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Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes launches offices in Cairo and Abu Dhabi

Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes launches offices in Cairo and Abu Dhabi, solidifying its presence on the African continent and in the MENA region. Both offices will be managed by Founding Partner Mohamed Shelbaya and will include a mix of dual-qualified Arabic-speaking associates as well as common law trained lawyers.

“This is a major milestone in the development of our Firm’s international footprint,” comments Founding Partner Yas Banifatemi. “The Middle East has long been a focus of our team, as an important share of our work is related to the region. We are delighted to establish a presence in these two major business centres, so as to better assist our clients throughout the Middle East.”

The Firm’s team serving the MENA region, a number of whom will be working out of Cairo and Abu Dhabi while others will continue to be based in the Firm’s other offices, includes twelve Arabic-speaking lawyers qualified in English law, French law and Egyptian law (on which most GCC laws are based) and also specialized in international law.

The Firm has been at the heart of many of the most significant and ground-breaking disputes in the Middle East over the past fifteen years, securing landmark victories on behalf of its clients. In addition to its disputes practice, the Firm has also developed a practice advising clients on how best to avoid future litigation and minimise liability risk and representing clients in negotiating their most sensitive transactions in the energy and mining sectors. The Firm has notably advised a number of governments and State-owned entities in the region on their major contracts and standard form agreements and on how to structure their respective energy sectors.

“We combine extensive international disputes experience with unique credentials in providing transactional advice on contract drafting, corporate structuring, and liability risk management,” says Shelbaya. “This combined practice that does not segregate disputes from advisory work leverages our knowledge of how contracts are performed in the real world and how they are interpreted by common law and civil law arbitrators when deals go wrong, and enables us to provide pragmatic and tested solutions and to plan for and effectively manage any dispute that may arise.”

Described in the latest edition of Chambers Global as “one of the best lawyers globally in oil and gas dispute resolution”, and praised as an “excellent negotiator”, Shelbaya has spearheaded landmark victories in numerous multibillion-dollar disputes. He also sits as President, sole arbitrator or co-arbitrator in commercial and investment disputes. He teaches investment arbitration at Sciences Po Law School in Paris. He served as a member of the LCIA Court between 2019 and 2024 and is the President of the LCIA Arab Users’ Council. He also sits on the CRCICA’s Advisory Committee.

In the oil & gas sector, the Firm has appeared as counsel in arbitrations relating to upstream, midstream and downstream disputes, involving a broad spectrum of issues. It has handled disputes arising from the performance and termination of exploration and production contracts, gas supply and sale agreements, liquefaction contracts and LNG sale agreements, as well as disputes relating to price reviews. Recent victories include securing on behalf of Egyptian State-owned oil & gas company EGAS the dismissal of claims in excess of USD 4 billion arising from a gas liquefaction agreement governed by English law and a related supply agreement governed by Egyptian law.

The Firm’s experience in the Middle East includes a mix of commercial and investment disputes. Lawyers at the Firm have acted as counsel in large scale joint venture, post-acquisition and shareholder disputes, construction and engineering cases related to a variety of civil infrastructure projects, and investment disputes. The Firm currently represents the Arab Republic of Egypt in two investment disputes, involving claims in excess of USD 86 billion, brought by Saudi investors in relation to touristic and commercial real estate projects. The team working on these cases has secured the summary dismissal of claims in excess of USD 30 billion and continues to defend the Arab Republic of Egypt against the remaining claims. It also recently secured the full dismissal of USD 190 million claimed in two parallel ICSID and UNCITRAL arbitrations, which arose from a concession for the distribution of natural gas distribution in one of Egypt’s largest governorates.

The Cairo office is located in Maadi, a Southern district of Cairo on the east bank of the Nile. The Abu Dhabi office is located within Abu Dhabi Global Markets, an international financial centre and free zone located on Al Maryah Island in the United Arab Emirates’ capital. Shelbaya will work out of the Cairo, Abu Dhabi and London offices.

Cairo
cairo@gbsdisputes.com
56, Street No. 15
11728 Maadi
Cairo – Egypt

Abu Dhabi
abudhabi@gbsdisputes.com
Al Maqam Tower, 34th Floor
Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi Global Market Square
P.O. Box 35665
Abu Dhabi – UAE

Press contact:press@gbsdisputes.com

 

Link to GAR Article.