Our Team

Jasmine Zaki is Managing Partner of our Middle East and North Africa practice. Formerly, she was senior counsel at Bechtel and prior to that, she practiced international law for over a decade at a leading law firm where she advised clients operating in the Middle East and North Africa on commercial transactions and arrangements, including joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, commercial agencies, and franchising agreements, with expertise specifically in market entry and compliance. She assisted clients with structuring commercial contracts, distribution agreements, and services agreements and provided legal advice related to public international law, banking, policy, and political risk, economic development, and investment. In addition, she advised clients on entering post conflict markets in the Middle East and Africa, with emphasis on constitutional law issues, geopolitical and local political issues, as well as negotiating political, regulatory, and formation matters. She has advised clients seeking investments in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia, in addition to other Middle Eastern and North African nations, including Syria, Iraq and Libya. Her expertise included assisting US and UK-based companies on market entry, establishment and compliance in the region, with emphasis on political and risk analyses, and sovereign governments in public international law, policy, banking, investment, and transactional matters. Jasmine represented numerous sovereign countries, as well as the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. She also serves as chairwoman of the board of the Middle East Policy Council and is a media contributor as a subject matter expert on current events in the Middle East.

She holds a JD from Indiana University Maurer School of Law and a BA from University of Memphis (cum laude). Prior to attending law school, Jasmine worked at the United Nations as the Press Officer for the UN Mission to Iraq. She is fluent in English and Arabic.