Founder & Principal
Andre Saade
Dispute Resolution Strategist
Boasting more than twenty years’ worth of experience as a litigator in the UAE for one of the largest law firms in the world, Andre has established his reputation as a sound counsel for both clients with complex multi-jurisdiction disputes, and clients that require quick, effective solutions. With a trilingual (Arabic, English and French) skill-set, and an international mindset to suite, his career has been premised on ‘thinking global whilst acting local’.
Andre has worked on several cases across the region for clients across the world, with a penchant for Real Estate, Construction, Employment and IPT. He has been a key player in teams that have won several accolades in Chambers & Partners and Legal 500.
As a leading legal thinker, Andre has contributed to several articles published in renowned publications, such as The National, Al Bayan, The Brief and Al Nashra Al Ektisadiya (in the UAE) and the Edge (in Qatar).
Andre is a member of the Beirut Bar, and holds a Masters Degree from the Université de Poitiers.
Notable Cases
-
Successfully representing a renowned global management consulting firm’s interests in the restructuring of an international building, civil and electromechanical engineering contractor. This required Andre to represent the client in a large cross-border dispute, to supervise over more than 30 commercial and employment disputes in the UAE, and to align strategies between all moving parts of the macro dispute to recover assets in the UAE and the wider GCC.
-
One of the first employment litigation cases heard before the ADGM courts in Abu Dhabi, involving a jurisdictional conflict between onshore criminal procedure (which was led by Andre) and the procedures of the ADGM labour courts.
-
Providing advice, and subsequently taking instructions, on a dawn raid and debt recovery on behalf of a multinational consumer goods company. The instructions, pursuant to the advice, involved Andre utilising and working closely with his network of asset search firms in order to ascertain assets which would affect the wider strategy of the dispute.
-
Representing one of the largest media firms in the MENA region on a defamation case filed by a noteworthy UAE business personality against a well known regional business publication. Andre successfully managed to absolve the client of any liability in court, despite heavy pressure being applied by the plaintiff to reach an out of court settlement.
-
Representing one of the largest and oldest automobile manufacturing firms in the world on a matter that involved the theft of sensitive information by departing employee. Bridging both white collar criminal law and employment law, Andre provided multi-faceted advice whilst engaging third party forensic experts, collaborating with the Dubai Police Forensics Team and the Public Prosecutor of the UAE.
-
Representing one of the four national airlines of the UAE on a long and drawn-out series of cross border disputes.