Paris-based arbitration firm Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya (GBS) Disputes has strengthened its presence in the Middle East and North Africa with two new offices in Abu Dhabi and Cairo.
The offices will be managed by founding partner Mohamed Shelbaya, who will work across Abu Dhabi, Cairo, and London.
Both offices will include a mix of dual-qualified Arabic-speaking associates as well as common law-trained lawyers based on the ground or the firm’s other offices in Paris, New York, and London. The team includes 12 Arabic-speaking lawyers qualified in English law, French law, and Egyptian law, and also specialised in international law.
The Abu Dhabi office is located within the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), an international financial centre on Al Maryah Island in the UAE capital. The Cairo office, meanwhile, is located in Maadi, a Southern district of Cairo on the east bank of the Nile.
“This is a major milestone in the development of our firm’s international footprint,” said 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.”
GBS Disputes was founded in February 2021 by eight former Shearman & Sterling (now A&O Shearman) global arbitration heads. It has nine partners, three counsel, and over 35 associates.
“We combine extensive international disputes experience with unique credentials in providing transactional advice on contract drafting, corporate structuring, and liability risk management,” said 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.”
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 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 Egypt in two investment disputes, involving claims in excess of US$86 billion, brought by Saudi investors in relation to touristic and commercial real estate projects. The team has secured the summary dismissal of claims in excess of US$30 billion and continues to defend the Arab Republic against the remaining claims.
