Souraya Machnouk is a partner at Abou Jaoude & Associates Law Firm, co-chairing its energy practice. She previously worked at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP in Paris. Souraya has more than 20 years of experience advising major clients on complex transactions, and her notable representative work in energy includes key pioneer projects in the electricity, oil and gas, and renewables sectors, including the first-ever power purchase agreements with the Lebanese government for the first utility-scale wind and solar power plants in Lebanon and the first exploration and production agreement for gas in Blocks 4 and 9 offshore Lebanon.

She is consistently recognised as a top-tier leading lawyer by prominent international directories, including The Legal 500, Chambers and Partners and IFLR.

She co-authors the Lebanon chapter of the Energy Regulation & Markets Review by The Law Reviews and is a contributor to the World Bank Group’s Doing Business report on ‘Contracting with the Government’. She is a speaker on energy topics at the International Beirut Energy Forum and the Harvard Arab World Conference.

She holds a JD in private and public law from St Joseph University, a master’s degree (DEA) in banking and financial markets law from Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University, and a joint Master of Laws degree (LLM) from George Washington University and Georgetown University. She is a member of the Beirut Bar Association and the International Bar Association and is fluent in Arabic, French and English.