Salloum & Partners


The Firm

Salloum & Partners LLC (the "Firm") was first established in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in 1980. We have since been recognized as a leading player in the UAE with both local and cross-jurisdictional expertise and are one of the oldest law firms in Abu Dhabi.

We remain a boutique law firm and pride ourselves on providing a full range of legal services. We aim to provide consistently high quality advice and services that combine a thorough understanding of the cultural and commercial environment in the UAE as well as technical expertise.

The Firm bears the name of its founder, Mr Samir Salloum and is directly managed by him.

The Team

The Firm's managing partner, Mr Salloum, spearheads a team of highly qualified professionals with the aim of bringing the utmost in value and quality of service to the Firm's clients.

The team assembled under Mr Salloum's guidance is a unique blend of some 15 highly skilled, experienced and dedicated attorneys and legal consultants. This team of professionals is powerfully equipped to be of practical assistance in their practice areas.

Our team comprises UAE nationals and expatriate lawyers. They combine highly developed legal skills with a deep knowledge of the law and business environment in the UAE, thus providing a high standard of practical advice to clients in both the public and private sectors.

Many of the Firm's lawyers are also qualified, and have experience, in a range of other jurisdictions including Egypt, France, India, Lebanon, and Syria. They are multilingual and multicultural and able to handle business in a range of languages including Arabic, English, French and Italian.

The Firm's legal team is supported by a dynamic team of over 12 paralegal and administrative staff.

Legal Services and Practice Areas

Services

With over 30 years of experience, the Firm advises and assists on a wide range of complex, local and international legal issues in matters such as commercial, corporate and private banking, capital markets, international trade, as well as mergers and acquisitions. One of the Firm's core strengths remains its litigation, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution practice.

Practice Areas

Our areas of practice include:

  1. banking and finance;
  2. Islamic modes of finance;
  3. corporate and commercial;
  4. construction;
  5. insurance and reinsurance;
  6. real estate;
  7. it and telecommunication;
  8. intellectual property;
  9. shipping and maritime;
  10. defence;
  11. aviation;
  12. transport and logistics;
  13. labour, employment and immigration;
  14. private client;
  15. public policy; and
  16. Islamic Sharia.

Clientele

Our extensive client list is a testament to our success. We firmly believe that our clients are our biggest strength.

Our clients come from a wealth of businesses and backgrounds and include:

  1. banks, other financial institutions and insurance companies;
  2. local and multinational commercial enterprises across our sectors of expertise (such as contractors, architects, real-estate and property developers, trading enterprises, business and other consultants, IT providers, airlines, logistics and transportation enterprises, and others);
  3. embassies;
  4. local and foreign state bodies; as well as
  5. private clients.
Network

The Firm acts in many cross-jurisdictional matters on behalf of its clients and has accordingly instructed or associated with international firms and lawyers of the highest standard.

Over the years the Firm has built an extensive range and network of close associations and contacts across the Middle East and elsewhere. These allow the Firm to select and work with those persons best suited to the services required.

Most notably, the Firm is a proud member of the exclusive International Lawyers Network (ILN) (www.ilntoday.com), an association of over 95 high-quality, full service law firms with over 5,000 lawyers worldwide in 65 countries on six continents. One of our partners, Mr. Ziad Salloum, has since 2014 been serving as a director on the board of the ILN.

The Firm is also in association with Outer Temple Chambers (www.outertemple.com) of London, UK, a premier barristers' chambers.

Represented by:

Mr. Ziad Salloum

Partner

Ziad Salloum is a partner with Salloum & Partners LLC. Since joining his father's firm in 2006, Ziad has advised hundreds of businesses in every sector, providing specialist support in: commercial contracts; employment law, secured/unsecured lending and other modes of finance; strategic and structural planning; restructuring; mergers and acquisitions; dispute resolution; family business succession planning; and the setup of family offices.

He also works extensively with: government entities and embassies, both inside and outside the UAE; leading multinationals and local companies; educational institutions; banks and other financial entities; entrepreneurs and family-owned businesses, in fields as diverse as oil & gas, construction, real estate, design, and manufacturing. He has also provided counsel to the Paris-Sorbonne University, Abu Dhabi, and was part of the team that advised the Tourism and Development Investment Company (TDIC) on the Louvre Abu Dhabi and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi projects.

A member of the Board of Directors of the International Lawyers Network (ILN) where he is currently serving a second consecutive term, and of two groups of schools in the UAE, Ziad is also a Door Tenant and Associate with Outer Temple Chambers in London. He served two terms on the Board of the French Business Group, and four consecutive terms on the Board of the Union of French Expatriates' (UFE) Abu Dhabi chapter, where he also held the post of Vice-President. Other roles he has performed have included working as a member of the Advisory Board of the Emirati-Swiss Friendship Forum, a joint initiative of the governments of the UAE and Switzerland.

Ziad holds a University of London LLM from the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), a PgDL from the University of East Anglia, an LLB from the Lebanese University and a BBA from the American University of Beirut. He is admitted to the Beirut Bar.

Before pursuing a career in law, Ziad was a banker for four years at Bank Saradar (prior to its merger with Banque Audi), then one of the leading banks in Lebanon, operating firstly in Treasury and Capital Markets, and subsequently in Private Banking. This experience has provided him with astute commercial focus and an invaluable knowledge of the complex financial markets and environment in which a lot of his clients operate.

Away from the office, he is a loving husband and father, and an avid hiker. He is also a keen photographer. He has been invited to exhibit his art at a number of high-profile venues in the Middle East. His photography has also been featured and auctioned at a number of charity fundraisers and environmental awareness initiatives.

In recognition of his community work and services to the Catholic Church, in 2017 The Vatican awarded him a knighthood with the Pontifical Order of St. Sylvester.