Cairo, Egypt
Attorneys & Legal Consultants
High-stakes legal matters need a clear read of the problem and a plan you can act on.
We advise companies, families, and individuals through their most complex business and personal matters, with senior lawyers close to the work at every stage.
Why Ellaithy & Partners
Flagship Practices
Why clients choose us
A single senior team spanning corporate, disputes, and private client, working on your matter as a whole.
Senior lawyers lead every material step. No dilution, no hand-offs, no drift.
We move with purpose. Clear positions, timely decisions, and disciplined follow-through.
Real fluency in the Egyptian market, its courts, and its regulators.
Representative Matters
Shareholder & Governance
A privately held business faced a complex shareholder and governance dispute threatening operational continuity and long-term value.
We coordinated corporate, dispute-resolution, and negotiation strategy under a single senior team, preserving position while opening a controlled settlement track.
The matter was resolved on defensible terms, protecting governance stability and preserving the client's strategic optionality.
Cross-Border M&A
An international investor sought to acquire a majority stake in an Egyptian operating business under significant regulatory and structural constraints.
We led legal due diligence, structuring, and negotiation, coordinating regulatory clearance and post-closing arrangements end-to-end.
Completion on schedule with a defensible risk allocation and a clean post-closing integration path.
Specialist capabilities
Priority sectors
Insights
Client feedback
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Frequently asked
A foreign investor typically incorporates through the General Authority for Investment (GAFI), choosing a structure — often a limited liability company or joint-stock company — that fits the activity, ownership, and licensing requirements. We advise on the right vehicle, shareholder arrangements, and regulatory approvals so the structure holds as the business grows.
Egypt is a party to the New York Convention, so foreign arbitral awards can generally be recognised and enforced before the competent Egyptian courts, subject to defined conditions. We assess each award's enforceability, prepare the application, and manage the court process.
Before committing, confirm clean title, the seller's capacity to sell, planning and permit status, and any encumbrances or utility issues. For off-plan purchases, the contract terms and buyer protections matter as much as the price. We run legal due diligence and structure the contract to protect your position.
The earlier the better — ideally before positions harden or a claim is filed. Early assessment lets you protect assets, preserve evidence, and decide whether to litigate, settle, or restructure the matter. We give a candid strategic view first, then execute the chosen path.
Yes. We advise domestic businesses and families alongside international investors and companies operating in or entering the Egyptian market, and we handle matters in both Arabic and English.
Egyptian labour law is largely protective of employees, governing written contracts, working hours, end-of-service entitlements, and the grounds and process for termination. Getting the contract and the exit process right at the outset is what limits later exposure. We structure employment arrangements and advise on terminations and workforce changes before disputes arise.
Succession is best addressed before it becomes urgent — through clear ownership structures, governance rules, and instruments that separate family, ownership, and management. Egyptian inheritance rules also shape how shares pass, so planning early avoids disputes later. We help families design and document governance and succession arrangements that hold across generations.
Enforceability turns on clear consent, a lawful object, defined obligations, and terms that align with Egyptian law and any applicable regulatory requirements. Ambiguity between what a contract says and what a regulator or court will accept is where risk lives. We draft and review commercial contracts so the document and its enforcement point the same way.
Timelines vary with the court, the complexity of the matter, and whether a judgment is appealed, so no fixed duration applies. What shortens exposure is disciplined preparation and a clear strategy on whether to litigate, settle, or seek interim measures. We assess the realistic path and manage the case with that horizon in view.
Due diligence typically examines corporate standing, ownership and share history, material contracts, licences and regulatory compliance, employment, litigation, real estate, and tax exposure. The aim is to surface risk early enough to price it, structure around it, or walk away. We run and coordinate diligence and translate the findings into deal terms and protections.
Yes. Enquiries and consultations are treated in confidence, and what you share is used only to assess and advise on your matter. A lawyer–client relationship, and its formal engagement, begins once confirmed in writing.
Egypt's public and private free zones — administered through GAFI — can offer customs and tax advantages for export-oriented and qualifying activities, in exchange for defined conditions on operations and reporting. Whether a free zone fits depends on the activity, market, and how profits will move. We compare free-zone, inland-investment, and other structures and advise on the trade-offs before you commit.
Investors sometimes hold Egyptian assets through a foreign holding company for governance, tax, or exit efficiency. These structures must respect substance requirements, Egyptian regulatory and disclosure rules, and any applicable double-tax treaty — a poorly designed one creates more risk than it saves. We design cross-border holding arrangements that are defensible on both sides.
The route depends on the company's statutes and any shareholders' agreement — many disputes are resolved through negotiation or the agreed mechanism, others before the Egyptian courts or by arbitration where the parties have agreed to it. Well-drafted governance documents decide much of the outcome in advance. We act in shareholder and governance disputes and, ideally, structure the arrangements that prevent them.
You can request a confidential consultation through the contact page or by phone. Share a brief outline of the matter, and we will arrange a discussion with the right practice. An engagement begins only once confirmed in writing.
General information only — not legal advice.
Tell us briefly what you're dealing with. A senior lawyer will review it and respond within one business day.
