Profile of the Company:
As the largest law firm in the Middle East, Al Tamimi & Company knows more than just the law. We pride ourselves on understanding the business environment in which we operate ultimately benefiting the clients we work with.
Established in Dubai in 1989, we have offices in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with more than 305 lawyers and over 560 staff. We are proud of where we have come from and excited about where we are heading.
As a full service law firm, we specialise in a range of practice areas - each being a genuine strength. We provide not only professional expertise but superior client service and quality strategic advice. We combine internationally qualified and experienced lawyers with lawyers who have deep local roots. Along with this, the ability to practice local law in each of the jurisdictions we are present, rights of audience before local courts, and licensed litigators in each of our offices, really sets us apart.
We have advised on some of the most complex legal issues and continue to be at the forefront of business and legal challenges facing our clients.
Essam Al Tamimi
Experience
Essam Al Tamimi has over 28 years of experience in litigation and dispute resolution in the UAE and the GCC counties. In 1989, he established what is now the largest firm in the Middle East, Al Tamimi & Company and currently holds the position of Senior Partner at the firm.
Essam has assisted federal and local governments in drafting laws and regulations relating to the Telecommunications Law Authority, Dubai Internet and Media City, assisted in the Abu Dhabi privatization of water and electricity and played a major role in drafting the privatization and ADWEA laws and regulations, assisted the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry in drafting the Federal Industrial law and implementing regulations, assisted Dubai International Financial Centre Authority in drafting number of laws and regulations relating to the Authority, the Court and the Arbitration Centre and have been actively involved in commenting and reviewing most of the federal laws including the Arbitration law, Commercial Companies law and the Consumer Protection law. He has extensive experience in regulatory matters and has assisting local and federal governments on regulatory issues.
Essam’s principal place of practice is Dubai, United Arab Emirates but he also has extensive experience in advising and assisting client throughout the Arab region and in particular the GCC states where he has worked and advised and attended to projects in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq as well as sat as an arbitrator and appeared as co-counsel in a number of matters in the GCC counties. Mr. Al Tamimi has extensive experience in civil, commercial and banking laws in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq and has worked closely with Al Tamimi’s overseas offices in a number of matters.
Essam has acted as counsel and sat as arbitrator at a number of disputes regionally and internationally. He is currently on the ICC Court, Chairman of the ICC-UAE Commission on Arbitration, ex- Chairman and Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, ex-member of the LCIA Court, ex-President of the LCIA Arab Users’ Council. He is actively involved in development of arbitration laws in the region and for the training and development of arbitration in the UAE and the region. His practice focuses primarily on local and international clients in shipping, banking, intellectual property, construction and commercial litigation. Essam has published a number of articles and books on litigation and arbitration in the UAE and setting up business in the region. He has received Gulf Legal Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding contribution to the Gulf Legal Market. He is on the editorial advisory board of the ICLR. He is a member of the IBA Rule of Law Action Group Advisory Council.
Professional memberships
Essam Al Tamimi’s international expertise has been enhanced and recognised through membership of key regional and international arbitration panels including:
- GCC Commercial Arbitration Centre, Bahrain
- Dubai International Arbitration Centre
- Centre for Dispute Resolution, United Kingdom
- International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration, Paris
- UAE Representative of the International Chamber of Commerce
- Singapore International Arbitration Centre
- Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration
Hassan Arab
Education
| Beirut University in Alexandria, Egypt Bachelor Degree of (LLB) | 1996 |
| University of Wollongong, Australia Master Degree of International Business (MIB) | 2004 |
| The College of Law, UK Practice Diploma in International Arbitration Law | 2007 |
| The College of Law, UK Practice Diploma in International Commercial Law | 2009 |
Languages
Experience
Hassan Arab is a leading expert in all aspects of litigation and dispute resolution, with particular expertise in cases relating to banking, commercial law, insurance, construction law, contract law, intellectual property rights and Arbitration.
As Partner and Regional Head of Litigation for the region at Al Tamimi & Company, Hassan has spent his career building one of the strongest litigation teams in the Middle East which Legal 500 has recognised as “having a great reputation for local court work with a number of really good practitioners”.
Chambers Global has commended Hassan as a “real winner who gives excellent advice and solutions”. Hassan Arab has been recognized as a leading lawyer in the field of asset recovery and commercial litigation by the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers.
Professional memberships and speaking engagements
Playing a leadership role in many professional organisations, Hassan is a past Chair of the Arab Regional Forum and has been appointed a Member of the IBA’s Legal Practice Division Council and Council Liaison Officer to the Arab Regional Forum. Hassan is also a Member of the Steering Committee of the ICC-UAE Commission on Arbitration, Member of Geographical Advisory Board of Business law International, Editorial Member of the International Journal of Arab Arbitration. Recently, Hassan has been appointed as a Councillor of the LCIA Arab User’s Council and as Member of the DIFC Court Users Committee.
Hassan is a regular presenter at conferences and seminars speaking on the many aspects of litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution in the Middle East.
DIAC Arbitration
Hassan serves as an arbitrator in complex and commercial cases with a nationwide practice. As an arbitrator he has arbitrated many claims and provided advice on arbitration and construction. He is registered with Dubai International Arbitration Centre and Sharjah International Commercial Arbitration Centre.
Publications
Hassan has written and lectured extensively on various topics which include arbitration, dispute resolution, enforcement of judgments, Specialised Court and Committees in UAE. He has also authored a number of books including
Dean O’Leary
Education
- Called to the Bar of England & Wales (1999)
- LLM Construction Law, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
- MSc Construction Management, South Bank University, London
- MA Employment Law, University of Leicester
- Post Graduate Diploma in Law, BPP Law School, London
- Post Graduate Diploma Arbitration, College of Estate Management, Reading
- Post Graduate Diploma International Commercial Arbitration, Keble College, Oxford
- Post Graduate Certificate in Adjudication, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
- BSc (Hons) Building, Liverpool John Moores University
- Registered Adjudicator
- Accredited Mediator
- DIAC Registered Arbitrator
- DIFC Courts Registered Advocate
- Practising Barrister (England and Wales)
Language
- English
Experience
Dean is a fully qualified practising barrister (England and Wales). He specialised in construction law at his Chambers in England before moving to Dubai in 2006 and joining Al Tamimi. Dean remains a door tenant with his Chambers in England.
Dean has been involved in the construction industry since 1982 and first became involved with construction claims in 1992, with a spell in HM Royal Marines Commandos in between. In addition to being a practising lawyer, Dean has held positions as a quantity surveyor, senior claims consultant, senior claims manager and in-house counsel.
Dean is a member of the firm’s Arbitration Department and his primary area of practice is resolving construction/engineering disputes. He represents employers, contractors, subcontractors, consultants and suppliers in mediations, adjudications, expert determinations, arbitrations and the DIFC Courts.
Dean has experience of the FIDIC, ICE, NEC and JCT standard forms of contract and many bespoke forms too. He works on a daily basis with the FIDIC 1987 and 1999 forms of contract and their respective subcontracts and the DIAC, UNCITRAL, ADCCAC, DIFC-LCIA and ICC Arbitration Rules. He is also fully conversant with the UAE’s substantive and procedural laws.
As well as advising and advocating in respect of construction disputes, Dean is often requested to provide advice on general arbitration, litigation (particularly, performance bond or arbitral award enforcement issues) and other commercial related matters. He also accepts appointments to sit as an arbitrator, adjudicator or mediator.
Professional memberships, publications and speaking engagements
Memberships:
- Fellow Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
- Fellow Chartered Institute of Building
- Fellow Architects and Surveyors Institute
- Member Chartered Institute of Management
- Member of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn
- Member of the Society of Construction Law (UK and Gulf)
- Member of the Technology and Construction Bar Association
- Member of the Professional Negligence Bar Association
- Member of the Commercial Bar Association
- Member of the Northern Circuit Commercial Bar Association
- Member of the International Bar Association
Publications:
- January 2011 Construction Claims: Recovering Costs of Additional Preliminaries
- April 2014 Dealing with Concurrency in Construction Claims
- May 2014 Use of Experts in Construction Disputes
- January 2015 Importance of As-Built Programmes in Construction Disputes
- March 2015 Arbitrating Construction Disputes: The Process from Start to End
Speaking:
- June 2010 Al Tamimi event
- December 2013 Joint seminar with Driver
- March 2014 Joint seminar with FTI
- December 2014 UAE Society of Engineers’ FIDIC conference
- January 2015 Al Tamimi Masterclass
