Financial Services
Licensing, banking, and DFSA-regulated structures inside and outside the DIFC.
Dubai · DIFC
The boutique retainedwhen the deal must close.
Meridian Counsel is a corporate and commercial boutique in the DIFC. We advise founders, funds and family offices on the transactions that define them — partner-led, discreet, and fluent in the way capital crosses this region.
2009
Founded
AED 40B+
Transaction value advised
30+
Jurisdictions
12
Partners
We take a small number of engagements and give each of them a partner. That is the whole model, and it is deliberate.
Sectors we serve
Deep in six sectors, not thin across forty.
We advise where we have genuine depth. Each sector is led by partners who have closed in it, on both sides of the table.
Real Estate & Hospitality
Development, acquisition and hotel-management agreements across the Emirates.
Energy & Infrastructure
Project finance, PPAs and infrastructure concessions across the GCC.
Technology & Venture
Founders and VCs from seed to exit — term sheets, cap tables and rounds.
Private Capital & Funds
Fund formation, GP/LP terms and private-equity acquisitions.
Retail & Consumer
Franchising, distribution and consumer-brand transactions region-wide.
Deal highlights
A selection that closed.
Private Capital
AED 2.6B growth-equity investment
Lead counsel to the sponsor
AED 2.6B2024
Technology
Series C round for a regional fintech
Company-side counsel
USD 120M2024
Real Estate
Mixed-use development joint venture
Counsel to the developer
AED 4.1B2023
Financial Services
DFSA licensing of a digital-asset platform
Regulatory counsel
Licence secured2023
How we engage
A deliberate way of working.
Four steps, no surprises. You know the partner, the scope and the number before the work begins.
01
Introduction
A confidential conversation with the partner who would lead. No juniors, no pitch team — the person you would actually work with.
02
Scope & terms
A short engagement letter with a fixed scope and a fee you agree before we start. Predictable by design.
03
Execution
We run the transaction — drafting, negotiating, and closing — with the partner on every material call.
04
Close & beyond
We close, hand over clean documents, and stay reachable for the questions that always follow a deal.
Leadership
A partner on every mandate.
AW
Adam Whitfield
Managing Partner · M&A
Cross-border acquisitions
NF
Noura Al-Fahim
Partner · Funds
Fund formation & private capital
RM
Rajiv Menon
Partner · Financial Services
DFSA licensing & regulation
LH
Layla Haddad
Partner · Technology
Venture rounds & exits
“Two partners in the room, no army of associates billing the clock. It changed how the whole deal felt.”
Considering a transaction?
A first conversation with a partner is confidential and carries no obligation. Tell us the shape of it.
Speak with counsel