Fares Abdullah

Fares Abdullah is an Associate within the Transport & Insurance department, having joined the team in 2021. His primary practice area is Maritime Law.

His recent experience includes assisting in setting up a multi-layered corporate structure for a large ship-owning entity with a vast fleet in the oil trading and tanker sector, involving the creation of 15 to 20 special purpose vehicles for vessel ownership across jurisdictions including Singapore and the UAE. He has played a role in high-value ship sale and purchase transactions collectively surpassing USD 60 million, offering guidance on vessel ownership structuring, vessel flagging and registration.

He has also advised a prominent ship-owning company on a significant Joint Venture Agreement, assisted in the acquisition of a €150 million superyacht, and assisted a client in a complex leaseback transaction exploring solutions to potentially reacquire a vessel despite liquidation status and continuing bareboat charterparty obligations.

His contentious experience includes assisting a leading ship-owning company facing arbitrations initiated by an international entity, engaging in a subrogated DIAC arbitration seated in London valued over USD 10 million arising from the collapse of a rig, and demonstrating proficiency in arresting vessels and resolving maritime disputes. He collaborated on a significant case for a leading UAE bank addressing defaults surpassing AED 115,000,000, where the team successfully arrested vessels in both the UAE and India, secured a favourable judgment of over AED 126,000,000, and is overseeing vessel sales and enforcement measures.

He holds a Legal Practice Course from BPP University (2020), an LLM in International Shipping Law from Queen Mary University (2019) and a Law LLB from the University of Reading (2018). He was admitted as a Solicitor in England & Wales in 2023 and speaks English and Arabic.