Middle East

“Band 1 rankings in 16 practice areas”
– Chambers Global 2024

Our lawyers have assisted clients on a wide variety of complex matters, including:

Our recent experience has covered a variety of sectors, including private equity, financial services, technology, healthcare, pharma, industrial, energy, sports and entertainment, and food and beverage. We advise clients with Middle East business matters harnessing the strength of Sidley’s global platform and practitioners across the firm’s M&A and Private Equity, Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy, Investment Funds, Energy, Infrastructure and Project Finance, Commercial Litigation and Disputes, Technology and Life Sciences Transactions, Global Life Sciences, Global Finance, and Real Estate practices.

M&A and Private Equity

Few law firms have the breadth and depth of resources that we offer to our M&A and private equity clients. Our lawyers work together across numerous practice areas that complement and enhance our deal experience. Our clients range from multinational corporations to financial institutions to state-owned enterprises. From a sector perspective, we advise our clients in industries including energy, life sciences, real estate, consumer products, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, technology, sports, media and entertainment, telecoms, financial services and insurance, and metals and mining.

Investment Funds

The principal strengths of our Investment Funds practice are our substantive breadth and geographic reach. We represent virtually every type of investment fund and investment manager, as well as market participants such as sovereign wealth fund clients, in matters involving private equity and venture capital funds, hedge funds, and alternative investments. Our advice also covers the broad scope of legal and compliance issues that are faced by funds, their advisers, and their boards under the laws and regulations of the various jurisdictions in which they operate.

International Arbitration

Sidley’s Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy practice possesses a record of success in delivering solutions for the challenges our clients face, including in commercial disputes that are primarily resolved in international arbitration forums. Our global team represents clients before all of the major international arbitral institutions, and appears before U.S. courts to enforce overseas arbitral awards. We also counsel our clients on negotiating and structuring arbitration clauses and other dispute resolution provisions in their deal documentation. Where appropriate, we pursue coordinated, multi-front strategies, combining as needed commercial arbitration, investment treaty arbitration, international trade and World Trade Organization proceedings, court proceedings in multiple jurisdictions, and government relations strategies.

Energy and Infrastructure

Our practice in every area of the energy sector affords us a holistic perspective that is truly unique among law firms. Our team harnesses the experience and talent of lawyers and economists from numerous practice groups within the firm, including those with extensive experience in corporate finance, project finance, real estate, land use, environmental regulation, derivatives and commodities, taxation, labor, international trade regulation, dispute resolution, and technology.

Commercial Litigation and Disputes

With lawyers across four continents, Sidley’s litigation practice is a powerhouse of accomplished litigators. At the outset of any dispute or investigation, we partner with our clients to gain a deep understanding of their business and litigation objectives, and work closely with in-house legal and business teams to most effectively and efficiently achieve those objectives. We favor a team-oriented approach with our clients, keeping them informed and consulting with them throughout the litigation and dispute resolution process. From the moment our clients find themselves in a legal dispute, our lawyers are focused not just on the next deadline, but on the optimal path to obtaining a favorable resolution of the matter that is truly in the best interest of our clients.

Technology and Life Sciences Transactions

Sidley’s Technology and Life Sciences Transactions team advises on leading-edge tech and IP transactions, with particular experience in cross-border transactions. We handle licensing, development, collaborations and joint ventures, outsourcing, standards setting, IP purchases and sales, and the IP and tech aspects of mergers and acquisitions.

Global Life Sciences

Our pioneering Global Life Sciences industry group comprises an experienced team of lawyers across numerous legal disciplines in our offices around the world. We understand the challenges our clients face in the course of conducting business across the global drug and device supply chain, having counseled high-profile clients in every sector of the dynamic life sciences industry. Advising on the full scope of regulatory, compliance and enforcement, litigation, and transactional matters, we offer a holistic legal approach for clients as they navigate industry changes, technological advances, market demands, and policy hurdles.

Global Finance

Clients identify Sidley’s Global Finance group as a destination practice for high-value, complex financings across a broad spectrum of platforms, industries, and asset types. Our lawyers have helped pioneer the development of financial instruments for the world’s financial markets. As a thought leader, an innovator, and one familiar with new asset classes and esoteric offerings, we offer a comprehensive range of lending and securitization services to clients worldwide.

Real Estate

Sidley’s Real Estate team is a recognized leader in its field, working across industries, borders, and markets. Our lawyers are at the forefront of breaking developments in the real estate arena and are well equipped to anticipate and navigate changes in real estate development and finance that may affect our clients’ businesses. The team works on a range of real estate transactions, real estate litigation, bankruptcies, and workouts encompassing large and sophisticated deals.

Transportation and Aviation

Sidley is the destination firm for passenger and cargo airlines, airports, aircraft manufacturers, equipment finance borrowers and lenders, executives, board members, investors, and suppliers for all types of aviation matters, and is the only firm ranked in Band 1 for Aviation Transactions by Chambers USA. As counsel to some of the world’s largest airlines, air cargo companies and airports, our lawyers advise on a wide-range of transactions including multibillion-dollar M&A deals, financing, leasing and commercial agreements for aircraft and engines, airports and other aviation infrastructure, government strategies, government contracts, and a variety of regulatory matters directly affecting airlines, airports and aviation.

Recognition for Our Team

Strong representation on behalf of our clients conducting business in the Middle East and around the globe has earned our team recognition in many industry publications, including Chambers, Legal 500, the Financial Times, IFLR1000, LMG Life Sciences, and Global Arbitration Review.