Dubai based HFI opens its doors in Qatar to service West Gulf clients

HFI has been licensed by the Qatar Financial Centre Authority to provide a full range of legal and commercial services to clients based within the 'West Gulf' region from The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC). While HFI's Dubai office will continue servicing 'East Gulf' clients, Qatar will be providing clients from across Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt and Libya with their in depth knowledge and understanding regarding; regulatory issues; set up of companies, joint ventures, representative offices and branches that companies wish to open in Qatar or in other free zones.

With specialist knowledge, HFI will guide each client individually through the decision-making and implementation process using their expert understanding of Qatari laws, foreign capital investments, QFC laws, tax law, company law, commercial agencies law and labour law. In total, HFI staff speak over twenty languages including Arabic and Russian.

The recently opened HFI legal department in Qatar will be led by newly appointed Russian lawyer Ildar Baybekov, who joined as a Partner in October 2007. A graduate of the prestigious Moscow State Institute of Public Relations, Ildar was a Senior Associate for White & Case from 1996 to 1998 in Uzbekistan. During his career Ildar has been involved in privatisation projects and regulatory issues, and has substantial experience in banking, securities, commercial and civil legal issues and transactions.

"I am very pleased to be joining HFI Qatar at such an exciting time for both HFI and the West Gulf region," commented Ildar Baybekov. "While Dubai is ideal for servicing the UAE and the East Gulf, Qatar is perfectly placed as a hub for servicing clients over the entire region and I am keen to strengthen our existing links with clients and associates throughout the West Gulf. The major initiatives being undertaken in the region, such as Energy City Qatar, are providing excellent opportunities for a number of industry sectors and I am confident that our team can help our clients make the most of these opportunities," continued Baybekov.

British lawyers Adam Omer and Maureen Kelly join Ildar at the Qatar office. Adam joins as a specialist legal consultant and has recently completed his PhD in International Law at Kent University in Canterbury. Adam is originally from Sudan and gained his LLB from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, following this with an LLM in International Commercial Arbitration from the University of East London. He has over ten years' experience in Qatari law and has previously held senior roles in both private practice and in-house.

Maureen, who joins HFI as an Associate, qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales twelve years ago and specialises in intellectual property law. She trained, qualified and spent eight years at Herbert Smith in the City of London managing a broad range of deals and disputes. Her experience there encompassed work on patents, trademarks, copyright, confidential information, information technology and data protection and included a secondment to Vodafone. More recently she was an in-house solicitor at the United Kingdom charity, Cancer Research UK, where she worked on a wide variety of matters including extensive patent licensing. Maureen is experienced in providing legal training to both lawyers and non-lawyers. She is a graduate of Queen's University, Belfast in Northern Ireland, where she gained a Masters in Law and Computers and she holds a Diploma in Intellectual Property Law from Bristol University.