RIAA Barker Gillette

Global Managing & Senior Partner: Ahsan Zahir Rizvi
Managing Partner: Bilal Shaukat
Number of Partners: 12
Number of Lawyers: 50
Languages: English, Arabic, Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto

Firm Overview:
RIAA Barker Gillette is Pakistan’s premier law firm, with on the ground presence in four major cities in Pakistan: Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, and Peshawar. The firm practices in all areas of corporate, commercial and dispute resolution law. Its clients include multinational corporations, Pakistani conglomerates, governmental agencies, public sector entities, international and Pakistani financial institutions and private individuals. The firm is the exclusive member firm in Pakistan for Lex Mundi, the world’s leading network of independent law firms with in-depth experience in more than 125 countries worldwide.

With substantial on-the-ground capability and over 35 years of history globally, RIAA Barker Gillette has grown to become a leading international group of firms having affiliate offices in Dubai (DIFC) and London. The global expansion has benefitted the firm by allowing it to represent its clients in multiple jurisdictions and broaden the scope of services provided. RIAA Barker Gillette not only provides legal services of the highest standard, but also offers commercial insights to enable clients to achieve their business goals. The firm is consistently recognised as a band 1 and tier 1 law firm.

International Offices:
RIAA Barker Gillette also has affiliate offices in Dubai (DIFC) and London.

Practice Areas:
■ Dispute Resolution
■ Capital Markets
■ Corporate
■ Commercial
■ Banking & Finance
■ Employment
■ Environment
■ Mergers & Acquisitions
■ Privatisations
■ Projects & Project Finance
■ Property & Real Estate
■ Tax
■ Telecommunications
■ Trade Remedies & International Trade

Main Areas of Practice:  

Corporate Advisory:
The firm provides the full spectrum of corporate legal advisory services to its clients. The firm negotiates and drafts all types of commercial agreements and advises company directors on their duties and liabilities. Renowned for the precision and swift delivery of its advice, the firm focuses on results and devising best possible commercial solutions, and regularly advises on complex transactions and provides general counsel services on a range of issues.

Banking & Finance:
The firm maintains a leading banking and finance practice, and is regularly involved in major local and cross-border financing. Over the past 35 years, the firm’s partners have worked with many multinational, domestic banks and financial institutions (including Citibank, World Bank, IFC, ADB, OPIC, EXIM Bank and China EXIM Bank) and have a comprehensive understanding of conventional and Islamic financing and security arrangements (including enforcement), debt to equity conversions and syndicated and novel finance facilities.

Projects & Project Finance:
The firm has an unrivalled track record as Pakistan’s leading projects, infrastructure and energy firm and has been involved in approximately 90% of all projects in Pakistan to-date. The firm handles all aspects of local and cross-border project financing. The firm advises sponsors, developers and lenders of projects and handles banking and capital market financings, as well as projects that combine different forms of complex financing models. The firm’s partners are valued for their technical know-how, industry knowledge, innovation and negotiating ability. The firm also represents clients before relevant regulatory authorities.

Mergers & Acquisitions & Privatisations:
The firm has worked on some of the most complex mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and corporate reorganizations in Pakistan and the UAE. Its lawyers have ranked as top advisors, and possess vast experience of advising on deals with high aggregate transaction values. Acting for major corporations, investment funds and private equity firms, the firm’s services cover the full spectrum of negotiated and contested mergers and acquisitions. The firm has a strong record advising on takeover bids and shareholder contest. Additionally, the firm has also been directly involved in the establishment and growth of private independent investment in state-owned enterprises; and advising and assisting participants, investors, sponsors and financiers in the privatization of projects in the industrial, banking, irrigation, telecommunication, oil and gas and energy sectors.

Trade Remedies & International Trade:
The firm provides expert legal services in the area of international and local trade remedy laws. The firm represents clients in the superior courts of Pakistan in trade remedy disputes. The team has carried out numerous investigations under Pakistan’s anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard laws, structured international business transactions, effectively utilised international trade agreements and availed incentives for exports and protection through tariffs within the allowed parameters of the multilateral trading system.

Dispute Resolution:
Dispute resolution is part of the very core of the firm’s litigation practice. The variety of dispute resolution matters on which the firm is instructed in various courts, tribunals, regulatory bodies and arbitral tribunals, their complexity and the track record of practitioners at the firm sets it apart from most if not all the other major law firms in Pakistan. The firm is the only law firm in Pakistan to have full-fledged resident litigation practices in its four offices in Pakistan. At present, former partners of the firm are serving as justices in the Supreme Court and in the Lahore and Peshawar High Courts. This is a testament to the high regard in which the firm is held by the senior judiciary. The firm handles all forms of civil, commercial and corporate litigation. The firm’s arbitration experience includes a range of domestic and international proceedings.

Public Private Partnerships & Public Procurement:
The firm has been engaged as counsel to the Government of Sindh in the development of the first Special Economic Zone in the province of Sindh. The firm is also advising municipal corporations and provincial governments on a range of projects, including motorways, tourism and hospitality and infrastructure projects on a public private partnership basis. The firm extensively advises both public sector clients and private clients to achieve their goals through public tenders. Recently, the firm has assisted clients with the procurement of commodities, and defense products which are subject to a specialised regime.

Private Equity/Venture Capital:
Pakistan has been an exponential growth in investments in start ups over the past couple of years. The firm has the distinction of having represented Pakistan’s first venture capital fund in its first investment in a start-up in Pakistan and advises several venture capital funds on their investments in Pakistan. It has also advised private equity funds over the years on their investments in healthcare, financial institutions and manufacturing industries.

Construction & Real Estate:
The firm’s construction practice has advised on a wide range of energy and infrastructure projects, including projects relating to the construction of large dams, airports, refineries and highways. The team has particular expertise in the renewable energy sector. Notable construction projects that the firm has advised on include the Diamer Bhasha Dam Project and the Lahore Airport Expansion Project. The firm frequently advises clients both in the public and private sector, on real estate matters.