Raymond Kisswany

Raymond is a Partner at Davidson & Co. and is Head of the firm’s International Trade, Digital Assets and Start-ups practices.

He has extensive multi-jurisdictional dispute resolution and corporate experience advising clients in various sectors. Raymond has particular expertise with clients in trade finance, commodities, insurance, energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, mining, logistics, maritime and aviation as well as hospitality, retail and F&B. He works closely with start-ups guiding them from setting up to becoming their external general counsel. Raymond also regularly advises clients on fraud, anti-money laundering, anti-bribery, sanctions and compliance related issues.

Raymond’s corporate practice includes advising clients with respect to corporate commercial matters including high-value complex deals. His experience includes advising on M&A, joint ventures, private equity, venture capital transactions, restructurings as well as banking and finance. He was the lead lawyer advising Maniv Mobility, an Israeli venture capital fund, in its acquisition of Fenix, a UAE entity – this was the first UAE-Israeli transaction since the normalisation of relations between the two countries following the Abraham Accords.

Raymond’s dispute resolution practice includes representing clients in arbitrations and court litigation. He possesses arbitration experience, which includes advocacy experience, across a wide range of arbitral rules, including, LCIA, DIAC, ICC, LMAA, LME, GAFTA, FOSFA, SAL and SMA in arbitrations seated in London, New York, Paris and across the GCC. Moreover, he has been involved in court litigation covering several jurisdictions, including, the US, Central and Latin America, London, several African jurisdictions and throughout the GCC. He was one of the lead lawyers acting in the administration of Awal Bank B.S.C. which involved over 75 different litigation and arbitration in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, England, the US and the Cayman Islands.

Raymond has been based in Dubai since 2014 having previously worked with a Silver Circle international law firm and a leading UAE law firm. He has practised law in New York City and London.

Raymond is a UK and US educated lawyer, qualified as a Solicitor Advocate in England and Wales and an Attorney-at-Law in New York. He has native spoken and reading fluency in Arabic. He is the co-author of the UAE chapter for Shipping & International Trade by Thomson Reuters as well as the chapters on Trade & Customs, Dispute Resolution, and Complex Commercial Litigation for the Getting the Deal Through series. In 2018, Raymond was shortlisted for the DIFC Young Lawyer of the Year Award.

Raymond is an avid runner and triathlete having completed several marathons and triathlons, including Ironman. He is also a qualified endurance coach and nutritionist.