International law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has announced the appointment of leading corporate lawyer Haitham Hawashin to join as a partner, based in Dubai.
Haitham will join from Simmons & Simmons in the UAE where he is a partner. He also worked in the London, Singapore and Hong Kong offices of another leading international law firm. Haitham is bilingual in English and Arabic.
He has broad international and regional experience in general corporate and corporate finance work including joint ventures, private equity, cross-border M&A and debt & equity capital markets transactions. His experience includes advising in sectors such as asset management & investment funds, financial institutions, TMT, real estate, energy/infrastructure and utilities. He also has considerable debt and equity capital markets experience having advised issuers and underwriters regionally and globally.
Haitham has advised on many headline transactions. His recent experience includes advising: Abu Dhabi Financial Group in connection with a number of joint ventures and acquisitions in the UAE and internationally including a number of club and co-investment deals; IFC, EIB, EKF and other lenders in connection with the project financing of the 117-megawatt Tafila Wind Farm project; and Abu Dhabi National Chemicals Company (ChemaWEyaat) in connection with the development of a terminal and tank farm.
Haitham will work closely with Zubair Mir, the firm’s Managing Partner for the Middle East.
Zubair commented: “Haitham is one of the few lawyers in the region who has the international experience and technical expertise to provide top quality advice to our clients doing business in the region and globally. His knowledge of the regional market and Middle Eastern entities, as well as his local language and cultural capability, will be a perfect addition to our team.”
Scott Cochrane, Global Head of Corporate, commented: “I look forward to welcoming Haitham to the Corporate practice. It’s great to be able to bring a new, highly regarded corporate lawyer into the Middle East practice. We are committed to deepening our relationships with key clients and targets in the region and bringing Haitham on board will help greatly with this. Building our capability to service clients both in local markets and internationally is a key element of our strategy and Haitham’s recruitment will strengthen this capability further.”
The appointment follows the recent high-profile hires of Finance lawyer Dmitry Gubarev in Moscow and Disputes lawyer Brian Spiro in London. The firm also promoted 21 lawyers to partnership last month, covering 8 offices between UK, EMEA and Asia-Pacific, which demonstrated the firm’s commitment to investing in its global network of offices and creating a diverse partnership.
Source: www.herbertsmithfreehills.com
