We are honored to recognize The 2026 Lawdragon 100 Leading Lawyers in the Middle East.
They represent the finest talent in every country in the Middle East – from Israel and Palestine, Iran and Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Syria. Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Lebanon, Yemen and Jordan.
Sworn enemies united by geography, oil, ancient beliefs and modernizing cultures, they are now tethered by fear from above, destruction below and financial erosion throughout.
We conceived this inaugural guide to the budding, prismatic legal profession in the Middle East in what today feels an ancient time. Which is to say 2025.
The energy industry, infrastructure development, investment and resulting disputes created boom times throughout the region, for lawyers practicing there and from London to New York to Houston. Today, a number of those lawyers have evacuated their countries and offices. But the legal work goes on, led by stellar minds with deep understanding of the region, its laws and cultures.
Kamran Bajwa is the founder of Kirkland & Ellis’ Riyadh office and leads the firm’s Middle East practice. A renowned M&A dealmaker, he represents Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as lead counsel and a consortium member in its $55B acquisition of Electronic Arts. He has practiced and served as a business advisor in Dubai and Cairo, and served as chief legal counsel of the leading bank in the MENA region, establishing the first in-house legal department. He has also served as an advisor to international NGOs in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.
Sara Aalamri is a partner at Clyde & Co. in its Jeddah office. She is one of the first Saudi women lawyers to be licensed to practice law in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She was also among the first class of women law students to graduate from King Abdulaziz University, in 2008. She is a specialist in international dispute resolution, representing clients in the energy and natural resources, infrastructure, projects and construction industries. She is Vice Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce Saudi National Committee for Arbitration and alternative dispute resolution, and a delegate to the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR.
Rasem Kamal founded Kamal & Associates in Ramallah, Palestine in 2007. Before starting his own firm, he worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development West Bank and Gaza Mission, leading the Rule of Law portfolio; as well as at the Palestine Investment Fund. He is managing partner of his firm and practices in corporate, microfinance, tax and labor law. He has also participated in the drafting and advocacy of numerous laws in Palestine, including the Palestinian Companies Law, passed in 2021.
These lawyers and their fellow Middle East 100 honorees will be ready when swords are sheathed and plowshares – or oil drills, cranes and the pursuit of prosperity – resume. Because one thing is certain. The legal work that follows devastation is astounding. It may take the blink of an eye to destroy a civilization, but it takes thousands upon thousands of hours to resurrect its necessities: bridges, highways, schools, airports, refineries.
As engineers of societal infrastructure, lawyers will clear up all details, from justice efforts to finance to dispute resolution to rebuilding. They will support the peacemakers, the negotiators, and help the humanity who had been going about their business before to do so again.
We created this guide, as so many before it, through journalistic research, nominations and talking to sources who either practice in the Middle East or are regularly engaged in its matters. As an inaugural guide, we always have much to learn. And as we look forward to publishing the second edition next year, we hope for more plowshares, and lawyers being allowed to build bridges joining lands, peoples and beliefs.
