Diana Hamade

Spear’s Review

Diana Hamade founded Diana Hamade Attorneys at Law almost two decades ago, originally intending to set up a corporate and commercial litigation firm. However, she quickly found out that there was a sizeable market for an English-speaking family lawyer in the UAE.

Now, Hamade is recognised by her peers as being one of the leading practitioners of family law in the Middle East. She specialises in matrimonial finance and children-related matters, as well as succession and wealth planning, servicing HNW and UHNW couples and families across the Middle East. Hamade is passionate about family law, and she tells Spear’s: ‘I just want [clients] to get their way ... There is something in me that really needs to make it happen.’

‘I know my way around the law, so that gives my clients a lot of comfort,’ adds Hamade, who is also a visiting professor at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi. ‘Clients feel like they can come to someone who knows what they’re doing.’

Adviser Profile

Diana Hamade is the founder of boutique law firm Diana Hamade Attorneys at Law in Dubai and is a UAE-licensed lawyer with right of audience before all UAE courts. She is licensed by the Ministry of Justice, the Dubai Legal Affairs Department and the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, and is a DIFC registered practitioner and licensed wills draftsman. 

Diana authors articles on family law in the UAE and the Middle East for publications including the National, the ICLG series, Lexis Nexis, Thomson Reuters, Spear’s and Chambers. Diana was recognised by Thomson Reuters as the Most Influential Female Lawyer in the UAE and as the Best Legal Writer by the National. She was presented the Arab Woman Legal Award 2018, the Author Excellence Award 2019 and the Woman Law Firm Leader in 2021 by Lexis Nexis. 

Diana is known as a specialist on Sharia law, family law and private client practice for high-net-worth individuals. She is often referred to as the expert on such matters and has written countless expert opinions on UAE and Sharia law for judges worldwide including countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. She is ranked as Band 1 by Chambers & Partners for Private Client Practice in the UAE for High-Net-Worth Individuals. She is the first female lawyer in the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL) and STEP Arabia. She is also a founding member of the International Bar Association’s Arab Regional Forum and is a guest lecturer and professor of family law at the Sorbonne University in Abu Dhabi. 

Diana is fluent in English, Arabic and French and has an LLM in Commercial Law from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and an LLB from the United Arab Emirates University in Sharia and Law.