Bio

Shahram Safai practice focuses on representing leading multinational and domestic corporate clients, investment funds and high net worth individuals. He counsels clients on private equity and venture capital transactions, as well as advising clients on assessing and managing transactional risks. Shahram heads the firm’s venture capital and real estate teams and he has been highly sought after by boards and shareholders for strategic legal advice. He is active in lobbying for and providing constructive feedback to government organizations regarding regional laws and regulations pertaining to private equity / venture capital investment, corporate governance, tax and real estate. Shahram also advises clients with respect to joint ventures, acquisitions and doing business in the region (including COVID-19 pandemic legal implications). Such advice involves investment fund formation, compliance advice, sanctions advice, anti-money laundering implications, and agency matters. He is a regular speaker at seminars on legal developments and current issues in doing business, private equity, real estate and construction law. At the invitation of the Government of Dubai, Shahram regularly lectures on legal matters and policy. He is a member of an economic advisory committee to the Government of Dubai and has also been selected to represent the Dubai Land Department as a Dubai RE Ambassador 2020. Prior to joining Afridi & Angell in 2002, Shahram was an associate at Cooley Godward in Palo Alto, California advising clients with respect to private equity / venture capital. Shahram is also a registered professional engineer and he has previously worked as a design engineer, a hydroelectric dam manager and a construction engineer. He also worked for a global oil & gas company, supervising the pressure testing of gas wells.