Bird & Bird to open new Riyadh location

Bird & Bird prepares for the opening of a new location in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Initially, the office will concentrate its advisory across matters of technology and intellectual property law, besides transactional and general corporate advice. 

Anders Nilsson (pictured above),  head of region for the Middle East, will be at the lead of the newborn entity, working alongside three resident expert partners – Raya Alkhatib, Nick O’Connell and Simon Shooter – and with support from a team of Saudi associate lawyers.

Here’s a brief recap of each resident expert partner’s profile.

Raya Alkhatib 

Corporate partner Raya Alkhatib’s expertise spans matters of general corporate advice, formation of companies, mergers and acquisitions, initial public offering transactions, rights issue and real estate investment funds. Before moving to Bird & Bird, she served as general counsel, governance officer and board secretary at American Express Saudi Arabia. Her activity within such roles included advising on day-to-day legal affairs, such as general corporate matters, debt collection, employment issues, finance, payments and e-commerce matters, co-branding agreements, as well as counseling on partnerships with local banks. 

Nick O’Connell 

A tech and data specialist, Nick O’Connell  has been operating in Riyadh for the vast majority of the last seven years, focusing on technology, media and telecommunications practice in the Kingdom. He often advises international and local clients on a wide range of legal matters, including transactional contracting work, regulatory advisory on technology, cloud, data, media and telecoms issues. 

Simon Shooter 

A commercial and technology partner and founder of the firm’s cybersecurity practice, Simon Shooter has been a partner with Bird & Bird for over 17 years. Before serving the newborn Riyadh office, he worked in the firm’s London and Dubai locations. During the 1990s, he worked as an external lawyer to the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in London. Shooter’sclient base spans the likes of hospitals, international investment banks, automotive manufacturers and airlines. His practice is particularly focused on helping businesses face technological change.