Our Team

Raya Abu Gulal is an award - winning, multilingual legal advisor with over 15 years of experience. She founded a boutique legal consultancy in 2012 with a focus on the Middle East market. She has advised both SME’s and multinational companies based in the GCC region, as well as clients spanning the US, Europe and MENA on a broad range of corporate and commercial matters focusing on establishing businesses, GCC market entry and setup requirements, corporate restructuring, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, commercial agreements, employment matters, compliance/regulatory filings and general business matters. Prior to setting up her boutique legal consultancy, Raya gained extensive legal experience working for two leading international law firms: Simmons & Simmons and Reed Smith. Raya speaks regularly at global conferences, seminars and roundtables. In 2017, she won the award “Legal Consultant Of The Year” from the Arab Woman Awards. Raya is active in various womens’ development initiatives in the MENA region and is the founding member of the Women Lawyers Group-Middle East. Raya was also appointed as an Advisor for the Middle East for the Diplomatic World Institute (Brussels). She is viewed as a trusted advisor and subject matter expert by both private clients and public sector bodies. Raya holds an LLB law degree from the University of Westminster and successfully completed the Legal Practice Course from the College of Law in London. She is fluent in Arabic, Dutch and English. Raya is described by her clients as “Incredibly knowledgeable, especially on corporate management and governance with an intuitive ability to think out of the box and propose practical solutions for a range of complex scenarios”.

<strong><b>Fatima Ghalib</b></strong> is a qualified solicitor of England and Wales with a wealth of experience in the areas of corporate/commercial law, finance, investment funds, private equity, hedge funds and financial services regulation. As well as advising on general contractual matters, commercial and corporate related matters for businesses and corporations, educational and cultural institutions, art galleries, charities, oil and gas companies and healthcare companies, Fatima has provided in-depth advisory support for asset managers and institutional investors with a particular expertise in supporting sovereign wealth funds and investment funds on a range of legal issues, including on how to adopt a more sustainability-led business approach when making key decisions. Fatima is on the leadership committee of Global Leaders Group (a leadership advisory firm) and on the founding committee of the Johara Global Platform (a female leadership accelerator for GCC women) as well as being a trustee of Friends of Hadhramaut, an MBE awarded UK registered charity for the alleviation of poverty. Fatima was one of the founders of Women Lawyers Group Middle East, the first foundation of its kind for women lawyers from MENA. <em><i>Fatima has been described by clients as “technically strong with a thorough understanding of her clients’ goals for success”.</i></em>

<div class="page" title="Page 4"> <div class="section"> <div class="layoutArea"> <div class="column"> Christine Abou Assali, partner at R.A.G legal, is a multilingual senior solicitor, with civil and common law legal background and experience both in the UAE and London. Christine’s key areas of practice focus on corporate and commercial, debt capital markets, finance (including structured products, derivatives, and fintech), funds, and regulatory. She worked at some of the leading international law firms (Ashurst LLP and Trowers & Hamlins) and financial institutions (Goldman Sachs and Credit Agricole) both in-house and in private practice, advising on transactional as well as regulatory matters. She is highly commended by her peers and clients and was described as “one of the most talented lawyers”, “committed, intellectually capable and outcome-focused”. </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="page" title="Page 4"> <div class="section"> <div class="layoutArea"> <div class="column"> Christine holds an LLB degree from the University St Joseph in Lebanon and an LLM degree from the London School of Economics. She completed her Legal Practice Course with distinction from BPP Law School in London. <div class="page" title="Page 4"> <div class="section"> <div class="layoutArea"> <div class="column"> Christine is fluent in Arabic, English and French and has basic knowledge of Italian. </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>