Nick White

Nick White is the Resident Managing Partner of the Dubai office. Nick joined Trowers & Hamlins in 1980 and became a partner in 1987. His career has been divided between time spent in Trowers & Hamlins’ litigation department in London, and spells in three Gulf jurisdictions – Oman, Bahrain (1993-1997), and Dubai (1998 to date).

Nick’s practice in Dubai is of a general commercial nature (both contentious and non- contentious), involving not only Dubai and the UAE, but also the business laws of other countries in the region. This has involved becoming acquainted with various of the laws and the legal systems of those other jurisdictions, and making and retaining the connections required to obtain good, effective regional advice. The actual work with which Nick is concerned in and from Dubai is and has been wide ranging, and includes aviation, real property projects and advice, mergers and acquisitions, business set ups and structures, agency arrangements, free zone advice, and the conduct of litigation and arbitration matters. Nick is recommended by the PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook 2005 (formerly Global Counsel 3000) directory as a specialist in company and corporate transactions.

Nick is also recommended as a legal expert in corporate & finance by the European Legal Experts 2006 directory. Nick has lectured LexisNexis seminars and workshops on conducting business in the Gulf states. Nick enjoys a close working relationship with the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC). He is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and an accredited Mediator. Of significant recent note in the dispute resolution field was where Nick acted as co-ordinating counsel in a multinational arbitration concerning an agency commission claim brought by a Qatari claimant against a Japanese corporate defendant, the claim governed by the laws of the claimant’s jurisdiction, with the hearing held in London under ICC Rules. During his time in Bahrain, Nick was heavily involved in the jurisdiction phase of the Case concerning Territories and the Delimitation of Maritime Boundaries between Qatar and Bahrain before the International Court of Justice, as well as other matters of national significance to Bahrain.

In Oman, Nick was involved in a substantial construction law case involving the Sultan Qaboos University, litigation requiring injunctive relief, and other matters of legal and commercial significance. Whilst in the litigation department in London, Nick was responsible for a broad range of commercial and property litigation, including secured lending recovery work, with his clients including merchant banks and commercial property lending institutions. Prior to moving to Dubai, Nick was responsible to one particular client of the firm for the management and administration of a caseload running to in excess of 7,000 files.