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Habib Saeed
Senior Associate
Habib Saeed is a UK-qualified employment and data privacy lawyer based in the Dubai office. He has six-plus years of dedicated employment law and data privacy law expertise and has successfully transferred his skills to working across the Middle East, establishing himself quickly as a respected employment and data privacy law adviser in the regional legal market. Habib specialises in data protection, with a particular focus on employee data issues and advises on the impact of GDPR/local GCC laws for HR, cyber breach responses, subject access requests, privacy notices and data protection policies.
Habib acts for multinational and regional clients in the UAE and the KSA on all aspects of labour law, employment, immigration issues and data protection compliance both mainland and, in particular, within the UAE’s financial free zones, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi Global Market.
With the introduction of new data protection laws in both the UAE and the KSA, Habib has been advising various clients on data privacy regulation matters and compliance on a day-to-day basis – as part of this, he has delivered multiple training sessions to clients, which have proven to be an effective medium towards educating stakeholders and business partners on the practical steps that need to be taken to achieve compliance with local laws.
Habib deals with a wide range of employment issues on a daily basis, dedicated to resolving client issues in the workplace. Habib acts for multinational and regional clients in the UAE on all aspects of labour law, employment and immigration issues both onshore and within the region’s free zones, including the DIFC and Abu Dhabi Global Market.
Habib also has experience in handling labour law claims across the UAE, drafting and negotiating settlement agreements, senior executive terminations, advising on employment aspects of corporate transactions and dealing with immigration matters for the recruitment and termination of employees.
- Advising an aerospace company and leading manufacturer on various employment issues across the Middle East, including day-to-day HR and immigration issues, local entitlements and benefits.
- Assisting an international medical products and technologies company with the drafting of a DIFC employment contract for its workforce.
- Advising a global payment processor and financial services provider on managing staff exits in the UAE by way of settlement agreement and redundancy.
- Regularly advising on queries in relation to organisational restructuring, disciplinary, grievances and investigations.
- Defending labour law matters for numerous clients in the UAE, both onshore and in the region’s free zones, including those involving unlawful termination, unpaid benefits and breaches of contract.
- Advising on data sharing and localised processing agreements for intragroup transfers from the UAE to the EU.
- Advising on the local response to vaccination protocols in the UAE for a company’s respective workforce, both from a labour law and data privacy perspective, and reviewing and redrafting a bespoke employee privacy notice to ensure compliance with the current data protection laws in the DIFC.
- Advising a leading identity fraud, authorisation and authentication company on general data protection compliance in the Middle East. Habib continues to advise the company on data processing arrangements/data sharing with third-party vendors.
- Advising on insourcing and outsourcing issues within a procurement context.
- Delivering training sessions to various clients on compliance with GDPR for HR.
Education
- Nottingham Trent University, LL.B., First Class Honours, 2013
Admissions
- England and Wales, 2017
Languages
- English
- Urdu
- Hindi
- Punjabi
- “Habib Saeed is always responsive and to the point with answers. He has great knowledge of data protection laws in the region which always comes in handy.”
- “I work with Habib Saeed in many different employments law related conflicts. I must say I am more than satisfied while working with him. He provides great comfort and practical advice.”
- Author, “Future supply market arrangements call for evidence response – Reforming the ‘Supplier Hub’ model”, LexisPSL, 25 September 2018.
- Co-author, “Changing Terms of Employment (UAE)”, Practical Law, July 2023 (subscription required).