Melissa Forbes-Miranda

Partner

Melissa is a corporate and commercial partner based in Dubai. She has extensive experience in advising on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, foreign direct investment, restructuring and insolvency, shareholder disputes, private equity and venture capital, as well as general corporate and commercial advisory matters throughout the Middle East.

Having been based in the UAE for over 15 years, Melissa has established herself as a trusted advisor and key point of contact for numerous multinational and regional clients seeking legal counsel throughout the Middle East region. She specialises in supporting clients through local and cross-border transactions, as well as advising on a wide spectrum of corporate and commercial legal issues.

She has reputation for providing legal advice that is commercially relevant, on-point, adds value and is strategic to the needs of her clients. Her standing as a leading corporate lawyer in the region is evident from the various awards and accolades that she has received, including being recognised as a 'rising star' in the field of commercial, corporate and M&A by Legal 500 EMEA in 2022 and 2023; listed as one of 50 outstanding lawyers operating in the MENA region in the ALB MENA Super 50 2023 list, issued by Thomson Reuters' ALB publication and was voted for by more than 300 in-house counsels from the across the MENA region and beyond; and shortlisted for the award of “Corporate Lawyer of the Year” at the 2023 LexisNexis Women in >Law Awards.

Her practice extends to commercial, outsourcing and technology mandates such as distribution and agency arrangements, franchising and licensing, regulatory issues (particularly licensing, competition law and corporate governance issues), hotel management agreements, supply and service agreements and commercial disputes.

Melissa has a particularly strong reputation for her expertise in the technology sector, having worked on various matters relating to data centres, cybersecurity, defence technology, healthcare technology, technology product manufacturing and distribution, software licensing and development, fintech, e-commerce, online advertising and media, internet of things (IOT), blockchain / cryptocurrency and cleantech.

Melissa also has clients that span across a broad range of other sectors, including financial services, insurance, life sciences, healthcare, industrials and manufacturing, consumer, real estate and construction, professional services (particularly education), and hotels and leisure.

Expertise

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