Gowling WLG Dubai are delighted to welcome back Jonathan Brufal to lead its projects practice in the Middle East and Africa.

Recognised by Acritas stars and Legal 500 as one of the best lawyers in his field, Jonathan spent 10 years in Dubai previously, including three years establishing the projects practice in Gowling WLG's Dubai office. Jonathan also has over 20 years' experience working in Africa and is the Head of the firm's Africa Group.

Jonathan has been instrumental in many high profile projects over the course of his career, most notably having recently advised a Siemens/Renco consortium on the Yerevan CCGT project; the first project financing in Armenia and which has recently seen the Project Group be shortlisted by the Lawyer Magazine for Energy & Infrastructure Project of the Year. As well as advising procurers and developers on complex and high value projects in the GCC, Jonathan is very active advising on projects across Africa. He is currently advising the developer of the first battery storage project in Kenya as well as advising a consortium on Kenya's first desalination plant.

Commenting on his re-location, Jonathan said: "I am excited to return to the Dubai office and to work with the team here as well as in the UK and the rest of our international network to better serve our clients' needs. The GCC remains at the centre of using PPP to deliver critical energy and infrastructure projects and is now a key commercial hub for projects in Africa. As a sector focused international law firm, it is important that our network is able to support our clients in some of our core sectors: government, energy and infrastructure."

Tim Casben, the Dubai Managing Partner commented: "we are delighted to welcome Jonathan back to Dubai, the UAE continues to play an important role in China's new Silk Road project and provides the ideal gateway to Africa. Jonathan's knowledge of regional and African energy and infrastructure projects will be of significant benefit to our clients and puts us in a strong position to take advantage of M&A opportunities as the secondary market develops in the region. When we hired Suhail Mirza and Simon Elliot earlier in the year, we had in mind Jonathan's relocation and their M&A experience in the projects and infrastructure space."

Jonathan's re-location to the Dubai office bolsters the team's offering significantly, strengthening the cross-collaboration of expertise available to clients across projects, corporate, technology and intellectual property on the ground in the UAE.