DUBAI OFFICE

Urs, who was born in 1954, is a Swiss national. He studied economics and law at the University of Zurich, where he graduated as lic. iur. in 1983.

Urs started his professional life as legal adviser for international organisations in the Middle East and Latin America. In 1987, he joined Credit Suisse, where he worked as investment adviser in Zurich, Bahrain and Geneva. 1995 he was selected by the VP Bank Group to establish a Bank and Trust company in the Caribbean. It became the most successful bank in the British Virgin Islands. Besides banking services it also arranged the creation and administration of mutual funds, captive insurances and trusts. Urs was appointed board member of several international companies, where his broad background was of great assistance. He was also founder member and president of the BVI Bank Association. Later he became CEO of VP Bank (Switzerland) Ltd., which is specialised, in private banking services for high-net-worth individuals.

In 2004, Urs became a partner of International Legal Consultants (U.A.E.) and took permanent residency in Dubai. He runs the local operations of ILC as the resident manager. He worked 15 years in various Arabic countries. Urs assists foreign companies which want to establish a presence in the Middle East and advises also in the creation of Islamic products and structures and real estate issues. He is the Vice President of the Swiss Business Council Dubai and chairman of the Swiss Financial Group of all Swiss banks, insurance companies and asset managers in the UAE.

Urs is fluent in German, English, Spanish and French.

Richard C. Ritter, who was born in 1963, is a Swiss national. He is the founding partner of the Zurich-based law firm RITTER ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW LTD (1997), the first Swiss Dubai-based law firm INTERNATIONAL LEGAL CONSULTANTS (1999), as well as the Singapore-based practice INTERNATIONAL LEGAL CONSULTANTS PTE LTD (2003), all of which specialize in commercial law and international finance.

Richard graduated from Fribourg University Law School (lic.iur.utr.) in 1989 and from the Georgetown University Law Centre in Washington, D.C. (Master of Laws LL.M.) in 1994. He is admitted to the Zurich Bar. Richard started his career in 1990 in the public sector working for the Swiss federal government in Bern. As recent as 2009 he took up an advanced management program at IESE Business School in Barcelona and Munich and is an active alumni. Besides advising clients for the various offices he is engaged with, Richard serves as executive or non-executive director on various boards of directors in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Richard divides his time between Switzerland, the Middle East and Asia.

He is fluent in German, English and French.

Ahmed, who is Egyptian national, was born in 1982. He graduated from Faculty of Law, Cairo University in 2006, and admitted to the Egyptian Bar in Cairo in May 2007. Ahmed started his career in 2002 during his studying years as he joined “CIPE” Center for International Private Enterprise – a nonprofit organization related to the American Commercial Chamber. He belonged to a team handling the Entrepreneurship program and a website teaching college and high school students how to start private projects and how to deal with the stock market. He started just as part of the team in 2002 and was a team leader at the end of 2004. In 2004-2006, it was his second career step by getting connected to “18-28 Magazine” a youth pocket magazine in Cairo and Alexandria, where he was a Partner and a Senior Editor. This gave him sufficient experience and wide connections in Egypt with Media Celebrities and the Advertising field. In the quest for experience, he joined Said Elnaggar for Legal Consultations as a Trainee after graduation till March 2008 while he was serving in the Army at the same time. In June 2008, he took a further career leap when he decided to move to Dubai and joined the Swiss International Legal Consultants as an Attorney at Law and Legal Consultant. He practices in the field of corporation and Real Estate laws in conjunction with establishing companies in Dubai, Free Zone and Offshore companies with a high knowledge of governmental laws.

Ahmed is fluent in Arabic and English.

Michael, who was born in 1969, is an Indian national. He graduated from the University of Leicester and has received a Master of Business Administration (Finance) degree. He is currently a candidate in the CFA Program.

Michael started his career in 1993 as an accountant. In 2000 he joined International Legal Consultants.

Michael is a permanent resident of Dubai and runs the local offices of ILC as Manager serving individual and corporate clients mainly in the field of company formations, research, feasibility studies and administering company accounts and matters related to the jurisdiction. Being a resident for the last ten years in the United Arab Emirates, he is knowledgeable about the local rules and regulations.

Michael is fluent in English.

Raif, who was born in 1955, is a British national. He graduated from the Aegean University and has received a degree in Industrial Engineering.

Raif started his career in 1985 in London where he has been an introducer of financial transactions to the banking community, with over twenty years of experience in mainly in the field of trade and project financing. In 2002 he joined International Legal Consultants.

Raif is a Trade & Finance Analyst serving individual and corporate clients mainly in the field of trade and project financing.

Raif is fluent in English and Turkish.