A Legal and Business Minded Approach to Providing Legal Advice

MASHURAH international law firm is the consultant lawyers in Jordan and is generally recognized as the premier firm in Jordan. Our lawyers have domestic and international expertise across a wide range of practices including banking and finance, capital markets, construction, corporate and tax, dispute resolution/litigation, energy and resources, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, projects and project finance, public policy, PPPs and privatization, telecom and more.

Our clients include local, foreign and global corporations both from the private and public sectors. The firm provides advice to our clients from Amman regarding Jordan and through its associated offices and relationship law firms worldwide.

We follow a legal and business minded approach to providing legal advice to our clients. Our lawyers and support staff are fluent in Arabic and English and regardless of the situation our entire team is at the client’s disposal. MASHURAH international law frim is, and has been, constantly ranked as a top tier law firm in the leading international ranking publications including: IFLR1000, Chambers Global, and The Legal 500.

Our firm advises and acts for several national and international banking and financial institutions. We provide counsel on all aspects of banking laws, regulations and supervisions, including underwriting and syndicated lending, leveraged and acquisition finance, aircraft financing, secured commercial lending, commercial paper, financial regulatory, and finance for foreign trade, project and corporate finance, debt and equity financing, handling trade documents and dealing in foreign exchange.

For many years we have advised several local and international banks with offices in Jordan, as well as all the world’s leading investment and commercial banks, and corporates on a cross border basis, on their various banking products and services, and regulatory issues. We use the knowledge acquired from providing such advice to these banks and our experience in structuring and advising on major transactions in the banking, capital markets and bank acquisition sectors to provide advice to our clients in the most complex transactions assisting them in addressing the most challenging issues.

Through the years we have built strong relationships with the main regulators of the sector that is always beneficial in implementing complex and innovative transactions and products.

Islamic Banking

Although Islamic banking and finance remains a relatively untapped sector in Jordan, the firm has been active in keeping up to date with developments in the sector and has actually advised local international banks and clients on many Islamic banking products and Islamic project finance transactions.

In 1996 and 1997, our firm was commissioned by the Government of Jordan and the World Bank to draft the Jordanian Securities Law and related Companies Law amendments. The Jordanian Government continues to solicit our advice on various amendments to, and interpretation of, provisions of the Securities Law and Companies Law. We have also been commissioned to draft the Palestinian Stock Exchange’s rules and regulations. This unique insight, combined with our high-level knowledge of securities, enables us to provide first-class advice on all aspects of securities related transactions.

We provide a full range of services for underwriters and issuers of securities including local and international public offerings of equity and investment-grade debt. Additionally, we advise several financial institutions and brokerage firms, both foreign and domestic, on potential offerings of securities and funds in the Jordanian market.

For many years we have advised a long list of global banks and financial institutions and major international corporates on the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc (ISDA) documentation as well as the Global Master Repurchase Agreement (GMRA) that is published by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), and we keep track of the latest documentary developments. We can therefore easily deal with any ISDA and GMRA related queries or concerns our clients may have in an efficient manner.

We have been actively involved in most of the infrastructure projects carried out in Jordan and have developed substantial expertise in all aspects of contracting and construction. We have participated in major projects involving the construction of roads, dams, airports, hospitals, power stations, refineries and defense projects. Our clients are many of the major players in the construction industry, namely general contractors, subcontractors, financial institutions and concession-granting authorities. We can understand the perspective of the other parties to the transaction and therefore use a practical approach. Our firm represents clients in all phases of the construction process, from bidding and negotiating the prime contract, to contract administration and dispute resolution.

Our firm advises companies across all industry sectors on general corporate matters and assists both local and foreign companies in expanding their business in Jordan and overseas. Our particular strengths include domestic and international joint ventures, corporate mergers and acquisitions, formation/transformation of public and private shareholding companies, venture capital, project finance, technology transfer, agency, distributorship and licensing arrangements. Our experience with large, complex, and cross-border transactions enables us to render effective and timely service to its clients.

We advise our corporate clients on many issues including tax, social security, and competition law, and provide extensive contract drafting and negotiation assistance on a wide range of contract matters. We render comprehensive corporate registration services whereby we register, follow up, and liaise with the Ministry of Industry and Trade on behalf of our clients.

We also counsel our clients on all matters relating to employment; including recruitment, retention and termination issues. Specifically, we provide services relating to wrongful termination, termination agreements, labor law issues, non-competition clauses or agreements, confidentiality agreements, proprietary information agreements, secondment agreements, consulting contracts, employment contracts, and drafting or reviewing employee regulations or handbooks.

We also have experience in advising clients and regulators on corporate governance, compliance and applicable laws and regulations and advise in relation to corporate governance issues for banks, listed companies, institutional investors, private equity investors, underwriters, board committees, directors and others.

Before branching out into the various areas of practice, we were originally established as a litigation firm. To this day, the commercial litigation group remains the backbone of our firm and closely interacts with our other practice groups to meet the various needs of our commercial and banking clientele. We represent clients in disputes brought before Jordanian courts, as well as local and international arbitration forums. Our objective in each case is to provide an efficient and commercially viable solution for the dispute at hand, whether through litigation, arbitration, or other means of dispute resolution. We have the resources to handle complex litigation cases and the experience in a wide variety of claims and disputes including banking claims, general contractual and commercial disputes, insolvency, construction disputes, and agency termination disputes.

Several of our members are highly experienced in agency termination disputes and have successfully represented many foreign principals in agents’ claims for compensation upon termination of agency or distributorship agreements. Many precedents set by the Jordanian Court of Causation in this area were established through arguments presented by our members.

All of our resources and experience have contributed to our astonishing success rate in litigation and arbitration.

The firm’s Projects group is highly-experienced in the Jordanian energy and resources sector, specifically within the mining, oil and gas, and power and renewables projects.

Our clients include mining companies, oil and gas companies, power companies, commercial lenders, development banks, export credit agencies, the Government, project sponsors and contractors. We regularly advise the main fertilizers, chemicals and oil shale mining corporates on their various operations across the full range of issues that apply to the sector.

Jordan has limited oil and gas resources. Nevertheless, the firm has substantial experience in the sector through the representation of many of the foreign oil companies that have obtained concessions to explore for oil. With the recent discovery of high oil shale deposits in Jordan, the firm has been advising several oil shale mining companies with respect to the negotiation and operation of their concessions.

The Government of Jordan has privatised most of the power generation and distribution sector and the firm has been involved in the process with most of the projects, representing the Government, project sponsors, financiers. The firm has advised international clients and financiers on various conventional oil and gas, renewables, oil shale and nuclear power generation projects.

Our major transactions group is recognized for its market leading position in mergers and acquisition. Our experience in large and sophisticated cross-border transactions provides clients with top-quality service in all aspects of mergers and acquisitions. Members of our firm have structured, negotiated, and implemented a multitude of share and asset based deals. We advise on all aspects of the deal including: structuring, corporate governance, documentation, legal-risk management, due diligence, warranties, financing, employment, and environmental concerns.

We have unparalleled experience in advising corporates and entrepreneurs on setting up, negotiating, operating and termination of a wide variety of cross border and local joint ventures and strategic alliances. We support corporates, investors and entrepreneurs on structuring, drafting and negotiating their joint venture agreements.

Because we work collabouratively across all our practice groups, we also offer a broad range of supporting advice in areas such as intellectual property, licensing, tax and employment and benefits.

Projects and project finance suit our firm’s strengths in complex and highly structured financial transactions, construction, and Government contracts. We advise all parties involved in projects across all industry sectors, including project sponsors, project companies, commercial lenders, development banks, international financial organisations, suppliers, purchasers, contractors, and government agencies. We take a non-legalistic, solution orientated approach that focuses on delivering practical solutions to the often complex and challenging Jordanian legal framework.

Our major transactions group is clearly the market leader is this dynamic practice area which requires a fully integrated service on all aspects of legal work, including joint ventures, project structures (BOT, BOOT, DBFO, DBFM, PPP, 3P, PFI and others), conducting legal due diligence, risk allocation and reviewing project agreements, financing arrangements and relevant security packages.

Due to our extensive experience in all aspects of legal practice in Jordan, we have been steadily involved, over the years, in the drafting of several different laws and regulations. The following includes our most notable achievements in this regard:

• Being commissioned with GIDE, the leading French law firm, to draft the PPP law for Jordan.

• Being commissioned to draft the initial Palestinian Stock Exchange rules and regulations.

• Drafting, on behalf of the Jordanian Government and the World Bank, the Securities Law and related Companies Law, the Safeguard Law, the Secured Financing and Leasing Law, the Provident Funds Law, and the Trusts Law.

• Being commissioned by the Central Bank of Jordan to draft the new Deposit Insurance Law and to assist in drafting the new Banking Law.

• Assisting in the drafting of the new Sales Tax Law.

• Advising the Government of Jordan regarding the regulatory regime governing the privatisation of the three Jordanian airports.

• Advising the Government of Jordan regarding the regulatory regime governing the privatisation of the public transport sector.

• Advising the Government of Jordan regarding the regulatory regime governing the privatisation of the Jordan Telecommunications Company.

• Advising the Government of Jordan regarding the regulatory regime governing the privatisation of the Royal Jordanian Airlines.

Since the mid 1990’s, Jordan has embarked on a large-scale privatisation and public private partnerships (PPPs) and our firm has been directly involved every step of the way. These programs require expertise in numerous practice areas including corporate, commercial, capital markets, banking, finance, taxation, and competition law. As a full-service law firm, we have the expertise and experience that are necessary in these areas to bring a privatisation or PPP deal to a successful conclusion. The firm has been involved in almost all of the major privatisation and PPP deals undertaken by the Government of Jordan whether advising on the Government, project sponsor, bidder or financing side of the transaction. Due to the firm’s experience in these transactions, the firm was commissioned, with GIDE, to prepare a draft PPP law and continues to advise the Government and the World Bank in setting a functional regulatory framework for PPPs.

Jordan’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector has experienced rapid growth and is quickly developing the necessary capabilities to compete on a global basis. Consequently, our firm has kept pace with the growth through our active involvement in a wide range of issues in this sector. We assist clients on all aspects of ICT law including telecommunications, broadcasting, e-commerce and Internet, multimedia, outsourcing, and data protection.

Our firm represents established businesses seeking to exploit their technology assets or develop their business using technology. We work closely with newly formed IT companies, advising them on structural, commercial, telecommunications, and IT issues. This process requires expertise, which we possess, in a number of different areas including corporate and commercial law, intellectual property, and the telecommunication industry’s regulatory environment in Jordan.