Gibson Dunn opens second UAE office in Abu Dhabi

(Reuters) – Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher said on Friday it was hiring a team of seven lawyers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and opening an office in Abu Dhabi. The company’s other UAE office is located in Dubai.

The team includes three former partners transferred from Shearman & Sterling: Renad Younes and Samuel Ogunlaja, who will join the Abu Dhabi office, and Jade Chu, who will be based in Dubai. Four other lawyers, also from Shearman & Sterling, will be split between the Abu Dhabi and Dubai offices.

Gibson Dunn said Younes and Ogunlaja advise clients in the energy and infrastructure industries on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and project development. Chu focuses on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and the stock market, it said. Barbara Becker, chairman and managing partner of the Los Angeles-based firm, said in a statement that Abu Dhabi is evolving into a “global center for energy, finance and commerce,” which is why they opened an office there.

Shearman & Sterling wishes Younes, Ogunlaja and Chu all the best.

In October 2022, another Shearman & Sterling partner, capital markets lawyer Marwan Elaraby, relocated to Gibson Dunn’s Dubai office.

Last March, Gibson Dunn lost a four-man dispute team Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in Dubai, including Graham Lovett, head of its litigation and arbitration practice in the Middle East.

Founded in 1872, Gibson Dunn has more than 1,800 attorneys in 20 offices in the United States, South America, Europe and Asia, according to its website. The company opened a Dubai office in 2007.

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