About
Ghassan heads the Arabic litigation practice in the Middle East and specialises in all areas of litigation and dispute resolution, with a particular emphasis on construction, commercial, civil, banking, real estate and criminal matters. Ghassan’s legal career spans over 28 years, over the course of which he has acted in some of the GCC region’s most complex and high-profile litigious cases to date.
Ghassan’s extensive in-depth experience in legal domain areas including local civil law, international litigation, the recognition and enforcement of foreign and regional awards and judgements, extradition matters, Interpol Red Notice challenges, financial crimes and debt recovery matters have enabled him to represent clients in a range of landmark cross border disputes. He supports a loyal client base comprising individuals, families/family offices, HNWI’s and commercial entities within the UAE, around the wider MENA region and across Europe, Asia and the US as well.
Ghassan also advises clients in relation to domestic Arabic arbitrations and international arbitrations conducted in the LCIA, ICC, QICCA, ADCCAC AD, DIAC and in the KSA. He has a wealth of experience advising on procedural matters in arbitration and the enforcement of arbitral awards in different jurisdictions across the GCC and internationally. Within his litigation practice in the UAE, Ghassan provides representation through local lawyers in all levels of local and federal courts (first instance, courts of appeal and cassation).
Ghassan is admitted to practise in Lebanon.
Experience
- Acting as the lead lawyer in an investigation completed in 5 Middle East jurisdictions pertaining to anti-bribery and corruption matters for a multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company.
- Advising in the first ever cybercrime law case before the Highest State Federal Security Court in Abu Dhabi, which raised many sensitive issues regarding criminal law, cybercrime laws, you-tube privacy and human rights.
- Representing a Kazakhstani client in a complex extradition case between Kazakhstan and the UAE through INTERPOL, in relation to an arrest warrant issued in absentia, resulting in a landmark judgement in favour of the client for non-extradition, due to an omission of the original indictment document.
- Securing a significant win for a prominent Bulgarian businessman concerning an extradition request related to claims amounting to over 300 million Euros, in a first-of-its-kind Abu Dhabi Federal Criminal Court of Appeal judgement for non-extradition.
- Securing a landmark judgement in favor of the victim of a ‘Sim Swap Fraud’ in a complex banking litigation case against a prominent bank, with the bank being ultimately held liable for the AED 4.7 million fraud.
- Playing a pivotal role in a landmark Abu Dhabi corruption case against a federal authority, involving a bribery of AED 1.2 billion, marking the first ever case in the Abu Dhabi criminal courts to raise the criminality principle against an employee in a governmental authority.
- Representing one of the two largest telecommunications companies in the UAE and a prominent network in the immediate freezing and full recovery of an amount of 2 million USD transferred between them via forged documents.
- Acting for a Kuwaiti Investment Company listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange in highly complex 2.6 billion AED litigation and arbitration proceedings against a Chinese Construction Company before the local and commercial courts in Abu Dhabi.
- Representing a multinational bank in 2 different jurisdictions in the Middle East (Bahrain and KSA), supporting their claims before the Cayman Islands Courts on implicated Arabic documents and Civil Law matters in a USD 9.2 billion case.
- Obtaining an immediate restraint and freeze order, recovering an amount of £2 million for a UK governmental body, which had been transferred to one of the offshore accounts of a Nigerian citizen perpetrated through a criminal organization working between London and Dubai.
