Former Baker & McKenzie Habib Al Mulla senior associate Faizal Latheef joined Kochhar & Co as a partner in its Dubai corporate practice.

The 1998 LLB alumnus from Mahatma Gandhi University has had stints in Indian law firms United Law Chambers and Kalkura & Associates, and middle-eastern firms Hourani & Associates and Samir Salloum & Co, and in house at AbbVie before joining Baker in October 2008.

Latheef has advised several multinational companies on cross-border transactions and international agreements, complex commercial transactions in the middle-eastern region, including a multi-billion dollar joint venture in the defense sector, a multi-billion investment in the aviation sector and numerous high stake acquisitions in verticals ranging from healthcare to hospitality and private security to defense, in addition to pharmaceuticals and healthcare sector, according to Kochhar’s press release.

It added that he recently led AbbVie Biopharmaceuticals on its separation from Abbott Laboratories in around 35 countries in the Middle East and Africa region.

Kochhar managing partner Rohit Kochhar commented in the release: “Faizal’s joining is an important development for our Dubai office as we continue to grow our corporate practice there. It also reflects our Firm's commitment to expand our bouquet of services and assist clients on increasingly complex deals in the UAE.”

A Kochhar spokesperson said that the firm’s other current Dubai partners were: managing partner Manek Palekar, Anjuli Sivaramakrishnan, Jayan Menon, M Mausa.