Z&Co. is a national Saudi law firm that is able to offer clients a unique full-service offering that covers regulatory; commercial in-house support; dispute resolution, and transactions practices that each combine deep local expertise with international commercial standards. Our local team combines former members of the judiciary, Sharia law experts, and both Saudi and internationally-qualified lawyers.
Our first aim is always to fully understand our clients’ business objectives for any matter we work on. We consider ourselves commercial advisers, delivering advice in the format and language that our busy clients demand.
The Saudi corporate/mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market is expected to grow over the coming years as a consequence of the recent reforms made to ease doing business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to protect and regulate businesses in line with international best practices. Changes, such as the new Companies Law law and bankruptcy regime, are designed to help achieve Vision 2030’s goals of greater private sector participation and foreign investment in Saudi Arabia. Increased corporate law activity can be expected as a consequence of the programs under Vision 2030 including the National Transformation Program and the Privatization Program.
A material contributor to meeting these targets will be corporate/M&A transactions, including joint ventures between foreign and Saudi partners and acquisitions of Saudi targets by foreign acquirors. In addition, the Public Investment Fund’s Sector Development Investment Pool (covering investments by its portfolio companies in a number of sectors, including industrial transformation, entertainment, military & defence, recycling, and e-commerce) have already involved acquisitions and JV deals, with more likely to follow. Other factors likely to drive further corporate and M&A activity include increasing consolidation in a number of sectors, such as the banking and insurance spheres, the likely corporate restructuring of a number of family groups in Saudi Arabia, and the consequential wish to sell non-core assets to different groups.
Our Dispute Resolution practice is involved in ground-breaking legal actions on a daily basis. As the leading firm in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we have represented clients in many of the largest and most complex disputes in Saudi Arabia.
Z&Co.’s dispute resolution team of lawyers is one of the most trusted legal teams in Saudi Arabia in managing high-profile, complex disputes. Led by partner Sarah Gonem, our team of local and international legal practitioners work together to combine depth of Sharia and judicial knowledge with international best practices in the management of complex commercial issues.
Our success in contentious matters is directly linked to the international quality standards we apply to our litigation work which includes assisting the court with concise case summaries and producing focused submissions, practices which mark a refreshing change from the usual experiences of most judges.
Z&Co. combines international standards of file management and client reporting with a mix of experienced, bilingual lawyers with qualifications from the UK, USA, and Saudi Arabia, as well as Sharia experts and former judges with many years of experience in the Saudi courts and the Ministry of Justice.
Human capital is often a business’ most important asset, making it essential to establish clear and transparent employment contracts and policies from the start of the relationship. Since the Arabic version of such contracts will prevail in the event of a dispute, our experienced, bilingual lawyers ensure that international contracts and policies are accurately converted into the Arabic language to convey the same terms and deliver the same key messages to your employees.
Human capital is often a business’ most important asset, making it essential to establish clear and transparent employment contracts and policies from the start of the relationship. Since the Arabic version of such contracts will prevail in the event of a dispute, our experienced, bilingual lawyers ensure that international contracts and policies are accurately converted into the Arabic language to convey the same terms and deliver the same key messages to your employees.
We also provide a diverse employment offering, including strategic advisory, transactional involvement, and employment transfers, and we advise employers on claims brought against them in the Labour Commissions.
We support clients in large-scale employee transitions required as a result of ‘Saudization’ measures, such as, most recently, in the hospitality and retail sectors, which involves finding practical, commercial law solutions to achieve the required percentage of Saudi national employees whilst mitigating risks arising from dismissals.
Intellectual property law (IP law) covers property that is intangible. These regulations protect ideas and information created for a limited period of time.
Saudi Arabia has a developed system of IP laws covering patents, copyrights, trademarks, and designs. The Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (“SAIP”) is the body responsible for managing and promoting intellectual property in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in accordance with global best practices. It is also home to the various IP law registers that exist to protect intellectual property rights.
Saudi Arabia is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (“WIPO”), the specialised United Nations agency. It is also party to a number of relevant international treaties, including the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (covering copyright) and the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
Z&Co, is the leading law firm in Riyadh, Jeddah & Saudi Arabia and our intellectual property lawyers advises clients on the IP laws in the Kingdom. Contact us now
Real estate investment and development is a rapidly expanding market, led primarily by the government undertaking USD multi-billion dollar giga-projects across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and focusing on the tourism, housing, transport, and infrastructure sectors.
Given this expanding market, the regulatory framework needs to develop rapidly to create a suitable environment for efficient and low-risk investment in real estate. Our Government Advisory team of lawyers plays a key role in such regulatory enhancements, including advising relevant government entities on a range of enabling measures, including improving the current land registry system; allowing long leasehold rights to be registered; and enhancing valuation procedures.
Our Project Finance team supports lenders and investors in major BOT projects, and to mitigate the risk of provisions being found unenforceable in a subsequent dispute, our skilled bilingual lawyers work alongside our Sharia experts and former judges to advise on the enforceability and regulatory compliance of the proposed project structure and contractual terms.
Our litigation team has represented high-profile individuals and companies in defending a range of white-collar crime allegations, including multi-jurisdictional investigations and actions.
In a landmark case, we successfully defended our client in relation to allegations of breaches of the Anti-Concealment Law, which prevents foreigners from conducting business activities in Saudi Arabia without obtaining a license from the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA). Our submissions were reflected, almost word for word, in the final court judgment, with our arguments effectively rewriting and clarifying the principles of the Anti-Concealment Law. Most importantly, we established that it can be permitted to offer senior expatriate employees large bonuses without this being regarded as a concealed distribution of profits to a foreign investor.
We have also represented clients at the highest level of appeals, to the extent of submitting, in some instances, directly to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (the King of Saudi Arabia) to appeal Supreme Court decisions in cases worth billions of US dollars.
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