- Middle East
- Offices
- Abu Dhabi
- M&A, Private Equity, Investment Funds, Project Finance/Energy & Infra
Sullivan & Cromwell has opened its first office in the Middle East. The firm announced on 14 September that it has full authorisation from the Registration Authority of ADGM, Abu Dhabi's international financial centre, and that Ahmed T. el-Gaili is rejoining as a partner to lead its Middle East practice.
El-Gaili spent six years at S&C in London before moving to the Gulf. He arrives from Latham & Watkins, Law360 reported, where the firm's own deal announcements described him as a Riyadh partner. His practice covers M&A, private equity, joint ventures, project finance and restructuring for sovereign wealth funds, state-owned enterprises and governments, across energy, infrastructure, telecoms and technology. Partners Garth Bray and Umberto Hassan, the latter focused on UAE-based clients, will work alongside him, and the office will cover the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the wider region.
"Sovereign capital, private equity and infrastructure investment in the Middle East is fueling some of the most high-profile and complex transactions anywhere in the world," el-Gaili said. Bloomberg reported the opening as a move to win work on Gulf deals.
Abu Dhabi is Sullivan & Cromwell's 14th office, alongside London hires
S&C opens offices infrequently; Abu Dhabi is its 14th. The firm has historically promoted most of its partners from within, and its Middle East office is led by a returning alumnus rather than a lateral team. In the same week it announced David Avery-Gee and Sarah Flaherty as new M&A partners in London, adding partners in two markets at once.
Skadden, Kirkland and Simmons entered ADGM before Sullivan & Cromwell
S&C is one of several firms to open in ADGM since the start of 2025. Skadden opened there in January 2025 under Michael Hilton, a senior Freshfields hire, and in June took three investment management partners from Akin, two of them in Abu Dhabi, to advise sovereign wealth investors. Greenberg Traurig launched in Abu Dhabi in October 2025 with two Latham partners. Simmons & Simmons opened in ADGM in January with a funds and asset management focus. Kirkland registered in ADGM in April, and Pérez-Llorca set up there in June.
Riyadh licenses 35 foreign firms as DWF closes its office
Saudi Arabia has taken a different path. More than 35 international firms have been licensed in Riyadh since the kingdom opened its legal market in 2023, Law.com counts. In August DWF became the first Global 200 firm to close its Riyadh office, shortly after Saudi Arabia relaxed its rules on foreign ownership.
ADGM assets up 54% as Bain Capital, EQT and Pantheon arrive
ADGM reported assets under management up 54% year on year in the first half, with 190 fund and asset managers based there, against 154 a year earlier. Bain Capital opened in April; EQT and Pantheon followed in September. These managers are clients for funds, private equity and regulatory work. Abu Dhabi capital also invests abroad: Mubadala Capital took part in the $6bn Clear Channel takeover, a US public-company deal of the type at the centre of S&C's practice.
Iran attacks and a 20.5% fall in Gulf promotions preceded the openings
In March, Iranian missile and drone attacks led firms including White & Case and Baker McKenzie to tell staff to work remotely, and up to 70% of staff at some international firms left the region before a ceasefire allowed them back in April. Gulf partner promotions at Global 200 firms fell 20.5% in the first quarter. Kirkland registered in April, weeks into the ceasefire, and S&C opened in September; both committed to Abu Dhabi after the disruption.
Latham and Baker McKenzie lose Gulf partners to new entrants
The work behind these openings is sovereign M&A, private equity, fund formation, disputes and project finance for energy, infrastructure and data centres. Partners in those practices are moving between firms. Latham has lost a Riyadh partner to S&C and two partners to Greenberg Traurig's Abu Dhabi launch. Baker McKenzie has lost its Middle East investment funds head, James Burdett, to Ashurst Perkins Coie in Abu Dhabi, its third partner exit since late August; the departure comes as the number of fund managers in ADGM is rising. In disputes, Three Crowns has hired Freshfields' Saudi disputes head Amani Khalifa in Dubai.
The US firms entering ADGM have done so with small partner teams built around existing relationships with sovereign investors such as ADIA, Mubadala, ADQ and PIF, and have filled those teams largely by hiring from firms already in the region.
