IIC MENA Chapter meeting – Digital Data Hubs: Positioning MENA at the Centre of the Global Digital Economy

Dr. Ehab Elsonbaty’s practice focuses on sovereign wealth funds, government advice & projects and affairs, corporate matters, corporate governance, sustainability, ESG and Sharia Islamic-compliant legal services. He advises Middle Eastern entities seeking to do business in the Americas and Americas clients seeking to do business in the Middle East. Ehab’s extensive transactional and regulatory experience enables him to provide efficient and effective strategic legal support in a wide variety of business matters.

Ehab is a strategic advisor to many boards or directors and advisory boards. He helps the firm deliver seamless cross-border solutions for Middle East entities, among them corporate enterprises, private equity investors, family offices, government entities and sovereign wealth funds. He helps clients maximize inbound and outbound opportunities arising from this dynamic region, providing comprehensive bilingual legal services and sensitive on-the-ground awareness of each geography in this diverse region.

Before joining DLA Piper, Ehab served as senior legal counsel and head of corporate governance and government affairs and senior advisor to the general counsel on special projects at the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. There, he was responsible for strategic, corporate, sustainability, ESG and special projects and transactions valued at billions of dollars as well as was a member of several management committees including the Management Investment Committee and the Crisis Management Committee.

Earlier in his career, he served for six years as senior legal advisor to the Amiri Diwan, the office of the Amir of Qatar at the Royal Court. During this time, Ehab was also a member of many policy and legal committees, among them the Permanent Legislative Committee of the Council of Ministers and the Committee for Review of Legislation, as well as a member of the National Committee to Review Commercial Laws of the Ministry of Economy and Trade. Ehab drafted and contributed to several laws and regulations of Qatar, GCC and Middle East.

In addition, he served as a public prosecutor in the Egyptian public prosecution, and as a judge in the commercial courts and with Assistant Minister of Justice for more than 15 years, most recently as a judge in Cairo’s Court of Appeal. He is currently admitted to the Bar in Egypt and is a certified and practicing arbitrator and mediator, and a member of the Egyptian Judges Club.

During his service in Egypt, Ehab was seconded to the Ministry of Justice’s Office for International Cooperation and Human Rights, was an advisor to the Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology, a member of the National Committee for Humanitarian Law, a member of the National Committee for Counter-Terrorism and the national committee to control the public elections. He has provided consultancy support to several regional and international organizations, such as the United Nations (UN), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Council of Europe and the Arab League.

Admitted in Egypt
Licensed as a Foreign Legal Consultant by the NY State Supreme Court, Appellate Division

Lynn Robinson became Director General of the International Institute of Communications (IIC), in March 2020.

Lynn is an experienced senior director and trustee / non exec-director, having held key senior leadership positions in the technology, built environment, regulation, accreditation and dental industries. She has extensive experience of professional membership bodies working within the full spectrum including, Regulatory bodies, Industry associations and Chambers of Commerce. Lynn is a well-known and established ambassador in these areas having led on many strategic programmes to aid engagement, growth, retention, change management, stakeholder and political engagement.

Mike Hazzard represents global infrastructure, software, and telecommunications companies in a broad range of cross-border and multi jurisdictional commercial, regulatory, and transactional matters. Mike has been involved in numerous infrastructure asset carve-out and partnering transactions involving all kinds of communications networks, including data centers, fiber networks, LEO satellites (including 5G D2D NTN), tower infrastructure, undersea cables, and various forms of wireless networks. He also represents OTT and SAS platforms. Mike has led substantial Vendor Due Diligence works streams regarding commercial, legal, and regulatory matters associated with infrastructure assets. For buyers, he has conducted affirmative due diligence on infrastructure assets, regulatory compliance, and key commercial and carrier agreements.

Mike’s transactional experience extends throughout the Americas, APAC, CIS, Europe, and MENA regions. He develops and negotiates commercial agreements for infrastructure owners, network operators, service providers, equipment manufacturers, and enterprises. Mike counsels global companies on Sanctions, Anti- Bribery, Anti-Money Laundering, and Know Your Customer matters, including the development of market entry and market exit strategies in compliance with such obligations. Along with his transactional work, Mike secures regulatory approvals from the FCC, Team Telecom, and various other federal and state agencies as necessary. Teaming with DLA Piper lawyers world-wide, Mike works with companies in their expansion and transactional efforts across the globe. He similarly has assisted companies entering the US market, where he has deep experience with many regulatory and consumer protection regimes, including the California Consumer Protection Act, the Communications Act, the Electronic Consumer Privacy Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Red Flag Rule, and the Telemarketing Sales Rule, among others.

Mike also maintains an active litigation docket, and he has deep experience as lead litigation counsel. He defends businesses in government actions and consumer class actions, primarily regarding technology, data privacy, and consumer marketing matters. He also represents companies in government-plaintiff actions and federal and state agency investigations, including investigations initiated by the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and state public service and consumer protection agencies.

Mike has successfully defended and defeated numerous consumer class actions. He has particular expertise in Telephone Consumer Protection Act matters, as well as cases brought under the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Communications Act, and numerous other federal and state consumer protection and privacy laws. He has defended actions in over 20 district courts, argued seven federal appeals before the Third, Fourth, Ninth, and District of Columbia Circuits, and defended clients before dozens of federal and state agencies.