Gateley expands dispute resolution services in Middle East and Africa

We have appointed a new legal director to assist with and support our continued expansion of commercial dispute resolution service provision across the Middle East and Africa.

Tonderai Nyandoro, who will be based at Gateley’s Dubai office and will work closely with newly-appointed International Arbitration heads Kieran McCarthy and Michael Lightfoot in London, joins the professional services business as legal director for international arbitration, commercial litigation, and regulatory investigations.

He will now support in managing the strategic oversight for services including complex arbitration, sovereign-related disputes and litigation cases spanning various jurisdictions in sectors such as energy, fintech, and banking.

“This role offers an exciting opportunity to further support Gateley’s expansion across the Middle East and Africa, both of which present many untapped opportunities for professional services” Tonderai said. “I’m looking forward to working with Richard Healey, as well as Kieran and Michael, to deliver an enhanced international dispute resolution service offering to clients, including those based in Dubai.”

Richard Healey, partner and head of Gateley’s Business Services platform, added: “Tonderai’s appointment represents another example of how our provision of services across dispute resolution and international recovery continues to expand. Based in Dubai, Tonderai will help to provide an active presence in markets across the Middle East and Africa.”

A fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Tonderai has more than eight years’ experience acting for clients in ad-hoc and institutional arbitrations, including at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

Prior to joining Gateley, Tonderai spent more than five years at Taylor Wessing LLP (Dubai Branch) with the international commercial arbitration, investor-state disputes and commercial litigation group. During this time he:

• represented a UAE-based investment company as the claimant in an investor-state arbitration against a European State arising out of breaches of a bilateral investment treaty;
• acted for the defendants, an Abu Dhabi group of companies, in a case involving claims brought by a syndicate of banks totalling approximately AED2bn relating to late payments and interest under Syndicated Facility Agreements;
• represented a Saudi-based investment bank in a dispute against a trade fund registered in the Cayman Islands concerning the fund manager’s breach of its statutory duty to its investors. The value of the claim was USD10m.

Prior to Taylor Wessing LLP (Dubai Branch) Tonderai worked in London at Linklaters, WilmerHale, and Enyo Law LLP.