Today's Edition
Khaled Al Khawaldeh (Abu Dhabi)
Addleshaw Goddard, a high-flying, London-headquartered, international law firm, has opened its doors at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), marking its fifth office in the Middle East — a move reflecting both client demand and the emirate's transformation into a global business and digital assets hub.
Robin Hickman, Head of Middle East at Addleshaw Goddard, described the launch as "strategically important" for cementing relationships with major Abu Dhabi-based clients, believing the time was ripe for law firms that may already have a presence in Dubai to expand their presence to the capital – especially as Abu Dhabi Inc, a colloquialism used to describe the enormous sovereign wealth fund and corporate ecosystem in the emirate, continues to grow.
"There is a lot of client demand for us to be in Abu Dhabi. We do a lot of work for major 'Abu Dhabi Inc' entities already, but historically, there's been reluctance to give material mandates to advisers not physically present in the capital," he told Aletihad.
The new office positions Addleshaw Goddard to seize opportunities not only in the UAE but globally, Hickman explained, as Abu Dhabi's state-backed investors look increasingly outward, the demand for legal services was only growing.
"We anticipate more work for sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, and Abu Dhabi Inc when they deploy capital internationally. Being on the ground in Abu Dhabi lets us support them both at home and abroad."
ADGM, the financial free zone on Al Maryah Island, has in recent years emerged as a serious peer to Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). While DIFC has been widely recognised as the Gulf's foremost financial centre, ADGM has differentiated itself by aligning closely with Abu Dhabi government to attract the kind of international businesses the emirate wants.
"What the ADGM has done, which sets it apart slightly from DIFC, is its coordination with Abu Dhabi authorities like ADIO and ADIA. They've introduced investment incentives to attract high-quality international players, and it's working - every time I visit, I see more Abu Dhabi Inc entities setting up shop," Anna Zeitlin, another partner at Addleshaw Goddard specialising in Fintech and Financial Services told Aletihad.
For both partners, ADGM's regulatory achievements have been a major draw. Hickman praised its "world-class legal jurisdiction" with English common law at its foundation, calling it a "trusted place to do business" with robust frameworks for dispute resolution. He said the adoption of English law gives investors and businesses legal predictability that many other emerging markets lack.
The partners also noted how ADGM has evolved from simply hosting banks and international corporations to becoming a magnet for Abu Dhabi's biggest government-related entities — a signal of the free zone's increasing importance as a centre for both local and cross-border transactions.
Perhaps the most striking element of ADGM's evolution is its emergence as a global pioneer in digital assets regulation — an area where Zeitlin sees Abu Dhabi ahead of Dubai and most of the world. While Dubai has garnered headlines for creating VARA, its standalone virtual assets authority, Zeitlin emphasised that ADGM had already started developing a digital assets regime before Dubai finalised its approach.
"Some of the first digital asset players in the Emirates set up in ADGM, and it has been picky about attracting big, legitimate firms. Their regime wasn't imported from English law, it had to be developed from scratch, and it's probably a world leader," Zeitlin said.
The strong response to ADGM's digital assets regime has prompted the free zone to expand physically from Maryah Island to neighbouring Reem Island to accommodate new businesses.
Addleshaw Goddard itself is helping shape the next phase of ADGM's regulations.
"We work very closely with the FSRA, the financial regulator there, and we are helping them develop some of their new regimes that are coming up in the next few months," she said.
ADGM's ambitions don't stop with ease of doing business or attracting capital. According to Hickman, it has also taken the region's bankruptcy frameworks to new heights. He pointed to high-profile restructurings like NMC Health, where distressed companies redomiciled into ADGM to benefit from its modern insolvency regime.
"ADGM has created the leading bankruptcy regime in the Middle East, which supports not only business growth but also provides effective solutions when companies run into distress," he said.
Though both partners acknowledge that UAE bankruptcy processes still lagged mature markets in terms of speed and certainty, they see ADGM's approach as a clear sign of Abu Dhabi's intent to provide a full-spectrum financial ecosystem.
