Muayad & Associates is an Iraqi law firm focused on serving foreign, international, and multinational companies that invest and operate in Iraq. The firm is headquartered in Baghdad, with lawyers in ground in Basra and Erbil, allowing us to support clients across Iraq’s main commercial regions. Through our strategic alliances with leading law firms in the United Arab Emirates, we also assist our clients with matters extending into the UAE and the wider Gulf region.
Mustafa Muayad is the Founder and Managing Partner of Muayad & Associates. He brings over 15 years of legal practice focused on corporate and commercial law in Iraq, with a strong emphasis on advising foreign and international companies on their investments and operations within the Iraqi market.
Prior to founding the firm, Mustafa served as in-house Legal Counsel for Huawei Technologies in Iraq, where he was responsible for legal compliance, contract management, and the resolution of employment disputes across the central and southern regions. From 2015 to 2018, he worked as an Associate in the Corporate and Commercial department of Al Tamimi & Company, advising clients across the banking, energy, telecommunications, and pharmaceutical sectors on operational strategies, regulatory compliance, and contract management in Iraq.
Mustafa holds a Master’s degree in Business Law from the International Islamic University Malaysia (2014) and a Bachelor of Law from the University of Kirkuk, Iraq (2010). He has been a member of the Iraqi Bar Association since 2010.
Under his leadership, Muayad & Associates has built a practice that combines an in-depth understanding of the Iraqi legal system with a standard of service shaped by international best practice.
Our practice is built around the corporate and commercial needs of international clients entering or working within the Iraqi market. We advise on entity formation, corporate structuring, commercial contracts, regulatory compliance, employment, taxation, intellectual property, and dispute resolution before the Iraqi courts and in arbitration. Each of these areas is led by lawyers with practical experience in dealing directly with the Iraqi judiciary, regulators, ministries, and the relevant supervisory authorities.
Our team works in Arabic, English, and Turkish, which allows us to serve clients from a wide range of jurisdictions without relying on intermediaries. The firm was recognised as a Leading Firm on the Legal 500 international platform within a short period of its establishment, a recognition that reflects the standard of work we deliver to our international clients.
Mustafa Muayad began his career in private practice in 2010, and went on to gain in-house experience at Huawei Technologies followed by several years at Al Tamimi & Company, one of the leading regional law firms in the Middle East. Drawing on this combined exposure to in-house, regional, and Iraqi practice, he co-founded Salt & Associates in 2018 as a Founding Partner, before independently establishing Muayad & Associates in 2023 to build a firm dedicated to the needs of foreign and international clients operating in Iraq.
The firm’s approach is built on a small number of principles that we apply consistently to every engagement:
Clarity over complexity. Iraqi law involves several overlapping sources, including federal legislation, Kurdistan Region laws, and sector-specific regulations issued by various ministries. Our role is to translate that environment into a clear path of action for the client, not to add to its complexity.
Direct partner involvement. Each client engagement is led by a partner who remains involved throughout the matter, from the initial consultation to the final outcome. We do not hand clients off to junior lawyers after the engagement begins.
Confidentiality and professional integrity. We act for clients in sensitive commercial, regulatory, and disputed matters. We treat the confidentiality of every engagement as a non-negotiable foundation of the lawyer-client relationship.
International standards, local execution. We work to the documentation, drafting, and reporting standards that international clients expect from any reputable law firm, while applying the substantive knowledge of Iraqi law that only a local practice can offer.
A regional reach through trusted alliances. Where our clients’ needs extend beyond Iraq, particularly into the UAE and the wider Gulf region, we work with carefully selected partner law firms with whom we have established long-term professional relationships. This allows us to support cross-border matters with the same standard of service our clients receive from us in Iraq.
Our clients include international banks, oil and gas operators, pharmaceutical companies, telecommunications operators, contractors, and trading companies, across both Federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. The recognition we have received on the Legal 500 international platform, as a Leading Law Firm in Iraq, within a short period of establishing the firm, reflects the trust placed in us by these clients.
