Melissa Murray

Melissa Murray is a Partner at Bird & Bird in the United Arab Emirates, where she serves as Head of Country for the UAE, Head of Intellectual Property for the Middle East, and global co-head of Franchising. Her practice focuses on Intellectual Property Law.

She has practised in the UAE since 2006 and is ranked in IP Stars, Chambers & Partners, Legal 500 and Who's Who Legal for her commercial and intellectual property experience.

She advises clients on intellectual property, commercial, corporate and general litigation matters relating to their operations in the UAE and the wider Middle East region, covering matters such as IT, IP, trademark protection, franchising, and commercial licensing of intellectual property, media, healthcare, consumer protection and regulatory issues. She particularly specialises in franchising, distribution and supply agreements, having acted for some of the world's largest brands when licensing their intellectual property in the Middle East.

Her professional memberships include INTA, the American Bar Association and a number of UAE, UK, USA and Australian business associations. She is also a member of the Franchising Committee of the International Bar Association. She regularly writes chapters for legal textbooks such as the Franchise Law Review, the Life Sciences Reviews, the Franchise Law Journal, the IBA's newsletters and Middle East journals, and is regularly invited to speak at events throughout the GCC.

Her awards and rankings include Intellectual Property Lawyer of the Year at the Legal 500 MENA Awards 2026, Franchise Leader of the Year at the Arab Franchise Awards 2023, Woman Lawyer of the Year (Law Firm) at the ALB Middle East Law Awards 2022, 2023 and 2024, Intellectual Property Lawyer of the Year at the Legal Era Middle East Law Awards 2021–22, 2023–24 and 2024–25, Leading Partner for Intellectual Property (UAE) in the Legal 500 EMEA, and Gold Tier in the WTR 1000 (UAE).