The Most Innovative Law Firms To Watch by The Enterprise World

WWW.THEENTERPRISEWORLD.COM | EUROPE EDITION | JUNE 2022

The Most

Innovative Law Firms To Watch

Empowering Clients and Lawyers

Mel Kang/ CEO

MEZZLE LAW

From Editor’s Desk W

hen we talk about effective law management, there are a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration, and oftentimes it might become hard to figure out where to start. Many of the law firms operating today will look at those factors which they will want to accomplish in the near future, like their future goals, expectations etc. And with all things in place, one thing they will forget is what can interfere with those things. And in times like these, it is important to have law firms that look at things with an innovative angle, think of everything they might impact with their actions. Featuring for The Enterprise World’s this issue of The Most Innovative Law Firms To Watch are the stories of such firms, that have shaken their angles a little and looked past the stereotypical world with an innovative lens. For the cover story read aboutMezzle Law is a legal consultancy which is seeking to disrupt the provision of legal services and the way that lawyers conduct their business. Providing a platform through which lawyers can join and continue to service their clients, without having to worry about the endless non-billable hours taken up by admin and running a business solo. Mezzle Law allows lawyers to join a global brand, have the support that they need to provide the highest level of service efficiently and effectively to their clients, while having the freedom to enjoy life and be their own boss. That’s the Mezzle Law Lifestyle. All of the lawyers associated with Mezzle Law are senior lawyers and experts in their field. This means that if a client is looking for a general legal counsel (whether corporate-commercial or dispute based) or for a legal expert for something specific, they need not look any further. Mezzle Law has everything that they need. Minesoft is a family-run business that emerged as an ideal opportunity to combine the skillsets of the two founders of the company, Ann Chapman and Ophir Daniel. Prior to starting the business, Ann had an established career in the online publishing industry, managing and directing companies in the field of published patents, sci-tech, and business information. In an interview with Mr. Javid Rafiq, Managing Partner, know more about the journey of their firm. Abdo Rafiq and Partners is a full-service law firm headquartered in the UAE, providing legal services throughout the UAE and the wider region across wide variety of specialisms. Abdo Rafiq and Partners are a diverse partnership of professionals and like-minded colleagues with decades of professional experience in multiple practice areas. In an interview with Shemane Amin, Partner, ALN Tanzania | A&K Tanzania, find out more about the journey of the company. ALN Tanzania | A&K Tanzania is one of Tanzania’s pre-eminent, full service corporate and commercial law firms and a leading regional powerhouse based in Dar es Salaam. Our lawyers have wide-ranging experience and deep knowledge of the Tanzanian market, which optimally positions them to provide pragmatic advice to clients navigating the local landscape.

Shalmali Shalmali W.

High Street North, East Ham, England GB

For Editorial Concerns: editor@theentetpriseworld.com For Sales & Branding Enquiries: sales@theenterpriseworld.com For Subscription: info@theenterpriseworld.com Publisher The Enterprise World Creative Content Editor Shalmali W. | Adeeb Marketing Coordinator Peter J. PR & Marketing Coordinator James H. Business Development Executive Lisa K. Creative Design Head: Sushant K. Social Media Manager Narendra S. Digital Circulation Manager Amanda V. Digital Marketing Executive Prachi K. This list is NOT a ranking. The companies on listed in magazine serve different aspects of the market, making ranking them in any order except revenue impossible and unfair. We try to bring a perfect platform for business organization to showcase their valued products/ services. Copyrights © The Enterprise World | 2019. All Rights Reserved. The images and content included in this magazine should not be copied, transferred or reproduced in any form or by any means, electronics, mechanical, photocopying, recording, otherwise, without proper permission from The Enterprise World. The Enterprise World solely owns all the reprint rights.

Leaders in Spotlight

For the cover story read aboutMezzle Law is a legal consultancy which is seeking to disrupt the provision of legal services and the way that lawyers conduct their business. Providing a platform through which lawyers can join and continue to service their clients, without having to worry about the endless non-billable hours taken up by admin and running a business solo. Mezzle Law allows lawyers to join a global brand, have the support that they need to provide the highest level of service efficiently and effectively to their clients, while having the freedom to enjoy life and be their own boss. That’s the Mezzle Law Lifestyle. All of the lawyers associated with Mezzle Law are senior lawyers and experts in their field. This means that if a client is looking for a general legal counsel (whether corporate-commercial or dispute based) or for a legal expert for something specific, they need not look any further. Mezzle Law has everything that they need. Minesoft is a family-run business that emerged as an ideal opportunity to combine the skillsets of the two founders of the company, Ann Chapman and Ophir Daniel. Prior to starting the

business, Ann had an established career in the online publishing industry, managing and directing companies in the field of published patents, sci-tech, and business information. In an interview with Mr. Javid Rafiq, Managing Partner, know more about the journey of their firm. Abdo Rafiq and Partners is a full-service law firm headquartered in the UAE, providing legal services throughout the UAE and the wider region across wide variety of specialisms. Abdo Rafiq and Partners are a diverse partnership of professionals and like-minded colleagues with decades of professional experience in multiple practice areas. In an interview with Shemane Amin, Partner, ALN Tanzania | A&K Tanzania, find out more about the journey of the company. ALN Tanzania | A&K Tanzania is one of Tanzania’s pre-eminent, full service corporate and commercial law firms and a leading regional powerhouse based in Dar es Salaam. Our lawyers have wide-ranging experience and deep knowledge of the Tanzanian market, which optimally positions them to provide pragmatic advice to clients navigating the local landscape.

12. Mezzle Law

S T C

34. Mssrs. Abdo Raﬁq & Partners

26. Minesoft Ltd

22. A&K Tanzania

Empowering Clients and Lawyers

JUNE 2022

MEZZLE LAW www.theenterpriseworld.com

The Firm-

Traditionally, people viewed the lawyering profession as nothing more than just a set of services oﬀered in exchange for a fee. But one thing has not changed, lawyers have always viewed themselves as the trusted, skilled advisors who advocate for their clients. There have been many shifts in the business of law over the years, but no revolution to disrupt the space. For over 200 years, law ﬁrms have not evolved despite the industry changing. This is where Mezzle Law enters the space.

Featured in this months' Cover Story of The Enterprise World's issue of The Most Innovative Law Firms To Watch, is Mezzle Law, a ﬁrm dedicated to bringing forth the Law 3.0 model and changing the way that lawyers provide their services and the way that clients receive them for the greater good.

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Mezzle is a legal consultancy which is seeking to disrupt the provision of legal services and the way that lawyers conduct their business. Providing a platform through which lawyers can join and continue to service their clients, without having to worry about the endless non-billable hours taken up by admin and running a business solo. Mezzle allows lawyers to join a global brand, have the support that they need to provide the highest level of service efficiently and effectively to their clients, while having the freedom to enjoy life and be their own boss. That's the Mezzle Lifestyle. Cutting Through the ComplexitiesWhen the firm started their practice, and the new model of providing legal services, one of the challenges was scaling too quickly. “Even before Mezzle hit the market, there was a growing demand for our business model in the legal market”. Since “going live” the firm has been unmandated with requests to join the team and have found it hard to keep up with the demand. The lawyers Mezzle has onboard are all legal experts in their field. Senior lawyers with years of experience. This knowledge and skillset, coupled with the fact that Mezzle has found a way to make them happy, means that clients are also receiving better services, which makes clients more happy and happier clients also means a continuously growing client base. The success of Mezzle's services has reached a point where they are expanding into other jurisdictions even quicker than what they had planned to, because lawyers and clients in those jurisdictions are demanding that Mezzle does.

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“Luckily our business model is such that it can be expanded easily, and something Mezzle accounted for before establishing”. When founding the ﬁrm, and launching the diﬀerent kind of services that Mezzle provides, the founders always knew there would be a high demand and that Mezzle would hit the ground running, they just didn't realise by how much. But it's a nice challenge to have, and one which the team openly embraces.

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The Growth QuotientMezzle is different to the normal and traditional law firms currently in the market. The whole concept behind the model is that they are a remote based fee share model, whereby the benefit is seen by both the lawyers and the clients alike. “We have heavily invested in our backoffice systems, so each lawyer benefits from the best IT infrastructure and admin support so they can literally function from anywhere in the world”.

Lawyers are used to being confined to offices and working standard long hours to get the job done, whereas with Mezzle, lawyers can work anywhere and anytime they choose to and most importantly they can dictate their working day/life. The idea about being totally flexible and remote is why Mezzle is different, but also the very fact that the lawyers keep the lion's share of the income is a massive differentiator in the current legal market.

“Happy lawyers also mean better work and happier clients. Happy lawyers and happy clients mean everyone benefits from Mezzle's success”. The ServicesAll of the lawyers associated with Mezzle are senior lawyers and experts in their field. This means that if a client is looking for a general legal counsel (whether corporate-commercial or dispute based) or for a legal expert for something specific, they need not look any further. Mezzle has everything that

they need. The lawyer a client engages with from the beginning of a matter, is also the lawyer they work with throughout, which means a better service, provided by a senior lawyer throughout the entire process. “At Mezzle, clients have direct access to senior lawyers, who they can develop a relationship with, and who are the best at what they do, and can provide them with the best in what they need”.

The ﬁrm has legal experts who specialise in real-estate, hotel related matters, IP, ﬁlm/media, healthcare, estate planning/wills, company incorporations, CSP services, corporate structuring, regulated set-ups, cryptocurrencies, funds, foundations, banking, insurance matters, onshore disputes (with the local courts), arbitration, logistics, shipping, aviation and more. The Road AheadMezzle is growing from strength to strength, and are continuing to actively

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recruit good quality lawyers across the UK and UAE (for now, but there also plans for expansion). With the more lawyers that join the firm, the wider the firm's service offering becomes and with the model they have created and the infrastructure the team intends to give their lawyers, the demand keeps increasing. The ultimate plan is to continue this growth in both the UK and UAE, and further afield also. The fee share or consultancy model is one which will dominate the legal market in the future and Mezzle has been created at just the right time to be pioneers of this. “We believe the future for Mezzle is bright and one which shall see our base not only grow in the UK and UAE, but also in other jurisdictions”. The team is already in talks to open offices in 2 other locations in the next 12 months, which will be a massive achievement for the firm. Challenging and changing the traditional approach to the legal sector is what is key here and Mezzle are at the forefront of making this happen.

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Henzie Healley- Leading the WayMD

to impart knowledge and help others shares in her success.

“To create something unique, diﬀerent and revolutionary is what a leader should aim to strive for”.

Named as one of the Top 10 Business Leaders to Follow in 2021 and received this title twice on two separate occasions for 2022.

Henzie started her own legal consultancy in 2019 which she merged with Mezzle in 2021. She is an expert in corporate-commercial law and is Managing Director of Mezzle Middle East.

Featured in various magazine articles and received an award of honour from the Women's Empowerment Investment Forum, set to receive another award (the Lex Falcon Award) at the end of March 2022.

In her glorious career as a lawyer she has-

Mezzle won Best Corporate & Commercial Law Firm 2022 during the 2022 Global Excellence Awards, was named one of the 5 Best Law Firms of 2022 and has now had the honour of being named one of the Innovative Law Firms to Watch in 2022 by The Enterprise World.

Drafted and negotiated a 3 year contract valued at USD 8 million with one of the world's most and most prestigious oilﬁeld companies. Assisted over 100+ start-ups set-up and establish themselves in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Worked with various governmental organisations to support with ongoing virtual in-house legal matters, and assisted them with setting up a team within Mezzle, so that they have the support of the bestof-the-best with any legal requirement that their organisation may need. Worked with various regulators all over the world to create legislation for evolving legal environments and to create these for new service oﬀerings entering the market.

What Makes the Mezzle Team Unique? “We support our legal experts by providing them with access to unique and revolutionary technology which helps them streamline non-billable work and free up their time, either for more billable work, or to simply enjoy the ﬁner things that life has to oﬀer (without compromising on their income)”.

Assisted various crypto and blockchain related projects, having been featured in a documentary on the topic and continuing to advise clients on these accordingly.

The firm equips lawyers with the tools that they need to be more efficient and be their own boss, while still having the support of other lawyers and an international firm (and with that comes a full team of support to cover and still provide large law firm related functions). The Mezzle team is unique because they are all revolutionaries looking for a change.

Spoken at various events, including the Female Founders Initiative (about being a women in business), and continues to work with various female founders and business groups

Tired of the traditional way of working, Mezzle lawyers refuse to accept the fact that this is the way that working in law has to be. They are not afraid to go after what they know they

can achieve, and realise that law is an application of knowledge, which is transferred with a person and does not remain in a firm/company when they leave. They have realised that clients create loyalty to persons and not companies, and that if they provide good legal services in a responsive and time efficient manner, they have already made it in this industry and can enjoy the work while still being free, but that being a part of team is always better than being alone, and that by joining Mezzle, there is so much more that they can achieve. Henzie's Advice to the Budding Entrepreneurs“First and foremost, if you are a lawyer, join Mezzle and experience the joy. If you are an entrepreneur in any other industry, contact Mezzle to ensure you are properly supported from a legal point of view and have a strong legal partner backing you. It takes a lot more time, money and effort to fix a legal mess than to have done it properly from the start. Once you are ready, go for it and have fun! Enjoy the journey. Its hard work, but its worth it. Its important to remember, you will regret the things you didn't do, more than the things you did do… and one day there will not be any more time left to do the things that you have always wanted to do. There will always be another job, another thing you are waiting for to make you happy, another excuse you can use… do it now. Even if you fail, you can say you tried and gave it your all, and wont be left wondering, “what if”, which is one of the worst feelings of all”.

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A&K Tanzania Handling Sophisticated Transactions Across Borders

e it within the country, or across the borders, business law, or as one may call it, the corporate commercial law plays a vital role for a business, regulating its practice. It helps the businesses to understand and compensate for the various issues faced in an organization, and at the same time safeguards the rights of the shareholders. It is especially important if you are handling transactions across borders.

Featuring for The Enterprise World's this issue of The Most Innovative Law Firms to Watch is A&K Tanzania, a law firm with an expertise in corporate commercial and various fields. In this interview with Shemane Amin, Partner, ALN Tanzania | A&K Tanzania, let us find out more about the journey of the company. Tell us about the firm. ALN Tanzania | A&K Tanzania is one of Tanzania's pre-eminent, full service corporate and commercial law firms and a leading regional powerhouse based in Dar es Salaam. Our lawyers have wide-ranging experience and deep knowledge of the Tanzanian

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market, which optimally positions them to provide pragmatic advice to clients navigating the local landscape. The firm's consolidated and seamless cross-border offering is driven by a diverse and talented team of over 100 lawyers based in our Dar es Salaam, Dubai, Nairobi and Mombasa offices. Our lawyers have wide-ranging experience and deep knowledge of the Tanzanian market, which optimally positions them to provide pragmatic advice to clients navigating the local landscape. ALN Tanzania has extensive expertise handling sophisticated transactions across sectors, including in financial services, mining, energy, manufacturing, telecommunications and hospitality. ALN Tanzania is recognised as a market leader by distinguished global legal guides, including Chambers Global, IFLR1000, and Legal 500 and our market-leading offering is bolstered by our pan-African reach through ALN, an integrated alliance of the leading full-service corporate law firms in 15 African countries and the UAE.

What were the initial challenges you faced? There are many challenges of being a new entrant in terms of growing a modern and sustainable business which is up to speed with the fast-changing demands of our clients and their businesses. A key challenge of operating a law firm in this part of the world is bridging the gap between the written law and its application. For clients, obtaining practical advice which reflects the reality on the ground and which is simultaneously commercially sensitive, is of the utmost importance. We are therefore constantly challenged to ensure that we fulfil our role as a trusted advisor by taking a pragmatic approach to our work and packaging client deliverables in a manner that fits the needs of their business while remaining within the bounds of the law. We take great pride in the fact that advising on complex transactions across sectors remains our greatest strength and we have established our position in the market through the extensive experience we have accumulated in handling sophisticated transactions in Tanzania and across the region.

Shemane Amin, Partner

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In 2014, ALN Tanzania, then known as ATZ Law Chambers and ALN Kenya entered into a close-knit strategic alliance to service the increasing number of clients doing TanzaniaKenya cross-border deals. The alliance allowed for seamless interaction on deals, sharing of know-how and the exchange of lawyers between firms. ALN's focus on creating a platform of leading law firms in Africa to improve their infrastructure, processes and train the lawyers to serve clients at their best has greatly contributed to the success of the Firm. ALN recently launched its refreshed brand, making a bold statement about its modern strategic vision and its role in the transformational shifts needed, and already underway, in the way excellent legal services are delivered in Africa. With the brand refresh, the alliance reimagines its approach on how it sees new global opportunities to help unlock value for our clients who are doing business and investing across borders; so that they can confidently work to build trust and deliver sustained commercial objectives in irrevocably changing business and legal environments. What are the products/services the firm focuses on? How are your services different from those in the market? ALN Tanzania's focus is on three practice areas: (i) Corporate Commerical/M&A; (ii) Banking, Finance and Insolvency; and (iii) Projects and Infrastructure. In order to better serve our clients, we have completed those practice areas by building significant expertise in the following cross-cutting practices which are relevant for clients across the board: (i) Tax; (ii) Forensics, Investigations, Compliance; (iii) Dispute Resolution; (iv) Employment; (v) Competition. The fully-integrated

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legal advisory service offering we are able to offer to our clients through the above-mentioned key areas, coupled with our regional connectivity, knowhow and resources, differentiates us from others in the market. The service offering is further bolstered by a team of African lawyers who have an indepth knowledge of the local landscape and who have the ability to think globally and act locally. How do you decide to take the company a step further in terms of your products/services? We are constantly improving how we service our clients including leveraging cutting-edge technology. The firm began investing in and using artificial intelligence several years ago to enhance our legal due diligence for our clients, then internally to streamline our workflows and databases for utmost efficacy in service delivery. As part of our support to our clients, we use our AI platforms to assess potential contractual exposure quickly and affordably. The AI platforms review and analyse what could be a client's potential risk, exposure, and any liability under a contract by highlighting specific clauses such as force majeure, frustration, and the ability to delay obligations or terminate the contract. This fastens our lawyers' reviews enabling us to pass on the cost savings onto our clients. We also pride ourselves in our use of technology for the automation of key transactional documents, which again improves efficiency and the delivery of quality output to our clients. Combining legal, accounting, economic, investigative and technology skills enable the firm to offer an end-to-end solution for our clients through a dedicated forensics and corporate investigations practice, enabling clients to mitigate risk and build transparent, compliant

businesses. Through our Forensics, Risk and Compliance team, we conduct risk and compliance due diligence to enable clients to assess the ﬁnancial health of a target opportunity. Through an integrated approach, we help our clients to close deals across industries, including leading multinationals and other corporations, major commercial and investment banks, private equity funds, and entrepreneurs. With our wider hub in Nairobi, the recent appointment of ALN Kenya's joint Managing Partners Daniel Ngumy and Rosa Nduati-Mutero, is designed to continue strengthening our client service and collaboration and to respond to the transformational shifts ongoing globally and in Africa in the way high quality and specialised legal services are delivered. What would be your advice to the budding entrepreneurs? No one is born as an experienced entrepreneur – they learn and gain knowledge by making mistakes as well as from those who have already achieved their goals. Start early and do not let limited resources keep you from getting started. Having a sharp vision and growth strategy keeps the focus of the business aligned with real-world challenges. Lean on your strengths by putting your previous experience and strengths to work. It takes time and patience to scale and grow a business to success; it is a tedious process that involves constant failures, iterations, and alterations – stay focused, and ask for help where necessary if you need it.

S P E C I A L P R O F I L E

MINESOFT Your Global Patent Information Solutions Provider

Ann Chapman-Daniel, Co-Founder & CEO 26

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S P E C I A L P R O F I L E

hat is a patent and why is patent information vital for innovation? A patent is a type of intellectual property that speciﬁcally protects inventions. It gives the inventor a monopoly, which allows the patent holder to protect their invention from competition for a set period. By granting such rights, patents provide incentives for innovators and enable them to appropriate returns on investment. This ultimately drives innovation and technological growth. As a result of this, access to patent data is vital for businesses as it can show you where your industry is headed, what your competitors are doing and ultimately, to plan your own competitive and R&D strategies.

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Featuring for The Enterprise World's winner of the 'The Most Innovative Law Firms to Watch' is Minesoft LLP, a global patent solutions provider.

working in the early internet era. In 2003, the pair began a close cooperation with RWS PLC, a publicly quoted UK specialist translation company.

The Company Minesoft is a family-run business that emerged as an ideal opportunity to combine the skillsets of the two founders of the company, Ann Chapman and Ophir Daniel. Prior to starting the business, Ann had an established career in the online publishing industry, managing and directing companies in the ﬁeld of published patents, sci-tech, and business information. On the other hand, Ophir had successful career as an in-demand web-based developer

“Together, we built a searchable database which now hosts about 150 million patent documents and RWS's translation engine helps us provide this in many diﬀerent languages.” Fast-forward to the present day and Minesoft has grown leaps and bounds. In 2022, the company closed on a substantial growth investment from MLM 2, an information services and software platform, and Warburg Pincus, a leading global growth investor.

The Challenges and Success Minesoft had a humble beginning Ann and Ophir started the company independently and conceptualised the business around their kitchen table. Despite this, they were able to turn their idea into a success story without any initial outside investment or substantial start-up capital. “It is important to understand that gaining a client is one thing. Keeping them is another.” Minesoft has one of the highest client retention rates in the industry, something the team has always taken pride in. Customer service has been prioritised as a key part of Minesoft's business model from an early stage, relationships are extremely important in patent information industry. A way that they have achieved this extraordinary client retention rate is via the provision of unlimited customer service that is delivered by highly trained customer success teams. Their commitment to ensuring that a client really reaps the full benefits of their subscription is vital. As such, Minesoft takes the time to ensure that clients fully understand the system and data capabilities through offering face to face trainings, training days and topic specific webinars delivered to whole teams and individuals alike. Further to this, Minesoft boasts an impressive customer-led enhancement turnaround. Often, the request can be received in the morning and actioned by the afternoon, ensuring its availability worldwide via the dedicated IT and support teams. Minesoft puts more power in the hands of the customer, who in turn stay loyal to the company. “Clients in the patent world understand how important data

cleanliness, accuracy and completeness is and it is always good to know when we are doing a better job on the searchability side, as well as listening and responding to where we need to do better.”

developments over each of the product's lifecycles. Ann explains that search platforms should be built for users, by users, and this is at the core of the Minesoft ethos.

There are several diﬀerent user types that require Minesoft's patent database platform and analytics capabilities. These range from patent attorneys, businesses performing freedom to operate searches, R&D teams and many more. The search and analytics platform (Analytics V3) available on PatBase, allows users to interact with a graphical output of their search query instantaneously.

Minesoft has tried to strike the balance between development cycles whilst simultaneously remaining responsive to client feedback. User feedback has had a profound impact on the development of their products and continues to shape the trajectory of their product development. For instance, Minesoft has developed tools for consumers in the biotech, chemical and life sciences industries which range from the automation of text extraction and association to creating the tools to easily draw chemical structures for search input.

Since the formation of the company, the Minesoft team has worked consistently on improving the platform, with hundreds of

“If our clients have ideas about how we can further help them, we will do so, even if the beneﬁt is focused on a particular vertical market segment.”

Minesoft's Arsenal of Products and Services

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S P E C I A L P R O F I L E

The Road AheadMoving forward and continuing to provide clients with excellent customer service, keeping clients at the centre of their business model and product development is essential to Minesoft. “Our customers are experts in the patent information ﬁeld and often use Minesoft products on a day-to-day basis so who better to make informed decisions about future development than them.” Being a small, dynamic team with inhouse development specialists – Minesoft can often make tweaks based on customer feedback on the same day.

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Not only is Minesoft able to respond to customer feedback on a very meticulous level. Minesoft is also able to respond to the needs of the market as a whole. This is made evident by the launch of their new platform 'PatDocs' – a streamlined patent document delivery system aimed primarily at paralegals looking for efficient ways to supply patent information to attorneys. PatDocs has automated tools to relieve the workload of IP professionals and the laborious task of finding patent information via national patent offices. These include auto-populate IDS forms and a family tree mapping functionality that allows for the visualisation of complex relationships between patent families.

Furthermore, the company is also embarking on an exciting journey adding some more innovative products to their arsenal. Minesoft's development team is focussing on natural language searching and semantics, as well as automated translations and landscaping analysis. Artiﬁcial Intelligence is a big buzzword in the Online Publishing Industry at present, and the team are prioritising development in this area to further automate and streamline their products. “We host about 150 million patent (scitech) documents right now and this is increasing literally each week.” Such a large body of research material

Minesoft & RWS launched PatBase, a searchable database of patent documents designed by experts in the complex art of patent information research. Since it's conception to now, PatBase boasts a customer base of over 90,000 users worldwide.

needs to be made accessible to companies who are working to pioneer new solutions. Search speeds are getting exponentially faster, the computer industry and data delivery mechanisms (including the Internet) are developing rapidly too. The recent investment will accelerate the development of new products and enhance existing products with analytics, artiﬁcial intelligence, and machine learning – so watch this space! Unmatched Leadership of Ann Chapman-Daniel-

In 2009, Minesoft won the prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise for an outstanding achievement in rapidly growing export markets in the ﬁeld of Intellectual Property Information. This is a testament to the international success of PatBase and to the dedication of the development, sales, and support staﬀ behind the product and company.

contributes to levelling the economic playing field between developed and developing countries. For the past 20 years, Minesoft has been providing reliable and powerful digital solutions to access the technological and scientific information which is often only available in patent documents. “We invest a lot of time and effort in designing and developing the search tools according to the feedback we receive from our users, so they are equipped to handle the multiplicity of data and sources.”

Co-Founder | CEO “We believe it is very important for businesses to play a positive role in local communities.” As a global patent solutions provider, Minesoft is committed to driving innovation worldwide. As such, they have partnered with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in the ASPI programme. This program allows patent oﬃces and academic and research institutions in developing countries to have access to Minesoft's solutions. Access to highquality patent data can drive innovation and industry growth, which

Giving unfettered access to this data helps to drive innovation globally and supports advancement in the scientiﬁc and technological ﬁelds, whether it's a new pharmaceutical drug or technology for electric vehicles… building on these ideas can change the world for the better. The Many Accolades of MinesoftMinesoft's history spans over 20 years and during this time the company has received numerous accolades and awards for its commitment to customer service and the development of industry leading IP solutions. In 2003,

Minesoft has expanded its portfolio of innovative patent information products to include PatBase Express, PatentOrder, PatDocs, IPShare, Legal StatusTracker, CiteTracker, Chemical Explorer, Pat-KM and PatBase Analytics. This continuous innovation was instrumental in Minesoft being awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise for a second time in 2015. The award was given for an impressive, sustained growth in International Trade. The company demonstrated an outstanding achievement in rapidly growing export markets in the ﬁeld of Intellectual Property Information. Minesoft has also recently been named Legal Tech Company of the Year 2021 by ACQ5 and The Most Recommended Legal Technology Solution Providers in 2021. “These awards are a testament to our ongoing work to meet the needs of our fast-growing global clientele.”

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Javid Raﬁq, Managing Partner 34

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Providing Clients with Cost-Eﬀective and Eﬃcient Legal Advice

t is generally considered prudent to retain a legal services partner which can prove beneficial to your company's professional reputation as well as the overall financial health and the corporate social profile. In particular, for cross-border transactions and especially transactions involving the acquisition of a foreign target company, a legal opinion is usually well recommended. A legal opinion helps to inform and identify the legal risks and issues for the board and management of the acquiring entity.

UAE and the wider region across wide variety of specialisms. We are a diverse partnership of professionals and likeminded colleagues with decades of professional experience in multiple practice areas. Our team is comprised of advocates and legal consultants with high professional qualiﬁcations and excellent expertise. Most importantly, our team has all the relevant up to date knowledge related to UAE such as laws and procedures, litigation, ﬁnancial services and corporatecommercial transactions.

Featuring for The Enterprise World's column on The Most Innovative Law Firms to Watch, we have Mssrs. Abdo Rafiq & Partners, a legal services firm providing its clients with cost effective and efficient legal advice.

What were the initial challenges you faced?

In this interview with Mr. Javid Rafiq, Managing Partner, he will be telling us more about the journey of their firm. Tell us about the firm. Abdo Rafiq & Partners is a full service law firm headquartered in the UAE, providing legal services throughout the

Our first challenge was taking the leap to rebrand and re-launch our practice under Abdo Rafiq & Partners during the peak of the global pandemic. Although we benefitted from our many decades of combined experience in the local legal field and have always been up to date with current issues our clients face, rebranding during this tumultuous time was a great challenge for us as a firm. This was around two years ago that we made this change, and we are delighted to now be at the

stage where we can see the benefits of our hard work and sincere efforts via the results, feedback and accolades we have received from our clients, peers and the legal services fraternity. What was the point that triggered the growth of the firm? We have been in a constant growth pattern, even prior to setting up Abdo Rafiq & Partners, but what really triggered the growth of the firm was branching out into other jurisdictions. In particular, building relationships through the prestigious CONSULEGIS network to target high quality work in the UAE provided us with a platform to expand and provided us with access to like-minded colleagues in other parts of the world. This was in essence, a natural progression given our niche as a high quality legal services provider in the small to medium sized category. We are delighted to have been invited to the CONSULEGIS network last year and take the opportunity to expand and gain access to quality legal services in more than 120 worldwide jurisdictions.

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What is the reason behind your company's long-standing success? Our success is built on a number of factors, such as staying ahead of the market trend in the UAE and being adaptive to change. The legal ﬁeld is forever changing and in order to be successful we must stay abreast of all legal developments in the UAE to provide our clients with the most up to date legal advice. At the same time, we also ensure that our fee tariﬀ is contemplative of the global trend in the legal services sector where clients are ever more cost conscious. Our key ethos is prioritising the client in all aspects of our work and growing at a healthy pace so as to ensure our long-standing clients feel part of our success and the quality of work we deliver is maintained throughout.

associations and collaborations whilst maintaining focus on new sectors and practice areas developing in the UAE. The UAE is home to a large and growing number of international groups and corporations looking to grow into other overseas markets. We can assist our clients with this by staying on the cutting edge of developments in the legal ﬁeld. We have most recently added capabilities in immigration and insolvency to our existing departments in line with our vision to continue to expand into international cross-border work while also capitalising on UAE as our home jurisdiction. What are the notable achievements in your journey so far?

The Products/Services: What are the products/services the firm focuses on? How are your services different from those in the market? Our firm is primarily focused on providing dispute resolution, financial services, corporate-commercial and related legal services. As a niche firm, we are in a unique position to be able to provide high quality work in both local UAE Courts as well as the specialist Courts and tribunals across the UAE. We pride ourselves delivering worldclass, personalised and bespoke service to all of our clients whilst maintaining cost effectiveness, which makes us a very strong competitor in the realm of international law firms.

In addition to our invitation to become a member of the prestigious CONSULEGIS network, we are most delighted to receive recognition from the Legal 500 EMEA 2022 rankings as a Leading Law Firm and Firms to Watch categories. Leadership : What do you think are the responsibilities of an entrepreneur?

Becoming a successful entrepreneur requires commitment to your values and vision, whatever that might be. An entrepreneur's vision must include supporters such as junior staﬀ members, colleagues and family members because those are the people who support you in failure How do you decide to take the and celebrate your successes. company a step further in terms of Without supporters, no individual your products/services? can be successful in achieving their Our continued objective is to expand our “magnum opus”. global network further through

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Can you please brief us about your professional experience? My early professional experience comes from working in the banking and finance sector with major international and national law firms headquartered in the UK and in the last 15 years here in the UAE. I have extensive experience in the area of banking and finance and have acted for banks, local government public bodies, finance companies, corporate borrowers and a range of other commercial and corporate clients. I have also acted for insolvency office holders in recovery matters. My experience includes

advising lenders and borrowers on bilateral transactions, security documents and structures, acquisitions, management buy-outs and general secured lending and I have advised on sales of business assets by receivers and liquidators together with advising administrators on placing companies into administration. In addition, I have also most recently focused on advising both local and international financial services institutions on all aspects of regulated financial activity and financial business. My practice also includes advising UAE, DIFC and ADGM based fund operators in relation to both public and private funds.

How do you look after your employees? What makes your team unique?

What would be your advice to the budding entrepreneurs?

My approach to looking after my employees is to understand what drives them and motivates them, so as to empower them to be successful lawyers and business owners whether it is within our practice or elsewhere. I often tell my juniors and trainees that it is equally critical to be enterprising and commercially aware as much as it is to be a good lawyer.

First, as a successful lawyer and second, a successful entrepreneur, my advice to budding entrepreneurs in the legal sector would be to look to the future and not just the present. Tomorrow's lawyers will be very diﬀerent from today's lawyers and if you want to be successful then you must follow the disruption, look at technology that is anticipated to impact the legal ﬁeld and take your aim accordingly. Of course, this is easier said than achieved!