Zouhdi Yakan is a seasoned Partner at LAW HOUSE- Shaikha Almehrzi Advocates & Legal Consultants, based in Abu Dhabi and overseeing the firm’s Dubai office as well, with over two decades of legal expertise, including significant tenure in the UAE. Specializing in corporate and commercial law, banking and finance, and dispute resolution, Zouhdi offers comprehensive advice on a wide range of business transactions, including setups, corporate structuring and restructuring, M&As, joint ventures, and the crafting and analysis of complex contracts. His legal expertise extends to a variety of sectors, including construction, architecture, commercial finance, banking (conventional and Islamic), insurance and brokerage, real estate, IT, employment, commercial agencies and more.

Zouhdi counsels and represents domestic and international clients in relation to UAE laws and regulations, compliance and corporate governance matters. At Law House, he leads the arbitration division, overseeing all aspects from initiation to the enforcement or annulment of awards, and provides guidance on alternative dispute resolutions and settlements.

He has worked in the field of international arbitration in disputes involving international sales, banking, B.O.T. and construction (FIDIC) and engaged in arbitration hearings, including pleadings, examination, and cross-examination of witnesses across Lebanon, UAE, Paris, Geneva, and Lausanne.

He is also a skilled mediator, having mediated disputes at Santa Monica Small Claims Court and co-mediated at Van Nuys Superior Court as a volunteer mediator with the California Academy for Mediation Professionals (CAMP) across various substantive areas and worked with the leaders of JAMS, the American Institute of Mediation, and has co-trained a 40-Hour Mediation Training organized by the American Bar Association (ABA) and Pepperdine University in Jordan.

He has authored several articles, including a comparative study on the adoption of the UNCITRAL Model Law by Egypt and Tunisia. He also significantly contributed to the third Arabic edition of Dr. El Ahdab’s Encyclopedia of Arbitration (3volumes). Furthermore, Zouhdi is a speaker at international conferences, where he shares his expertise in dispute resolution and other areas of law.

Zouhdi is a mediator on the Roster of Mediators of the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration (SCCA) and an arbitrator on the Roster of Arbitrators of the Lebanese Arbitration and Mediation Center (LAMC). He is an accredited mediator from CEDR and holds membership with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (MCIArb).

Zouhdi holds an LL.M. in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University, California, USA, a B.A. in Political Science from the Lebanese American University, and an LL.B. from the Lebanese University. He is a practicing attorney and a member of the Beirut Bar Association.

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