International law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has announced the appointment of Raza Mithani, an International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Partner, into its Dubai office to further boost the Firm's UAE offering. He joins on 3 February 2016.
Prior to joining BLP, Raza led the Commercial Disputes Practice for King & Spalding in Dubai. Recognised as one of the 'rising star' arbitration specialists in the region, Raza has a long track record of successfully representing clients including private equity companies, financial institutions and a range of multinationals in complex and high value disputes. His sectoral experience covers financial services, aerospace and defence, energy, construction and insurance. He has been praised by Legal 500 as an advocate who "excels in arbitration hearings", is recommended for his "technical know-how and skill in relation to complex matters", and acknowledged as "pre-eminent...".
Raza has appeared for clients in many of the landmark cases to come before the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts since its creation, and prior to that the English Courts. Before moving to Dubai in 2008, Raza practised as a barrister from leading chambers in the UK, where he was appointed by the Crown as Treasury Counsel. At BLP, Raza will help expand the Firm's contentious business in the region - with a focus on international and commercial arbitration.
Richard Davies, BLP's Country Managing Partner, UAE, commented: "Strategically, appointing Raza is hugely important for BLP both globally and specifically to our regional offering. He will help us to grow our international arbitration business and with Dubai making strenuous efforts further to enhance its standing as a global international arbitration centre, we will be on the front foot as this develops and able to respond to our clients' needs with a physical presence on the ground."
With the addition of Raza, alongside recently appointed Energy and Infrastructure Partner, Alexander Sarac, the Firm now has eight Partners across its two Middle East offices and a total of over 20 fee earners supporting clients across the MENA region, including those businesses making outbound investments into the UK, Europe, Southeast Asia & India and Russia.
Recent work has included acting for a number of clients in high-value arbitrations, particularly in specialist construction and engineering matters. The firm is on the panel for a number of the region's leading developers, including Dubai Properties Group for whom BLP has advised on a number of mandates, most recently on three major developments in Dubai. Additionally, the BLP UAE real estate team acted for Al Tamouh Investments Company LLC and its subsidiary in the successful closing of a AED 600,000,000 sharia'a compliant Islamic financing for a two-tower residential project located in the City of Lights, Al Reem Island, Abu Dhabi. The financing was provided by a syndicate of two banks, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC. The Firm also assisted the developer of two luxury resort hotel and branded residence projects to be branded under the Taj and Marriott brands on Dubai's iconic Palm Jumeirah, including the negotiation of the agreements with the operators
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Ben Gold | Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP
Communications Manager
Direct Dial: +44 (0)20 3400 4402
Main: +44 (0)20 3400 1000
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Email: Ben.Gold@blplaw.com
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© Press Release 2016
