Lilia Sabbagh has over 22 years of legal experience in Lebanon, the MENA region, Europe and Asia.
Lilia joined the Beirut Bar Association in 1998, after having completed her law degree at St. Joseph University, Beirut, and after obtaining a Lebanese law degree as well as a Diploma of Specialisation in French law in 1997.
In 1999, Lilia obtained an advanced graduate diploma in private law (Diplôme d’Etudes Supérieures D.E.S.) from St. Joseph University, and then in 2003 obtained a Diplôme MBA from the Ecole Supérieure des Affaires-ESA in Beirut , as well as a Diplôme MBA from ESCP-EAP. Lilia later obtained an Islamic Finance Qualification granted by the UK Securities and Investment Institute and Ecole Supérieure des Affaires-ESA in 2007.
Prior to establishing her own legal practice, Lilia was a partner in one of the top law firms in Lebanon, where she assisted clients in a large number of fields, most particularly in the areas of corporate, mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance (both Islamic and conventional), establishment of funds, capital markets and financial instruments, real estate development, BOT agreements, infrastructure, structuring and restructuring, insurance, and PPP projects throughout the MENA region, Europe and Asia.
Lilia considers that it is imperative to do her part to improve the world, and that it is vital to give back to society and support young entrepreneurs and start-ups to reach their full potential. This is the main reason CSR and pro-bono work is within the core business strategies of Sabbagh Law Firm. Given the important role of CSR initiatives to Lilia, she has earned a high level of trust from clients, employees and business partners.
OUR PORTFOLIO
Her clients include some of the leading banks and financial institutions in Lebanon and the region, insurance groups, hospitality groups, family offices, industrial groups, real estate developers and others. Lilia also supports various NGOs, as well as budding entrepreneurs, providing them with free legal advice to allow them to develop their business.
Prior to establishing Sabbagh Law Firm, Lilia worked on many transactions, whose highlights include:
- Advising clients with respect to the development of hotels and restaurants and negotiating on their behalf with hotel groups.
- Advising financial institutions with respect to setting up funds.
- Advising clients in relation to the acquisition of one of the leading insurance companies in Lebanon by an international group and advising the same group with respect to a merger transaction between two Lebanese insurance companies.
- Advising an international bank in its acquisition of a Lebanese bank and several years later advising the same bank in relation to some local law aspects concerning the sale of their shares.
- Advising with respect to mergers and acquisitions in the banking sector in Lebanon, the Kingdom of Bahrain and Qatar.
- Advising various Qatari institutions and companies on the issuing of bonds, convertible bonds, and GDR in the State of Qatar.
- Advising various leading Qatari companies on initial public offerings.
- In the context of a major M&A at the level of foreign entities, acting as a local counsel on behalf of the seller, assisting with an exception-based, red flag legal due diligence report, from a Lebanese law perspective in relation to a renowned insurance company in Lebanon, for the acquisition by an international financial business services company, and providing regulatory advice concerning the transaction.
- Assisting as local counsel to one of the largest international banking groups in the sale of its banking business in Lebanon, where it had a prominent position as a corporate bank, to one of the top banks in Lebanon, by advising on all aspects of Lebanese corporate and banking law, as well as regulatory and labour issues, and in general all local law issues, including the matters pertaining to the Lebanese Central Bank.
- Advising a leading French industrial company in its acquisition of a regional group, whose holding entity is in Lebanon with subsidiaries and manufacturing operations throughout the Middle East.
- Advising a Chinese company, with its investment in a Lebanese offshore company that has subsidiaries in two other jurisdictions, including a North African country, where it undertakes a major cultivation project.
- Advising a listed Qatari entity as local counsel, in one of the first government-ordained mergers to take place in the State of Qatar. The transaction was the first acquisition of its kind in Qatar and resulted in the establishment of Qatar’s largest listed real estate company at the time.
- Advising a client, in Islamic financing, through various Murabaha financings with respect to a major development in the UK that included the construction of the tallest building in Europe located in London.
- Issuing Lebanese and Qatari legal opinions relating to international financing.