Restructuring/Insolvency: Onshore Court Litigation

OGH Legal holds Chambers Spotlight recognition in Restructuring and Insolvency — the only UAE boutique firm with this distinction. The recognition reflects a practice that is genuinely substantive rather than incidental: insolvency and restructuring at OGH is not an adjunct to the litigation department. It is a distinct and developed practice led by partners with specific legislative and technical expertise.

Sherif Hikal served on the ad-hoc practitioners' committee that reviewed UAE banking and insolvency legislation before promulgation — a credential that places him at the very foundation of the current UAE insolvency framework. His understanding of the statute is not merely that of a practitioner who applies the law; he was part of the group that shaped it.

The firm's insolvency practice operates across formal insolvency proceedings, restructuring plans, distressed debt enforcement, cross-border insolvency coordination and construction insolvency. It benefits directly from OGH's wider enforcement capability — the credit-bidding and DFM share auction routes pioneered by OGH in the ADCB NPL portfolio are insolvency-adjacent tools that no other UAE boutique has deployed at this scale. The JBF RAK restructuring — the first significant debt-for-equity transaction under the UAE's revamped Bankruptcy Law — demonstrates the firm's ability to act for the principal creditor in the UAE's most significant insolvency proceedings.