- Middle East
- Promotions
- Dubai, Brussels, New York, San Francisco, Washington DC
- Disputes, Regulatory, Capital Markets, Project Finance/Energy & Infra
Covington has promoted 15 lawyers to its partnership, including Dubai-based project development and finance partner Marc Norman, The Oath reported. The class took effect on 1 October across Brussels, Dubai, New York, San Francisco and Washington, with Washington taking 10 of the 15, two in New York and one each in Brussels, Dubai and San Francisco (Pulse 2.0).
Norman advises on project development and finance across energy, infrastructure and technology, and is recognised for data center work in the Middle East, Europe and the US (The Oath). Chair Doug Gibson said the promotions "reflect our commitment to succession planning" (Pulse 2.0).
Norman's promotion builds on Covington's 2017 Dubai project finance office
Covington opened its Dubai office in 2017 after absorbing a project finance team from Chadbourne & Parke, building a Middle East practice spanning renewables, oil and gas, infrastructure, compliance and disputes (Covington). Norman joins Haykel Hajjaji and Antonio Michaelides, promoted to partner in the same office the prior year (The Oath).
The office has a regional track record. Covington was named Project Finance Team of the Year at the 2024 IFLR Middle East Awards, having closed almost a dozen regional deals worth over $12bn between July 2023 and June 2024 (Covington). In November 2025 it advised on financial close for two Saudi solar plants totalling 1.4 GW (Covington).
Middle East data center spend above $100bn drives project finance demand
The work sits in a market expanding fast. Middle East data center investment reached $7.61bn in 2025 and is forecast to hit $20.74bn by 2031 (Research and Markets). Saudi Arabia and the UAE are committing over $100bn to next-generation data centers, including the HUMAIN platform at $77bn and the Stargate UAE campus at over $30bn (Research and Markets).
Saudi Arabia's renewable energy program targets about 50% renewables in the power mix by 2030, with ACWA Power-led consortia investing roughly $8.2bn in 15,000 MW of projects (Public Investment Fund). That pipeline is the energy and infrastructure financing a Dubai project finance desk exists to capture.
Kirkland, Mishcon and A&O Shearman expand across Riyadh and Dubai
Rivals are building in the same region. Mishcon de Reya opened its Dubai office at One Za'abeel in June 2026, months after announcing simultaneous UAE entry (Legal Business). Kirkland & Ellis, which entered the Gulf with a Riyadh office in October 2023 (Kirkland & Ellis), has registered with the Abu Dhabi Global Market toward a possible second office (The Lawyer) and hired a funds partner from Morgan Lewis for Riyadh (Global Legal Post). A&O Shearman is building in Riyadh amid a flurry of Gulf and City hires (Legal Business).
Covington's 15-partner class against Kirkland's 225 and Latham's 40
The round is modest beside the firm's largest competitors. Kirkland made at least 225 partners in its October 2026 round, 90% in the US (Global Legal Post); Latham & Watkins promoted 40 associates, nearly double its start-of-year intake, with Washington its second-largest hub (Global Legal Post). The size gap reflects different partnership models.
Covington lost a seven-person London private equity team to Paul Hastings (The Lawyer). Promoting from within, in a year when London partner moves hit a record 668 (Sartori Global), is one answer to that pressure. The class also deepens contested regulatory work: Mark Clifford and Lisa Ann Johnson in US sanctions and export controls, Jayne Ponder in privacy and AI regulation (Pulse 2.0).
Gulf infrastructure and data center capital is drawing both the mandates and the firms that compete for them. A single Dubai promotion against a Washington-weighted class shows where Covington is choosing to hold a regional bench it has spent nearly a decade building.
