Doulah & Doulah

Senior Partners: ABM Shamsud Doulah
Number of Lawyers: 29
Languages: Bengali, English

Firm Overview:
Established in 1965 D&D is a leading law firm in Bangladesh under registration number 27074. Representing the world’s largest business houses and working with the biggest international law firms, the firm possesses top-ranked transactional capabilities complemented by a strong litigation practice with a large client-base including over 100 of the Fortune 500 companies.

Main Areas of Practice:

Admiralty, Aviation & Shipping: D&D offers one of the strongest shipping practices and advises on both contentious and non-contentious matters. In 2014 the firm acted in 14 admiralty lawsuits. It also represents the biggest airlines and major aircraft leasing companies including both ILFC and GE Capital. Recent transactions include wet leasing by Air Atlanta in Biman.
Banking & Finance: The firm offers true banking expertise with stressed finance practice complemented by strong security documentation capabilities. The banking regulatory platform of Bangladesh was finalised by D&D partners under FSRP project. D&D completed FX transactions for RBS, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch. It worked for CommerzBank in a number of commodity derivative transactions. D&D is now working for IFC in the first regasification terminal project in Bangladesh. Other cross border financing clients include Akabank, IFC, OPIC, ICICI, KFW, IDB, China Exim Bank and Finnfund etc.
Capital Market & Venture Capital: D&D is one of the few local firms that possess capital market expertise. It represents major institutional investors including Morgan Stanley, CitiGroup, CLSA, Credit Suisse and ABN Amro. At the moment the firm is working on the pledging of a big Bangladeshi listed security portfolio for LGT Bank.
Corporate, Private Equity & M&A: D&D offers market leading practice under this area. Major restructure clients include Nokia, LG, GE etc. D&D has completed over 20 M&A transactions and 12 private equity investment in 2014 with clients like AIG, Accenture, GlaxoSmithKline, Mitsubishi, Huawei, A&E, Microsoft etc. The firm has successfully represented Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges in acquiring Dhaka Stock Exchange.
Infrastructure, PPP & Construction: Extensive experience in all kinds of infrastructures is the speciality at D&D. The firm was appointed by both of the construction and dredging contract awardees for the Jamuna Bridge. Currently, the firm is working on Dhaka Water Sector Development Project for Groupe Cobra and on New Mooring Container Terminal for P&O following Kuanta’s Cox’s Bazaar Airport Project.
Intellectual Property: D&D’s IP practice is regarded as the strongest, offering both protection and enforcement services for trademarks, patents, designs and copyrights. D&D first implemented the concept of a well known mark, for Nokia, in Bangladesh. It also has big scale enforcement capabilities which were established when it worked for Sony against over 200 counterfeiters in Bangladesh.
Litigation & Arbitration: Complemented by a strong litigation practice D&D offers effective dispute resolution capabilities. The firm is working in two large volume litigations for Cargill and Intelsat. It has been retained by the insurance company in the Niko blowout litigations and arbitrations. The firm is also conducting an ICC arbitration for Gulf Air. The firm acted in two of the largest anti-dumping suits in US courts.
Power & Energy: D&D possesses unparalleled expertise in power and oil/gas/coal exploration projects. So far it has structured 72 power projects for clients like GE, Blakstone, AES, Golar etc. Financing clients include OPIC, IDB, ICICI, Finnfund, CEXIM etc. and M&A clients include AES, El Paso etc. Represented Zhenhua in acquiring three gas fields from Chevron and Ophir in acquiring Santos PSC. Advised ONGC, OIL, Daewoo, POSCO etc. in PSC's with respect to gas exploration.
Taxation & Employment: These are integral parts of D&D’s corporate practice representing clients from tribunal to appellate division of Supreme Court. It is working in a constitutional writ for MAS and UPS. The firm successfully represented El Paso for a tax exemption. With an in-depth employment practice, the firm has just completed a pension fund creation for Children’s Place. It also advises clients such as BAT, GE, GAP, Wal-mart, EWM, VF, HP etc in employment matters.
Telecommunications & Fintech: The telecommunications practice at D&D is one of the finest. It is working for SPI on procurement and launching of the first satellite for Bangladesh. It also worked with NERA on the auction of 3G licences. Concurrent major projects include setting up a global mobile banking platform for Belgacom. M&A clients include Huawei and Vimpelcom. The firm has also advised in large number of fintech matters for clients like Microsoft, Ant Financial, Gates Foundation etc.