Greenberg Traurig (GT) has hired a pair of partners from Latham & Watkins to open an office in Abu Dhabi, its 50th worldwide.
Financing and restructuring lawyer Christian Adams and M&A and private equity lawyer Chris Lester have joined from Latham as co-managing shareholders of the new office. GT opened its first Middle East offices in 2023 when it set up shop in Riyadh and Dubai, and said opening three offices in the region in two years was unique in the market.
Richard Rosenbaum, GT’s executive chairman, said the firm’s growth strategy focused on expansion in key financial and government centres, as well as emerging markets.
“Our strategy of organic growth, rather than through mergers or vereins, continues to deliver exceptional results,” Rosenbaum said. “Opening our Abu Dhabi office represents the execution of our growth strategy at its finest. As the capital city of the UAE, our Abu Dhabi office will complement the accelerated growth that the Middle East is experiencing.”
Adams has joined the firm following his second stint at Latham, between which he was vice president of legal at state-owned Dubai Holdings. He has been based in the UAE since 2008 and handles financing matters, including conventional and Islamic lending, refinancings, restructurings, distressed debt matters and private credit transactions, among others.
At Latham he advised Investcorp Capital on its $800m revolving credit facility and Brookfield Private Capital in connection with the financing of its acquisition of a majority stake in Magnati – a payments business owned by First Abu Dhabi Bank. He also advised Dubai Holdings in a number of matters, including the roughly $2bn pre-IPO financing of the TECOM Group and the financing and acquisition of marquee real estate and hospitality assets in Europe.
Meanwhile Lester focuses on inbound and outbound M&A, private equity, joint ventures, investments and corporate restructurings. He has spent the past 17 years in the Middle East at Latham, where he worked on deals including advising JP Morgan on the three-way merger of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, United National Bank and Al Hilal Bank, and Mubadala on the $15bn merger of EMAL and DUBAL to form Emirates Global Aluminium.
GT’s Abu Dhabi move follows Paul Hastings launching in the city in July after hiring an energy and infrastructure team from White & Case. Skadden recruited a senior corporate partner from Freshfields to open in Abu Dhabi early this year, the firm’s first office in the Middle East, while UK-founded firms Simmons & Simmons and Addleshaw Goddard have also opened offices there recently.
Since opening its first office in Miami in 1967, GT has grown to 3,000 lawyers across the globe and revenue of more than $2.6bn in 2024, according to data published by the American Lawyer, placing it 16th in the Am Law 200. Meanwhile the firm’s profit per equity partner stood at just over $2.6m.
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