Catriona is a Partner and Head of our Banking & Finance practice at Hadef & Partners.
Catriona acts for both lenders and borrowers and advises on project finance, investment grade syndicated financings, real estate, structured, and acquisition financings and financial regulatory matters.
Based in the UAE since 2007, Catriona has extensive regional expertise and brings a commercially driven, pragmatic approach when advising her clients. Catriona is highly sought after for her breadth of English law and UAE law banking expertise and regularly acts for international and regional clients in advising on financial regulatory and digital asset issues in the UAE. Catriona has published extensively on the continually evolving UAE financial regulatory landscape.
Catriona also has in-depth in-house experience gained from her previous role as Head of Legal for Wholesale Banking at one of the largest banks in the UAE and is able to bring this combined private practice and in-house expertise, together with her English law and UAE law background, in providing a holistic view and “seeing both sides of the table” when advising clients on complex financings.
Prior to coming to the UAE, Catriona worked in London at a magic circle law firm.
Dina heads the firm’s Regulatory & Government Advisory Practice Group. Dina specializes in legislative drafting and advising on public law and public international law matters.
She regulatory advises government clients on strategic regulatory initiatives and is widely regarded for her capabilities in legislative drafting, trade law and expertise in international treaties, conventions and other multilateral and bilateral instruments.
She is praised for her ability to manage challenging legal issues. Clients value her commitment to continuous communication and her understanding of the importance of first rate client service.
Dina holds a joint JD/LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto, Canada. She is qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor in Canada and a member of the Ontario Bar.
Dina is fluent in English and speaks Arabic.
Natalie is a Senior Counsel in the Regulatory and Government Advisory Practice at Hadef & Partners, with almost 20 years’ multijurisdictional experience in corporate and financial services regulation and compliance.
She is highly regarded for her ability to successfully lead the development, implementation, and ensuring compliance with a broad range of policy and legislative frameworks, her effective project management, as well as her superior communication and relationship-building skills with a broad range of stakeholders.
Natalie has held senior in-house legal regulatory roles with Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), where she provided strategic legal advisory services and led the development of key regulatory and legislative initiatives, and at the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC), Australia, where she provided legal, policy and strategic counsel on broad range of regulatory, compliance and enforcement matters.
Natalie holds degrees of Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Business (International Business) from Queensland University of Technology, a postgraduate Diploma in Applied Corporate Governance from the Governance Institute of Australia and a Masters of Law (LL.M) in Global Business Law from Columbia University, New York City.
Natalie holds an unrestricted practicing certificate in Australia, is admitted in the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Queensland, and entered on the Register of the High Court of Australia.
Victoria is an English qualified solicitor holding a Bachelors degree in Law with more than twenty years’ experience as a practising solicitor gained from both the UK and the UAE markets.
Victoria heads the Commercial Practice at Hadef & Partners, frequently advising both local and international clients on cross-border transactions involving, IP and brand protection, commercial agency, data protection, consumer protection and competition law issues, across a wide range of business operational matters including the sale of goods and services, outsourcing, and consultancy arrangements, distribution, franchising, e-commerce, and hospitality management.
Victoria’s commercial advisory practice covers a range of corporate commercial topics, in a number of sectors including TMT, food and beverage, FinTech, leisure and hospitality, healthcare and life sciences, education, and consumer goods and retail. She provides strategic advice relating to the growth of her clients’ businesses, and their relationships with their customers and third parties, advising on transactional matters including joint venture, agency, franchising and licensing arrangements. She supports her clients with the preparation and negotiation of partnering and collaboration agreements, technology and software licensing, hosting and support contracts, distribution and manufacturing agreements, IP licensing, hospitality management documentation, data transfer agreements, and customer and supplier terms and conditions.
Victoria has been with Hadef & Partners in Dubai since 2012, prior to which she practised at London City firm Lewis Silkin LLP, predominantly advising clients on corporate transactional and commercial matters in the media and healthcare sectors.
Hadef & Partners is a long-established UAE law firm with an outstanding team of 100 lawyers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Founded in 1980 by Dr. Hadef Al Dhaheri, we are a full service law firm consisting of both English and Arabic speaking lawyers.
As a respected and established UAE law firm, we perform a “trusted adviser” role to federal and local governmental authorities on a range of matters, giving us the expertise and know-how to provide well founded and qualified judicial training.
We understand the laws, traditions, challenges and opportunities of the UAE.
We are regularly appointed to establish governmental and quasi-governmental institutions and corporations, to review and prepare laws and regulations to support a range of governmental initiatives, including financial regulation and structuring, formation and conduct of special economic zones, environmental preservation, privatisation projects, and development of policies and procedures.
A substantial component of our expertise lies in our knowledge of the UAE market, its practices, procedures and the workings of UAE regulatory bodies such as the Central Bank, federal Ministries, Dubai Financial Services Authority (“DFSA”), DIFC, Emirates Securities & Commodities Authority (“ESCA”), local governmental authorities and other agencies.
At Hadef & Partners we are in the unique position of being able to provide the following services to our clients:
- representation in all UAE federal and local courts and tribunals;
- representation before the financial freezone jurisdictions of DIFC and the ADGM Courts;
- providing advice and expert evidence for foreign court/arbitration proceedings where UAE law is relevant; and
- advising on international treaties and trade agreements.
Our UAE Advocates appear daily in the UAE Courts and this gives us an unrivalled insight into the way the Courts are applying the UAE laws.
Our Advocates also have connections with the various institutions such as the Police, Customs, Department of Economic Development etc. that allows us to assist our clients with regulatory enquiries and issues.
