If you need advise on high-profile and groundbreaking domestic and international transactions in Bahrain, then Haya Rashed Al Khalifa is the legal firm of choice – boasting an excellent and varied client list that includes multinational corporations, international financial institutions, sovereign governments and their agencies, as well as domestic corporations and financial institutions. With over 20 years of exceptional transaction and litigation experience, the firm has proven to be pivotal to the provision of legal counsel to the Bahraini community, especially in regards to major international projects, and has focussed extensively on serving as a catalyst to national development.

The firm believes that the strength and depth of its practice, its client relationships, its sector approach and the quality of its people give them a significant competitive advantage. Associates of Haya Rashed Al Khalifa are well-known as dynamic legal advisors. Together they represent one of the most prominent and well-respected bodies of legal expertise in Bahrain with a reputation for providing an exceptional legal service. They are renowned for their commitment to excellence and for their ability to find innovative solutions to the most complex of legal problems.

Corporate and commercial expertise
The firm’s corporate and commercial team has extensive legal and commercial experience, they also have very close working relationships with the decision makers in this field and the major lawyers in the region.

Areas of practice include the following:
- Business incorporations and licensing; company acquisitions, share acquisitions, disposals and mergers;
- Corporate structuring and consolidation; shareholder, partnership and other forms of joint venture agreements;
- Agency, distributorship, franchising and licensing; including renegotiations as well as terminations;
- Preparation of prospectuses and Private Placement Memorandums;
- General commercial agreements, for example, management agreements, consultancy arrangements and sales/support contracts.

Banking and finance practice
The firm’s banking and finance team in particular has an extensive proven track record in providing specialised legal services and advice of the highest quality to the banking and financial industry of Bahrain. Practicing for over 20 years, the team has been involved in some of the most challenging and intricate financial transactions in the Middle East region and has acted – and continues to act – as legal counsel to a number of leading international and local banks, as well as many corporate entities. The team also advises regulatory authorities, national bodies, the government and government agencies in Bahrain on a regular basis.

Ronald Langat, a partner in the banking group of Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, has an extensive finance background that covers a wide range of transactions that spans through various jurisdictions. His expertise includes capital markets, securities offerings, repackagings, structured finance products, fund-linked transactions, derivatives and prime brokerage related transactions. The banking group also regularly represents and advises leading investment banks, hedge funds, corporate clients and other financial institutions in structuring and negotiating complex international and domestic finance transactions.

Litigation and dispute resolution
The firm oversees litigation on behalf of its clients in all of the courts of Bahrain. With massive experience in the local courts, the strength of the firm’s litigation team is internationally renowned. Clients rely on Haya Rashed Al Khalifa for trademark infringement actions and copyright protection, securitisation of loans and any dispute arising pursuant to Bahraini law. When certain client cases are referred to arbitration, the firm’s experienced team is there to direct the dispute through the procedures, and most importantly to ensure that the award is legally sound and ready for enforcement by the Bahraini Courts.

In a multinational environment, such as the one that characterises life in Bahrain, the practice of litigation demands specialists who are not only experienced in the local laws and procedures but conversant with practices in outside jurisdictions as well. In this context, the firm has lawyers admitted in both civil law and common law countries. The firm’s litigation lawyers have extensive trial experience in both commercial and civil cases. This includes representing individuals and corporate clients in civil and administrative hearings, suits involving the enforcement of contracts, actions for the recovery of damages based on contract and tort, intra-corporate disputes, pursuing the judicial enforcement of intellectual property rights and international trade disputes.

As many of the disputes the firm handles involve international jurisdictions, they can be both factually and procedurally complex. The firm’s data gathering and in-house document handling procedures enable all cases to be handled efficiently. It works with experts in many fields and the firm’s court coordinator ensures that all court-related matters are dealt with as expeditiously as possible. In recognition, the firm is rated as a first tier dispute resolution firm by all legal directories.

Construction and real estate
Bahrain has witnessed an unprecedented rate of construction activity over the last few years in all areas of the real estate sector and Haya Rashed Al Khalifa has been the law firm of choice for all prominent construction and real estate projects. The firm provides specialist contentious and non-contentious advice covering the local and international construction market. It is instructed on projects involving complex aspects of the construction industry sector, acting at different instances for project sponsors, banks, financiers, contractors and other representatives of the industry.

As construction documentation constantly needs to comply with the requirements of banks and financiers, the firm’s experience in both construction and project finance translates into a unique ability to balance the interests of contractors, sponsors and financing institutions. With regard to construction claims, it has a team of dispute specialists in local litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution with extensive experience on all aspects of Bahrain Court procedures, advocacy and general conduct of arbitration proceedings governed by international and local rules and alternative dispute resolution techniques, such as local mediation and expert appointment.

The firm has had the exciting opportunity to have advised on construction and property law issues for some of the major flagship property developments in Bahrain. As such, it is fully abreast of developments in this evolving area of legal practice in Bahrain. This, combined with the experience of the firm’s specialist property lawyers drawn from established land law jurisdictions, ensures that the solutions it proposes and the documents it drafts are creative, practical in the Bahraini environment and based upon sound land law principles.

The firm’s lawyers are regularly consulted by the government and private concerns on major property development projects underway in Bahrain, drawing upon their knowledge and expertise gained from more mature Land Law jurisdictions. In addition, an integral part of the department’s practice involves advising and assisting upon landlord and tenant issues in relation to retail, commercial and industrial premises. The firm assists with pre-contractual negotiations, the preparation of tenancy contracts and leases, as well as terminations and dispute resolution.

Labour and employment
For more than thirty years the firm’s lawyers have helped clients negotiate the growing landscape of local laws that govern the employer/employee relationship. They assist in providing solutions to employment problems that concern the effectiveness and productivity of the business.

The firm’s labour and employment advisory team, comprising Shaikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, Elie Yazbeck and Yasmeen Alansari, deal with a variety of matters covering the employer/employee relationship, including ensuring compliance with employment laws and regulations, managing disputes with employees, advising on wage and indemnity matters and assisting with appropriate employment policies and procedures.

The firm’s litigation team, comprising Rashed Bo-Ghammar, Mustafa Mahmood and Budoor Saif, are highly involved in employment counselling and litigation, complex employment and employee benefits litigation, Department of Labour matters and intricate employee benefits matters. They represent clients before courts, in arbitration, before administrative agencies and other forums, as well as assisting clients in avoiding litigation, including counselling on every aspect of employment law.

Bankruptcy and insolvency
In today’s turmoil economy, more people abandon the big deals of boom times to take on desperate negotiations of companies on the brink. Now more than ever it is important to use an experienced bankruptcy and insolvency law firm, to maximise your options in light of the bankruptcy.

Supported by the firm’s efficient structure, where each and every department works closely with the highly experienced litigation team, the firm’s bankruptcy and insolvency lawyers are always striving to provide the highest level of client service available, with a compassionate understanding that declaring bankruptcy is an extremely difficult and emotional decision for the client. The firm’s attorneys strive to relieve the stress bankruptcy creates for the firm’s clients by providing individualised attention.

The firm’s bankruptcy lawyers have handled numerous cases over the years. Their aggressive representation and extensive experience have earned the bankruptcy attorneys at Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, Attorneys at Law and Legal Consultants a national reputation for excellence in the representation of debtors in financial distress. Its experience in bankruptcy and insolvency law helps place the firm’s clients back on the road to financial solvency, with as little impact on their post status as possible.