James is Managing Partner of Dubai and Head of Dispute Resolution in the Middle East. He joined DWF in 2017 from a Band 1 listed firms Abu Dhabi office where he was Head of Dispute Resolution.

Walid is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution department in Dubai. He specialises in complex Commercial and Corporate arbitration and litigation, often with cross-border elements.

Walid joined Hadef & Partners in 2005. During that time, he has developed specialist knowledge of managing large scale, multi-jurisdictional disputes and has acted on a number of high-profile banking and real estate matters. Walid advises a diverse group of clients; including publicly traded and multi-national companies, as well as high net worth individuals on various contentious matters.

Walid also specialises in local and international asset tracings and recovery, advises on financial crimes as well as on anti-corruption and anti-bribery issues. He further advises on extradition and mutual legal assistance as well as on sanctions and anti-money laundering matters.

Walid has a Juris Doctorate and is admitted to the Massachusetts State Bar. Prior to joining Hadef & Partners, he practiced in the US, in both Chicago and Boston. He routinely lectures, and sits on various panels that deal with a variety of issues relating to regional legal trends and developments. Walid is fluent in English, Arabic and French.

Jeremy Bressman focuses his practice on white-collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement matters, cross-border investigations, and parallel complex civil litigation. He represents Middle East-based corporate clients and individuals facing criminal allegations and enforcement proceedings, often conducted by multiple U.S. government agencies including, among others, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Prior to joining Kobre & Kim, Mr. Bressman practiced at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP where he was a member of the litigation team. Earlier in his career, he clerked for the Honorable Nancy F. Atlas of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Ghassan heads the Arabic regional litigation practice in the Middle East and specialises in all areas of dispute resolution with a particular emphasis on construction, commercial, civil, banking, real estate and criminal matters. Ghassan has over 23 years’ experience in litigation and dispute resolution. His extensive in-depth experience in civil, Sharia, commercial, real estate, banking, construction and criminal laws have enabled him to represent clients in some of the region’s most high profile and complex cases. Offering a full scope of litigation services from drafting to implementation of case strategies locally and internationally, Ghassan is one of few litigators who won multi-billion dollar cases for clients and advised on high complex and cross border disputes. In addition, Ghassan possesses thorough expertise in matters of civil, administrative, real estate, banking and Sharia’h law.

Ghassan is admitted to practise in Lebanon.

Patrick is Head of Charles Russell Speechlys LLP's Middle East practice (conducted from offices in Bahrain, Dubai and Qatar). Patrick is also Chair of the Global Markets Group, which co-ordinates the firm's international activities.

He specialises in all areas of dispute resolution with particular emphasis on banking, intellectual property, insolvency, professional negligence and company disputes.

Patrick has conducted litigation and arbitration in Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Italy, France, Ukraine, the USA and in all the GCC states as well as in all the courts within the English jurisdiction.

Patrick leads the award-winning Middle East Disputes team which won the ‘Bahrain Dispute Resolution Law Firm of The Year’ award at the Chambers Middle East Awards 2019. He is also a leading partner in the firm's International Arbitration Group which won the ‘International Arbitration Team of the Year’ award at the Legal Business Awards 2018.

Additionally, Patrick leads the Firm’s successful Bahrain office which won the ‘Bahrain Law Firm of The Year’ award at The Oath Legal Awards in 2018, 2019 and 2022 as well as the Firm’s UAE office which won the ‘UAE Law Firm of The Year’ award at The Oath Legal Awards in 2022 and the Firm’s Qatar office which was awarded ‘Qatar Law Firm of The Year’ at The Oath Legal Awards in 2023.

Patrick is one of the lead partners acting in the administration of Awal Bank B.S.C. which has involved over 75 different litigation and arbitration cases in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the USA and the Cayman Islands.

In addition to acting as Counsel in Arbitrations Patrick also sits as an Arbitrator and is included in the Legal 500 Middle East Arbitration Powerlists 2022 and 2023.

Patrick is admitted to practice in England and Wales and was awarded a CIArb Diploma in International Arbitration in July 2018.

He became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in September 2018.