Mayer Brown Opens Office in Dubai

Dubai, 22 June 2016 – Mayer Brown announced today the opening of its office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The office serves as a hub of the firm’s Middle East practice.

“Mayer Brown’s Dubai office establishes a local foothold for our broader Middle East practice, enhancing the firm’s ability to provide on-the-ground legal counsel to clients across a broad spectrum of industries and geographies on various matters inbound to and outbound from the Middle East, as well as on a wide range of intraregional matters,” said Charles Hallab, Chair of Mayer Brown’s Middle East practice.

Tahan (Tom) Thraya, leader of Mayer Brown’s Middle East corporate and commercial team, will serve as partner-in-charge of the Dubai office. A fluent Arabic speaker, Mr. Thraya has worked in the Middle East for nearly a decade and has particular experience in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iraq. He joined Mayer Brown in December 2015. Previously, he led Baker & McKenzie’s UAE corporate and commercial practice and was a founding partner of that firm’s Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha offices.

“Mayer Brown is committed to meeting client needs in the Middle East, and our Dubai office is uniquely focused on the region and the many issues and opportunities it presents,” said Mr. Thraya. “This new office will strengthen the firm’s ability to provide local counsel to multinational companies and other key clients in areas such as corporate and commercial matters, disputes and international arbitration, major projects, finance transactions, construction, and employment and compliance matters.”

With fluency and facility with the laws, practices, norms and trends of the Middle East, the Mayer Brown team in Dubai will work closely with colleagues in a wide range of practices across the firm’s extensive global platform to meet client needs. Raid Abu-Manneh and Dany Khayat, co-leaders of Mayer Brown’s Middle East Dispute and International Arbitration practice, will also spend significant time in the Dubai office, along with various other lawyers at the firm who will practice there.

“The Dubai office provides the perfect local platform for Mayer Brown’s market-leading Middle East disputes and international arbitration offerings, and clients doing business in the region will benefit from the synergies and collaboration between the firm’s adversarial and transactional capabilities around the world,” said Mr. Abu-Manneh.

Mayer Brown’s Dubai office is located on the 11th Floor, Unit 1104 of the Index Tower in the Dubai International Financial Center.