History

The International Counsel Bureau (ICB) was founded in 1994 in the State of Kuwait by its senior partner Mr. Abdul Rahman R. Al-Haroun after  serving almost 20 years (the last 7 of which as the General Legal Counsel) in the Corporate Legal Department of Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC - the refining arm of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation). Mr. Ghazi Al Qahtani then joined the firm as a senior partner in the year 1998 after serving almost 23 years with the Corporate Legal Department of Kuwait Oil Company (the upstream production arm of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation), 17 years of which as the General Counsel and head of the Legal Affairs Group.  The unique objective of ICB at the time of inception was providing specialized bilingual international legal consultancy services, both within Kuwait and overseas. We have proudly been successful in undertaking and fulfilling ICB's mission to the satisfaction of our clients relying mainly on the breadth of our experience and our team of dedicated specialist counsels.

International Services

An important specialty feature of ICB is that we advise clients on all practical aspects of Kuwaiti Law not only on its application in Kuwait, but on its interactions with the laws of other jurisdictions such as those in the North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, as well as its applications in international contracts and dispute resolution proceedings. Another speciality of ICB is that the firm provides arbitration services and represents clients in arbitration proceedings in Kuwait and in other international arbitration centres around the globe particularly in arbitrations under the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC).

ICB is currently working on expanding its expertise, mainly in the already established areas of Islamic finance, investment and legal restructuring of corporate debts. As part of ICB’s continuing efforts to keep up with its steadily expanding global services, the firm maintains close and regular interactions with its associated international law firms , providing project-based multi-jurisdictional legal services based on “teams” of individuals from various jurisdictions.

Local Services

In addition to the regular legal services that are rendered to clients in general, ICB’s services also include advising on commercial law, corporate law, company law, Capital Market Authority law, mergers and acquisitions, labor law, international trade in goods and services, finance and investment, Oil Sector Projects, construction claims and settlements, arbitration/ litigation, and all areas related to the foregoing. ICB provides specialized legal services in the area of international commercial transactions covering a wide range of the commercial and business activities of its clients. ICB’s expertise, experience and exposure are well demonstrated in the formation of some of the major joint venture companies in Kuwait and abroad covering different types of bilateral and multinational agreements involving multinational corporate and local entities in respect of projects that cover engineering, procurement & construction activities and maintenance contracts, Islamic finance, multi-source debt financing and transactions pertaining to  shipping and international mercantile law matters.