David Wohabe, Esq.

Wohabe Law Offices LLP was named Islamic Finance Law Firm of the Year in New York, US at the 2024 Corporate INTL Global Awards. Based on Madison Avenue in New York, the firm is a finance and investment practice led by Partner David P. Wohabe, and is distinguished by its focus on Islamic finance and investment alongside a broader cross-border corporate and financial practice with strong ties to the Gulf states.

David Wohabe was admitted to the New York Bar in 1986. He received his Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School, graduating cum laude in 1985, and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Williams College. Over the course of his career he has built a practice that combines conventional finance and investment work with the specialised requirements of Islamic finance, an area that calls for structures compliant with Shariah principles while meeting the commercial and regulatory expectations of international markets.

The firm's areas of practice include finance and investments, private equity and investment funds, Islamic finance and investment, real estate, banking and financial services, tax, general corporate work, litigation and dispute resolution, and international trade. It has particular experience with transactions and projects in the Gulf states and with governmental contracting in that region, as well as foreign and comparative law, reflecting a practice oriented towards the connection between US markets and the Middle East.

Islamic finance law is a specialised discipline that structures financing and investment in accordance with Shariah principles, which prohibit interest and require that transactions be tied to real assets and shared risk. Advisers in this field must design instruments and structures that satisfy both religious requirements and the legal and regulatory frameworks of the jurisdictions involved, frequently coordinating between Western financial centres and clients or counterparties in the Gulf. It is an area in which experience and cross-cultural understanding are as important as technical legal skill.

The firm's representative client base reflects the depth of its Middle East connections, having included the Embassy of Saudi Arabia to the United States, the Offset Committee of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait Airways Corporation, among other prominent institutions and corporations. Such relationships underline the firm's role as a bridge between American finance and the economies of the Gulf.

The Islamic Finance Law Firm of the Year in New York, US award recognises Wohabe Law Offices LLP for its expertise in a specialised and growing field and the leadership of David Wohabe, whose finance practice connects New York with the Middle East. For clients seeking counsel that spans conventional and Shariah-compliant finance, the recognition affirms the firm's distinctive position in the market.