance of the Chartered Institute of Arbitration in Malaysia. 

Publications

• The Law of Business Contracts in the Middle East
• CIArb Diploma course on Islamic Finance, Malysia. 
• “An Overview of Islamic Financial Instruments and the Suitable Mechanism for Resolving Disputes,” in FestschriftAhmedSadekEl-Kosheri:fromtheArabWorldtotheglobalizationofinternationallawand arbitration, 2015.
• “ADR and Islamic Finance”, Article published in TheResolverMagazine, CIArb July 2014.
• Speaker, “Arbitration in commercial and financial disputes under Islamic Law”, GASI Seminar, Lugano, 08 October 2019.
• Panelist & Moderator, CIArb “Islamic Finance and Banking Practices: Reconciling Tradition and Modernity” Conference, Manama, Bahrain, 30 October – 1 November 2016.
• Tutor, CIArb Islamic Finance and International Arbitration Diploma Course, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, September 2015.

Joint Ventures

• Given our international footprint and unique French/ Middle East expertise we are often called upon to advice on the merits of joint ventures between across borders. We also have significant experience on JV disputes and how to get out of such contractual arrangements.

Recent examples of our work include

• Advising The Commercial Bank of Dubai in its claim against Bankmed SAL arising from the banks’ failure to make overseas payments under international letters of credit, where CBD was acting as confirming bank;
• Acting as lead counsel in a series of international arbitrations involving two DIFCLCIA arbitrations and one LCIA arbitration involving landmark and signature projects in the UAE:
• Acting as member of the Tribunal in a dispute between the Government of Qatar and an American engineering firm relating to the establishment of a large new infrastructure in project in Qatar. This is currently the largest infrastructure dispute in the Middle East
• Representing and acting as lead counsel for a major regional EPC contractor in an ICC arbitration seated in Doha, Qatar with a multibillion dollar conglomerate in a dispute amounting to more than US$160 million.
• Acting as Chairman of the Tribunal in an investment dispute concerning measures taken by the Arab Republic of Egypt against investments made by two Australian companies, Tantalum International Limited and Arrowhead Resources in an Alluvial Tin and hard-rock tantalum mining project at Abu Dabbab in the Central part of the Eastern Desert of Egypt south of the Port of Quseir

• Successfully representing IMMS (an international oil trader) in what is currently known as the largest litigation in involving a claim in excess of 1 billion US dollars. This was a first-of-a-kind matter in the banking sector amidst the current financial crisis in Lebanon, in which we challenged the unofficial capital controls being exercised by local banks vis-à-vis international depositors. The case required close coordination with actions overtaken overseas (in the US, UAE and Switzerland)

• Advising Al Ghurair Foods WLL in the context of the enforcement of a foreign international award in Lebanon, involving the National Flour Mills factory and facilities, which is one of the largest food manufacturing/processing and retail companies in the Middle East
• Acting as lead counsel for Qatari/Saudi EPC Contractor in a complex, high value, international arbitration under the ICC Rules, seated in Geneva against a world leading, Germany based, multinational conglomerate in relation to a dispute involving a major steel bar mill and utility project in Doha, Qatar.
• Acting as lead counsel for a major regional EPC contractor in a dispute with a world leading, Germany based, multinational conglomerate in the amount of more than US$53 million in relation to a major utility project in the power sector in the UAE.
• Acting for a leading hospitality group in its dispute arising from the sale of the Movenpick and Four Seasons’ hotels in a Middle Eastern country.
• Acting for a major MEP subcontractor in three arbitration cases against a British contractor in relation to the building of a major mall in Dubai, a hospitality project in Dubai and a mall in Abu Dhabi
• Acting as sole arbitrator, co-arbitrator and chairman in international arbitrations conducted under the ICC, DIAC, CRCICA, UNCITRAL and other arbitral rules governed by Qatari, Syrian, Tunisian, UAE, Jordanian, Egyptian, Sudanese, Bahraini, French, Italian and Lebanese law