Ahmed Abdelnabi

Ahmed Abdelnabi is a Senior Associate in the Litigation team in Dubai, with over 6 years of experience in Egypt and the UAE. His primary practice area is Construction Law, and his practice focuses on banking, real estate and construction-related disputes before the UAE Courts and in arbitration.

He has advised on several contentious and non-contentious construction-related matters in both the litigation and arbitration practices, with exposure to construction claims focused on technical aspects as well as claims with commercial aspects only.

In particular, he has expertise in construction claims involving disputed variations, prolongation costs and extension of time applications. He has also been involved in claims focusing on the validity of termination of construction contracts and its consequences.

He is well familiarised with the FIDIC suite of contracts and has acted in many disputes governed by the FIDIC conditions of contract before the UAE Courts and in arbitration, with a special focus on the validity of the arbitration agreements usually incorporated in such forms.

His recent experience includes advising and representing a major contractor in relation to its insurance and construction-related litigation in connection with a fire at one of Dubai's most recognisable hotels; advising and representing an unincorporated joint venture acting as main contractor of one of Abu Dhabi's pivotal infrastructural projects in its dispute against the employer (a state-owned public joint-stock company that oversees the airports of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi) in relation to the validity of the contract termination and the validity of its claim against the main contractor's bank guarantees, with a total claim value of approximately AED 5 billion.

He has also advised and represented a main contractor in its claim against the employer in relation to the validity of the contract termination and its claim for payment of overdue entitlements; advised and represented an unincorporated joint venture acting as main contractor in its circa AED 600 million dispute with its MEP subcontractor in relation to the construction of one of Abu Dhabi's most recognisable landmarks; and advised and represented one of the UAE's largest MEP contractors in its circa AED 230 million contentious dispute against the main contractor in relation to the construction of one of the UAE's largest children's specialty hospitals, which involved jurisdictional challenge, joinder of third parties (employer and engineer), pre-maturity of claims arguments and technical claims relating to re-measurable works.

He also advised and represented an Abu Dhabi-based contractor in its circa AED 500 million dispute against the employer in relation to one of the Emirate's largest developments, spanning over 22 million square metres in Al Ain City, Abu Dhabi, in addition to defending the main contractor against claims brought by its subcontractors valued at over AED 350 million.

He holds an LLB (Bachelor of Laws), English Section, from Alexandria University, and was admitted to the Bar Association of Alexandria, Egypt in 2015. He speaks Arabic and English.