Member Profile

Atai Associates is a full service Iranian business law firm established by Mr. Ali Akbar Atai in 1975. Before starting his own practice Mr. Atai was an associate lawyer at an American Law firm in Tehran where he gained knowledge and experience of international law including acquisitions and cross-border transactions.

The firm has been at the forefront of providing legal and professional services to Iranians and international business and legal communities on a wide range of legal issues such as corporate governance, local law compliance and licensing.

Our main area of practice covers due diligence, international trade and finance, investment in free economic zones, merger and acquisitions, joint venture and participation in development projects, registration of foreign branches, subsidiaries and setting-up Iranian companies.

We have been advising and acting for multinational companies on projects concerning automotive, banking and finance, capital market and securities, food and beverage, insurance, maritime, mining, petroleum, transportation, tourism and telecommunication industries.

Atai Associates has represented international clients from the Americas, Asia, Europe and Middle East in international arbitration and domestic courts for more than 30 years. The firm has been involved in cases concerning reclamation of shares and financial rights of foreign companies in Public and Revolutionary Courts.

Investment Treaty Law, International Investment Law, Dispute Resolution, Finance and Banking, Trade and Investment, International Shipping, Taxation, International Commercial Arbitration, Investment Treaty Arbitration

• LLB, Metropolitan University (UK), 2001

• LLM, International Trade and Maritime Law, University of Hertfordshire (UK), 2003

• LPC, (London), 2004

• Robert Kennedy College P.G. Diploma in International Taxation Law, Switzerland, 2005

• PhD in International Investment Law, University of London, 2010

• Comparative Analysis of the Iranian Foreign Investment Law and the World Bank Guidelines on the Treatment of Foreign Direct Investment, Yearbook of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law, Vol. 12, pp. 111-128, 2005-2006

• Investors Protection in Iran: A Bankruptcy Approach, Bankruptcy Law Client Strategies in the Middle East and Africa, Thomson Reuters/Aspatore, 2011

• Standard of Treatment of Foreign Investments in Iran, Company Lawyer, 2009

• Overview of Islamic Financial Investment, This paper was presented in the seminar on Philosophical Foundation of Law and Finance held at the University of Westminster School of Law on 21 May 2010.

• ‘A New Paradigm for Attracting Foreign Investments: Restructuring Investor-state Arbitration for Resolution of Petroleum Disputes: Dynamics of the New Iranian Oil Investment Contract’ (2015) 2 Transnational Dispute Management (TDM) Journal

• ‘GAR know-how: Investment Treaty Arbitration- Iran’ (2015) (with A Gaffari)

• 'Iranian Bilateral Investment Treaties: Substantive Principles and Standards' (2013) 14(3) J World Investment and Trade 397

• ‘Fair and Equitable Treatment of Islamic Investments in Qatar’ (15 May 2013) Vol. 10 Issue No. 19 Islamic Finance News p. 20

• 'Arbitration of Investment Disputes under Iranian Investment Treaties' (2011) 14(2) J Money Laundering Control 13

• 'Iran' in Litigation and Dispute Resolution (International Comparative Legal Guide Series 2011) (with A.A.Atai) 136