Ammar is the Founder and the Managing Partner of Incept Legal with offices in Dubai and Cairo. He brings 17 years of outstanding legal experience in the Middle East. He also worked at international firms, notably Stephenson Harwood (“SH”), and have advised and acted for multinational corporate clients and high-net-worth clients across contentious and non-contentious matters including clients in management consultancy, oil and gas, insurance, health and pharmaceutical, real estate development, government bodies, industrial, hospitality, media, entertainments, banks, payment solutions and finance.

Before joining SH, Ammar worked over nine years with Hadef & Partners. Hadef is a tier one litigation firm recognised by both Legal 500 and Chambers Global.

Ammar is an approved legal trainer for the Government of Dubai Legal Affairs Department, delivering training to other law practitioners in both English and Arabic. Ammar provided legal training on topics including damages in focus, civil procedural law, enforcement of arbitral awards, legal project management, and empathy. Ammar’s sessions have been received very well by peers in the UAE. Examples of the feedback received include: "Honestly - the best session I have had in 3 years!" "Engaging and informative. Well versed in relevant experience. Well done!" "Thanks a lot for such an informative course.".

Ammar is a licensed Mental Health First Aider by Lighthouse Arabia (a leading mental health clinic in the UAE). He runs corporate events for his clients and to public on mental health, emotions, and behaviour in the workplace. Dubai Eye (radio station) have invited him several times to cover this topic and other topical issues in the UAE.

Ammar was the lead lawyer in a number of ground-breaking cases at l which resulted in the Dubai Court of Cassation and the UAE Federal Supreme handing down new legal precedents relating to topical legal issues in the UAE in addition to high profile cases, for example:

• Corporate Investigation into Fraud: Ammar acted for one of the world’s leading oil and gas companies in a litigation arising out of a corporate investigation. The investigation exposed four directors defrauding the client by setting up several international sham companies to supply goods to the client at inflated prices as well as services under fraudulent contracts. The sham scheme defrauded the client an amount of USD 14M. The former directors ran the scheme carefully so that company's internal audit could not easily establish the link between them and the scheme. Ammar applied for an injunctive relief before the Dubai Court and succeeded in persuading the Court to issue a disclosure order according to the UAE Procedural Law to order the former directors’ banks to disclose their personal bank statements so that the company could trace the embezzled funds and link the scheme to the directors.

• Team moves: Advised and defended a number of teams moves in DIFC and onshore. Typical team moves involve, depending on the circumstances, senior executive partners orchestrating a team move from their former employer to a new employer. In most team moves, the former employer alleges that the partners and the employees have divulged confidential information and that the new employer has induced the team to orchestrate the move. In the most intense cases, the former employer may file criminal complaints with Dubai Public Prosecution Office. It may also file commercial/employment case with the Dubai Court claiming damages or file DIFC injunction against the team and the new employer seeking (i) a delivery up order to correspondence related to the move and (ii) an order to stop to the move itself. Depending on the jurisdiction, the former employer may file for injunction in the High Court of England & Wales to prevent the former team from joining the competitor and to add pressure on the move. Ammar has managed on a number of occasions to settle the commercial and the criminal aspects of these disputes globally.

• Case before the Dubai Court of Cassation dealt with, amongst other things, a complex bonus structure whereby Ammar acted for the claimant director and persuaded the Court to include the average of his annual bonus as the basis for computing the end of service gratuity. This has resulted in the Court of Cassation tripling the seven figures awarded amount passed by the lower Courts.

• Case before the Criminal Federal Supreme Court dealt with public policy and compliance issues. Ammar advised and defended a multinational company and its CEO against criminal claim brought by the Public Prosecution alleging breaches of the UAE public polices. Despite the fact the clients were found guilty by the initial stage of the criminal trial, Ammar was successful in overruling the judgement before the Supreme Court and establishing new legal precedent in respect UAE public policy.

• Case before the Dubai Court of Cassation dealt with statute of limitation issues under the UAE Labour Law. Ammar devised and ran an innovative argument on the basis that the claimant's bonus entitlement was, in fact, linked to the financial year end of the employer and not the calendar year end, which is now a precedent.

• Multi-Jurisdictions – acted for a Hungarian company with offices in UAE in a dispute with a former employee who had divulged the client’s confidential information, embezzled their electronic devices, and fled to Egypt. Ammar was successful in persuading the UAE Courts appointed expert to find the employee liable for damages. The Court found the employee liable for USD 30,000. This is unique finding as the UAE Courts are pro employees and rarely oblige them to compensate their former employers.

• Case before Dubai Court of Cassation dealt with, amongst other things, a conflict of UAE Laws (full details here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ammar-el-banna-618ba576_uae-dubai-courts-activity-6642452410914701313-lZRU). Further, and during his tenure with SH, Ammar was nominated by SH Middle East to attend the high potential programme in SH in London. The feedback summary of the SH global partnership and leadership was divided into three main factors:

• • Delivering the service: “Personal impact - throughout all client interactions you established a comfortable style of communication that came across as charismatic, easy to talk to and engaging. Your pace was conducive to relaxed conversation and you came across as enthusiastic, genuine and energetic. This was also demonstrated in your client call, where you were affable, relaxed and showed empathy when appropriate. Leading meetings – you demonstrated a confident sense of direction throughout your client meetings, keeping the conversation flowing with appropriate language and speaking with credibility. You used inclusive language (e.g. ‘we’) when talking about how matters are managed across the firm and with clients. Risk and compliance – you discussed the Stephenson Harwood risk and compliance procedure for new clients with confidence. You laid out the details concisely, sharing the key information that the client would need to provide. Well prepared - it was evident that you had prepared thoroughly for your client meetings and demonstrated this with some strong client knowledge. You used this to identify the client’s needs and highlight Stephenson Harwood’s capabilities and how the firm is well placed to support them.

• • Growing the business: “Ambassador of the firm - during your client call you took time to consistently present the firm in a positive light. For example, when asked about working with international law firms you highlighted the benefits of working with Stephenson Harwood (such as consistency, technical understanding, and tailored solutions). Sharing experiences – when meeting with a client you spoke about your own region and practice area with confidence. You used some of your own experiences to bring this to life and demonstrated to the client what would happen when working with you and the firm (e.g. one line of communication). Group presentation – during the group presentation you engaged the audience with your creative thinking by discussing the different ways that you could forge introductions with potential clients. You demonstrated commerciality, recognising the value of the potential client and highlighting the different areas in which the firm might be able to support their needs. You clearly considered all options, the pros and cons, and developed a detailed strategy to move forward, with more than one angle of approach.”

• • Developing the people: “Creating a supportive environment – during your meeting with a junior associate you built rapport from the outset and this made the recipient feel at ease. You used reassuring language, such as ‘I’ve been in your shoes before…’ and ‘I understand’, which built a positive and supportive atmosphere (e.g. ‘we have a very open culture here’). You shared personal examples throughout and reflecting statements such as ‘I do acknowledge what you say about being used to working in a much smaller firm’. This environment helped the associate feel reassured, allowing them to feel comfortable in opening up to you. Balanced feedback – you balanced your feedback by ensuring the associate felt like a valued member of the team, whilst also covering key issues and their impact. All expectations were set with clarity and were well received by the associate. Open questions - you occasionally used open questions with effect (e.g. ‘why do you think that?’ and ‘how do you deal with daily admin?’). These questions help elicit information that brought underlying problems to the surface”.