Architects Of Trust: Baker Mckenzie

Baker McKenzie, in the Middle East and North Africa since 1979, advises international companies on reworking the agency, distribution, trade and tax structures that must change as they grow.

One may assume the hardest legal work in a new market is getting in. But the agreement that brings a company into a market can eventually become the one it needs to revisit. A distributor may have helped establish a brand, built customer relationships and managed local operations. Years later, a different strategy can call for a different arrangement, and making that transition takes commercial judgment, negotiation and a close reading of responsibilities on both sides.

For Baker McKenzie, this is one practical expression of a regional practice dating back to 1979. Its Middle East and North Africa presence spans the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt and Morocco. In the UAE, its Abu Dhabi and Dubai offices advise across mainland and free zone matters, including the DIFC and ADGM, connecting local operating questions with the wider requirements of international businesses.

In June 2026, the firm reported two mandates that show distribution agreement accompanied the settlement. The job wasn’t just ending an existing arrangement, but defining how the business would keep serving the market. For founders and expansion teams, changes to the operating model can matter as much as the original decision to invest.

Aoun-Hani is Head of the International Trade, Compliance and Investigations practice in the Middle East at Baker McKenzie. Her remit connects market entry and distribution with customs, export controls, sanctions and supply-chain restructuring. It reflects the range of questions a regional business can face as goods move between jurisdictions, local partners take on different responsibilities and headquarters looks for a consistent approach to compliance.

Then there’s tax. Baker McKenzie’s regional capability covers corporate and transactional tax, VAT, transfer pricing and customs. For a multinational reviewing its how established relationships can be reorganized. One involved a multinational pharmaceutical company moving from a longstanding registered commercial agency to a non-registered exclusive distribution model. The other concerned an engineering company’s agency termination and negotiated settlement. Handled between May 2025 and May 2026, the matters involved partners Laya Aoun Hani and Hani Naja. Neither client was named in the announcement.

The pharmaceutical example is especially telling: a new structure, those disciplines shape how the revised business will actually function: which entity trades, where obligations arise and how transactions between related companies are treated. The corporate paperwork is just one part of that wid-er operating picture.

Negotiating the exit, setting the new terms, lining up the structure with how the company actually in-tends to operate: for the multinationals that came into the region on one agreement, Baker McKenzie’s work is clarifying the responsibilities the next one creates.