Shearman & Sterling is advising Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) on its establishment as an international financial centre in the United Arab Emirates. Working closely with the leadership team at ADGM, Shearman & Sterling is helping develop ADGM’s world-class legal and regulatory regime to be in line with international standards to provide the sophistication and certainty found in the world’s top financial centres.

Shearman & Sterling has played a key role in ADGM’s adoption of English common law by applying it in its jurisdiction for civil and commercial law. The application of English common law will govern matters such as contracts, tort, trusts, equitable remedies, unjust enrichment, damages, conflicts of laws, security and personal property.

Additionally, Shearman & Sterling drafted all legislation governing matters such as companies, insolvency, interpretation, commercial licensing, arbitration, courts, employment, limited liability partnerships, real property and strata title.

“We are delighted and honoured to have been given the opportunity to provide advice and counsel to the Chairman and Board of Directors of Abu Dhabi Global Market and their executive management team on the development of their regulatory framework. From the outset we aimed to ensure that ADGM offered a best-in-class, responsive and business- oriented regulatory environment that is in line with what market participants can expect from any of the world’s top international financial centres. We have worked closely with the team at ADGM in drafting both their non-financial services and financial services regulations and we look forward to supporting their efforts as they prepare to be fully operational by the end of 2015, ” said Barney Reynolds, head of Shearman & Sterling’s global Financial Institutions Advisory & Financial Regulatory Group. 

The firm started its work with ADGM in August 2014.

The Team