Rebecca Kelly

Full Profile

Representing Middle East and global entities regionally and internationally, Rebecca’s clients include companies involved in the construction, infrastructure, finance, industrial, technology, transport, general trading, education, healthcare, and pharmaceutical sectors. She is a Solicitor of the High Court of Australia and a Registered Foreign Lawyer with the Law Society of England and Wales with rights of audience in the DIFC.

Rebecca has been based in the UAE since 2005 and her practice focuses on resolving international litigation and arbitration, and crisis management for clients exposed to internal and external investigations.

She manages complex cross-border arbitration, representing parties involved in arbitrations through the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC); the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA); the Abu Dhabi Commercial Conciliation and Arbitration Centre (ADCCAC); and the International Court of Arbitration – International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

Rebecca also advises public and private corporations on corporate governance and regulatory compliance. She counsels clients involved in regional and international criminal and quasi-criminal investigations and prosecutions. She also conducts fraud investigations, and files international criminal and civil proceedings to recover misappropriated assets worldwide. Rebecca advises companies on how to address and comply with anti–money laundering, anti-corruption, and bribery legislation. These include the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the UK Bribery Act 2010. She also advises clients on corporate governance, confidentiality, document retention, and employee and employer obligations.

Federal and local governments often seek Rebecca’s advice when drafting legislation across a range of legal issues. She routinely develops UAE regulatory compliance manuals for corporate clients that cover a range of jurisdiction-specific legal obligations. She also conducts personalised training for the international boards addressing compliance, ESG and risk management strategies for operating in the Middle East.

Actively involved in law reform in the region, Rebecca advises clients on Occupational Health and Safety (OSH) obligations and legal challenges in the UAE and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC ). She has one of the only dedicated OSH practices in the Middle East and was appointed to the UAE’s Federal Ministry of Labour Technical Committee responsible for the development of the UAE building and construction sector’s OSH legislation.

Rebecca is recognised as a leading disputes and corporate investigations lawyer and has been ranked in Chambers Global, The Legal 500 and the Global Investigations Review.
 

Experience

• Conducting a review of a corporate investigation for a large hotel group into the conduct of team members.
• Conducting a regulatory investigation for a medical devices entity with respect to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") allegations raised regarding its bidding and tender procedures in India. 
• Assisting an oil and petrochemical company in an investigation with respect to allegations of environmental damage caused by a storage facility.
• Undertaking an investigation on behalf of a global health services provider regarding issues raised with respect to allegations of fraudulent payments made by one of its agents for the importation of certain medical devices in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• Assisting clients with the reporting of fraudulent activity to the Dubai Financial Service Authority by regulated firms.
• Providing counsel to a multinational pharmaceutical company with respect to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") in Egypt, including conducting an internal investigation into a distributor's alleged improper influence with respect to government healthcare professionals.
• Advising a global Construction company and its local subsidiary in relation to investigations into all of their corporate and procurement relationships, and ensuring they satisfied their KYC and AML duties and obligations. Assistance involved the use of legal software to undertake sanctions checks, researching and verifying the individual’s identification materials and searches across legal cases or criminal complaints files worldwide. 
• Successfully representing a franchisor in establishing a claim against a franchisees unlawful use, selling and franchising of a client’s medical device. This matter included regulatory investigations with the relevant health and medical UAE and KSA Health Ministries to register complaints against the unlawful and fraudulent conduct of the franchisee. 
• Representing a multi-national retailer in relation to their MENA ad-hoc local compliance matters, including providing training to senior staff and the risk departments on the processes surrounding reporting criminal complaints in the region. 
• Providing one of the largest e-commerce companies with an outsourced investigation function for the MENA region. Leading both large and small investigations, ranging from criminal matters through to breaches of internal policies and advising the organisation on proactive steps it can take in relation to certain process deficiencies.