Contact Details
Dr. Ali Hatami
Founding & Managing PartnerDr. Ali Hatami is a member of the Iranian Central Bar Association. He possesses a deep understanding and extensive knowledge in the field of international trade law together with 18 years of professional working experience and expertise in laws of Iran. Dr. Hatami is one the most distinguished practitioners and legal consultants in this field. The International Law Firm of Hatami & Associates was established by Dr. Hatami in 1999 and to this date he has been acting as the Firm’s Managing Partner. Throughout years of practice, Hatami & Associates has built up an enviable reputation for excellence and integrity founded upon a solid rendering of legal services to eminent and renowned international and local clients. The Firm’s dedication to excellence and integrity is its slogan and the foregoing has been consistently reflected in its handling of most difficult cases in the international cross-border trade and investment context ever since its foundation.
The firm has focused the development of its capabilities and services in sectors such as Oil & Gas, Renewable Energy, Mining, Construction, development of Malls and Shopping Centers, Hotels, Foreign Investment, International Commercial Contracts, Corporate matters, M&A, Banking & Finance and Intellectual Property. Hatami & Associates, as a full-service firm in all relevant areas of international trade, is prepared to help its clients run their businesses in the best possible way, with a focus on minimizing risk while maximizing profits and advantages. In short, the firm’s legal services in this respect cover projects from A to Z.
Even though Dr. Hatami's core practice is on petroleum contracts (upstream, midstream, and downstream), BOT contracts, Joint Ventures, creation of Alliances and investment partnerships, his proficiency spans Energy Law and Oil & Gas, Foreign Investment, Construction & Infrastructure, Corporate and other aspects of international trade law. Dr. Hatami's accomplishments and capabilities are also reflected in his success in defending domestic and international arbitration cases and commercial litigations including business torts, partnership and joint venture disputes, as well as banking disputes, where he represented large prominent international companies as well as large and medium-sized national organizations and businesses.
LL.B. in Law from Shiraz University (1995)
LL.M. in Private Law from Tehran University (1997)
LL.D. (PhD) course at Tehran University (2003)
Dr. Hatami's professional career began as an associate legal advisor at one of the leading international law office from 1998 to 2002, where he worked on a wide range of fields inclusive of oil and gas projects, mining projects, foreign investment related issues, and commercial contracts including Joint Ventures, Sales, Agency, Distributorship and Franchise Agreements. The major projects that Dr. Hatami was involved during his activity in International Law Office are as follows: Iran-Kuwait Water Transfer Project, Project Waterloo, Mehdiabad Zinc Mining Project, ESCO Project, Project Finance for Coking Plant, LNG Project, Upstream Activities in Iran. In addition, he consulted the following companies in the office as well: Halliburton Products and Services Limited (USA), Union Capital Limited (Australia), Domino UK Ltd. (UK), Gulf Utility Company (UK), Nichimen Co., Ltd (Japan), Weatherford Oil Tool Middle East Limited (UK), NatSteel (Singapore), Ibrakom (UAE), BP Amaco-Burmah Castrol Plc (UK), Posco Eng. and Construction Co., Ltd. (Korea), Wood Group Engineering Services Limited (UK), Agip Iran-ENI Group (Italy).
Dr. Hatami operates mainly in the fields of oil and gas and construction. He brings a wealth of experience to bear on behalf of his clients having worked on oil and gas agreements such as buy-back contract, oil and gas services contract, joint operating agreement and finance agreement. But he additionally specializes in mining and industrial projects and cross-border joint ventures such as share purchase agreement and share transfer agreement.
Dr. Hatami has also been lecturing and teaching at Shahed University as an Assistant Professor of Commercial Law as well as International Arbitration, Energy Law, and Foreign Investment Law.
In addition to the different English articles as to the international trade law, Dr. Hatami has published two noteworthy books and designed legal software titled:
a) Trade Law in the Current Legal System of Iran
Iranian Commercial Code is one of the main legal sources contains the substantial subjects as to the merchants’ activities, the companies’ structures, commercial instruments, bankruptcy and other significant matters. This Code is enacted around 85 years ago, and there are different interpretations as to its implementation. By understanding the necessity of academic and pragmatic societies named students, professors, lawyers and judges, Dr. Ali Hatami in cooperation with two of his colleagues had prepared a comprehensive interpretation collection as to this Code named “Commercial Code in the Current Legal System of Iran”.
The main features of this book are as follow:
- To explain and interpret each article in a comprehensive manner;
- Referring to the courts’ decisions as to the case with related reasoning and arguments;
- Referring to the Unified Precedent issued by Supreme Court;
- Referring to the legal opinions stipulated by Judicial Legal Department;
- Referring to the opinion of preeminent law professors and their doctrine in this regard.
As it is obvious, this book is a precious source which integrates the theoretical requirements with practical necessities.
b) Foreign Investment Law In Light of Investment Act and Contracts:
Dr. Ali Hatami has published his book named "Foreign Investment Law in the Light of Investment Act and Contracts" in Tehran. This book is a practical and comprehensive learning resource book which offers information on Foreign Investment in the Current Legal System of Iran, Joint Venture Contracts, Petroleum Contracts and Build-Operate & Transfer Contracts (BOT) and provides the readers with practical examples of different cases and contracts of Dr. Hatami’s personal experiences. Hopefully, the feedback from both, the academic society and industrial practitioners is positive and other Law Firms are active in Iran, considerably take advantages of the materials provided in this book to render their legal services to their clients.
c) DAD Software
Dr. Hatami is the designer of "Law Firms Administrative & Legal Automation Software" in 2006 (www.dadco.ir). This software has been recommended by the Central Bar Association of Tehran to the lawyers and has been registered as the patent under No. 102133 before the High Counsel of the Country's Informatics.
In summary, this software has the whole Iranian laws and regulations, by-laws, guidelines, judgments, samples of International Trade Contracts and formats, samples of Articles of Associations of commercial companies and has the whole necessity tools for the law firms.
