Mary Ann Sharp
Dentons
Senior Legal Consultant, Doha
T: +974 44 598 960
Mary Ann is engaged day-to-day in supporting clients seeking to enter the Kuwait market as well as those operating and investing in the Kuwait market. These clients include the business and legal departments of many leading international manufacturers, defense contractors, investment companies and brokers, financial institutions and many international service providers and contracting companies.
She has advised on Kuwait law and practice for more than 25 years, working and residing in Kuwait for 14 years. Mary Ann has developed corporate and commercial expertise representing many blue-chip clients. She was recognized for many years by the Legal 500 and Chambers
Global international legal directories as one of the market leaders in Kuwait law.
Mary Ann acted as lead local counsel to the winning consortium of international companies in bidding, negotiating and finalizing the project documentation for Kuwait's flagship PPP project, during which several new laws were adopted that critically impacted the project. In addition, she has authored and annually updates the Kuwait country chapter the LexisNexis International Agency and Distribution Agreements treatise.
Mary Ann has substantial experience in providing legal and regulatory advice to many foreign companies seeking to carry on private sector business in Kuwait and to those seeking to pre-qualify, tendering for and undertaking contracts with the Kuwait public sector. She has extensively advised on compliance with laws and regulations in addition to providing practical advice on doing business in Kuwait, including the impact of the agency and distribution laws, mandatory labour law and the immigration and insurance requirements for sending representatives into Kuwait and for assigning manpower to work in Kuwait, the corporate income tax law, Kuwaitisation, foreign direct investment, and recommendations on dispute resolution. The first successful offset venture in Kuwait was achieved under her guidance and advice, including the establishment of a local joint venture company that has held FMS and direct KMOD contracts continuously since 1995 in Kuwait, and had directly contracted with the GHQ in Abu Dhabi for UAE defense needs for many years.