Introduction

Atif Mulla is a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England & Wales with extensive experience of 11 years practicing in Saudi Arabia. His experience in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been in the commercial, corporate and dispute resolution practice areas, with concentration on arbitration, engineering and construction, infrastructure, joint ventures, project finance, mergers & acquisitions, and shipping, amongst others.

Mr. Mulla started his practice in the City of London, focused on dispute resolution, including international commercial litigation, property disputes, insolvency proceedings and arbitration. Mr. Mulla has acted for claimants and defendants in proceedings in the County Court, Commercial Court, Chancery and Queen’s Bench Divisions of the High Court, as well as the Court of Appeal. Mr. Mulla has also acted in arbitration proceedings in the London Court of International Arbitration.

Mr. Mulla is also a published author, having co-authored the section on Saudi Arabia in the 2015 version of The Projects and Construction Review.

Education

• LL.M, Professional Legal Practice, UK (2011)
• Legal Practice Course, UK (2010)
• LLB, UK (2008)

Representative Experience

Saudi Arabia

• Counsel to a leading Kuwaiti investment management firm on its divestiture from a leading Saudi restaurant chain holding company
• Lead Saudi Arabian Counsel to the Sponsors in the successful US$ 530 million restructuring of the project financing of three of Saudi Arabia’s largest gas-fired cogeneration power plants.
• Acting as Saudi Arabian Counsel to the Lenders on the US$600+ million financing of Shuqaiq-3 IWP, one of the largest desalination plants in Saudi Arabia.
• Drafting of the expert witness statement of Mr. Hassan MS Mahassni in support of his expert oral testimony as part of a high profile $500 million arbitration dispute conducted in the LCIA. The pivotal evidence in support of Mr. Mahassni’s testimony centered on the contractually binding nature of a verbal promise under Shariah Law, where the contractual jurisdiction was England and Wales, and the substantive law was Shariah. This necessitated a comparative analysis between Shariah and Common Laws.
• Legal opinion to an international shipping company on Saudi Arabian laws, and its ability to enter into a joint venture with a Saudi Arabian company.
• Lead counsel to Dallah Al-Baraka, a publicly listed Saudi Arabian conglomerate, in its $10 million acquisition of a pharmaceutical production company in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
• Legal advice on the ability of a majority foreign shareholder to impose its international policies onto its Saudi Arabian joint venture.
• Drafting of a hotel management agreement and a technical services agreement for a hotel to be established in the city of Makkah.
• Legal advice to a foreign investor on the embezzlement by another investor, of joint venture funds.
• Drafting of a non-exclusive sub-franchise agreement with emphasis on the interests of the franchisor.
• Legal advice to an industrial company on the non-performance by one of its contractors of its contractual obligations.
• Drafting of an Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract, for the construction of a $15 Million housing complex with special emphasis on the rights of the employer.
• Preparing a legal opinion to a foreign bank concerning guarantees issued by a corporate borrower in the context of the purchase of industrial equipment.
• Preparing a legal opinion to a foreign bank concerning a personal guarantee to be issued in the context of the purchase of a $28.5 million Bombardier aircraft.
• Preparing an Assignment of Rights to securitize a Term Loan of 600 Million Saudi Riyals.
• Preparing a legal opinion to a foreign bank concerning the insolvency of a large Saudi Arabian company.
• Preparing a legal opinion to a foreign bank concerning the financing of a $690 Million oil-drilling rig, and particularly the guarantees provided by an interested Saudi Arabian party.

England and Wales

• Representation of a defendant in a complex €1.3 million breach of contract claim, by a claimant whose beneficial owner was convicted in absentia by an Italian court of playing a part in a €150 million pyramid scheme, before the Commercial Court (Chancery Division) of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. Permission has been granted to appeal against the decision of the Commercial Court, by the Court of Appeal on the interpretation of a point of law (s.32, Limitation Act 1980).
• Successful representation of a prominent West African airlines against HM Revenue & Customs in the High Court (Companies Court of the Chancery Division), in an emergency application to bring forward and dismiss a winding-up petition served by HMRC.
• Representation of a claimant in the conduct of ongoing international commercial litigation in a highly complex $1billion multi-jurisdictional case in the High Court of Justice of England and Wales (Queen’s Bench Division).