Clyde & Co continues rapid expansion of corporate offering in the Middle East

Global law firm Clyde & Co has today announced the hire of 13 lawyers in its global Corporate & Advisory practice, including partners Nora Al Muhamad, Darren Harris, and Alan Wood.

Nora Al Muhamad is a corporate lawyer with more than 14 years of experience in the Middle East. She focuses on family businesses and is considered a trusted advisor to many prominent family-owned businesses on their succession planning and legacy projects across the region. In addition, Nora has significant experience advising corporate clients on their complex domestic and cross-border corporate restructuring. Nora led the family business and corporate restructuring practice at her previous law firm.

Darren Harris is a corporate lawyer with more than 18 years of experience, 12 of those years in the Middle East, representing clients on cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A), private equity, venture capital, joint ventures (JVs), and corporate advisory matters across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the UK. Darren led the legal function and was head of corporate at his previous firm.

Alan Wood is a corporate lawyer with more than 30 years of experience, 14 of those years in the Middle East and for the last 6 years he has focused on Saudi Arabia. He represents private sector and government clients on cross-border M&A, JVs, structuring, reorganisations, corporate governance and compliance, and general corporate advisory. Alan led the corporate function in Saudi Arabia at his previous firm.

Naji Hawayek, partner and head of Clyde & Co’s corporate practice in the Middle East, comments: “We are very excited about the further expansion of our corporate practice, and we are very pleased to welcome the new joiners to the firm. Our corporate practice strategy focuses on aligning with market opportunities and our clients’ priorities ensuring that we are best placed to support them on their domestic and cross-border matters. These latest hires follow tremendous growth in our practice over the last year, deepening our position as one of the largest and most well-established corporate practice in the region.”

Darren Harris comments: “We are delighted to join Clyde & Co’s established and successful Middle East and Africa (MEA) corporate team. We see Clyde & Co as a great platform to continue our success of advising on M&A, corporate restructuring and family business succession planning and legacy projects. Clients will benefit from increased on-the-ground scale from one of the largest corporate teams in the region.”

In the last 12 months, Clyde & Co has bolstered its now 27-strong MEA corporate partner group with the hire of Mohammed Almarzouki and Anas Alswailem in Riyadh; Mohamed Barakat, Mostafa Elsakaa and Sameh Dahroug in Cairo following the opening of an associated office; Amalia Lui in Dar es Salaam; Gasant Orrie in Cape Town and the promotion to partner of Roshanak Bassiri Gharb in Dubai. 

Sara Khoja, partner and chair of Clyde & Co’s MEA board, adds: “I am delighted to welcome our new colleagues. This is an exciting time for the firm as we continue to grow our extensive full-service offering in the region. We are very proud of our rapid expansion across MEA over the past year, including the opening of associated offices in Cairo and Kenya; the addition of 12 new partners; and the promotion of 5 partners and 13 legal directors.”

With over 30 years of experience in the MEA region, Clyde & Co is one of the largest international law firms with over 90 partners and over 540 staff operating through 9 offices and associated offices in Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Cape Town, Dar es Salaam, Doha, Dubai, Johannesburg, Nairobi, and Riyadh. Clyde & Co provides a full-service combination of local and international specialists across key business sectors and practice areas.

Clyde & Co’s global Corporate & Advisory practice supports a wide range of clients across corporate transactions, commercial, employment, finance, and IP and technology matters in both mature and emerging markets. The firm’s experience spans major sectors such as education, healthcare, hospitality, technology, marine, transport, energy, construction, commodities, and insurance.