Hessam Kalantar
Hessam Kalantar is admitted to the Bars of New York, USA and Ontario, Canada. He is a graduate of McGill University, where he earned both common and civil law degrees. Hessam has almost twenty years of firm and in-house practice experience in Canada, US and the Middle East, including at some of the most pre-eminent global law firms.
In New York and Dubai Hessam has acted for leading private equity, venture capital and other providers of capital in connection with investments in technology and e- commerce, media, financial services, insurance, healthcare, telecommunications, energy, hospitality and food and beverage industries, among others.
He has worked on many landmark financing and restructuring transactions, including on one of largest restructurings in the Middle East and the largest syndicated lending in Turkey.
His experience in the Middle East encompasses corporate transactions of all stripes, mainly M&A, joint ventures, corporate finance and restructuring transactions. He advises US and European clients on market entry and capital deployment in the Middle East, and regional investors eyeing investment opportunities in the US. And Hessam’s technology practice, including advising technology start-ups, spans the period from the dotcom and business process outsourcing booms through to cloud computing and Fintech. After over a decade in global law firms, Hessam spent many years as Deputy General Counsel at a significant, emerging markets telecommunications investment group operating across several geographies. Hessam founded KBLG in 2018.
Fatima Marjan
Fatima Marjan is a member of the Law Society of Ontario where she was called to the Bar in 2021. Prior to working at KBLG, Fatima worked in civil litigation where she appeared before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Small Claims Court, the License Appeal Tribunal, and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal. She has since advised on several fund mandates for investment funds based in ADGM and DIFC, and on regulatory and compliance matters relevant to fund management activities. Fatima also oversees the firm’s corporate service offerings.
Fatima is a graduate of the Michigan State University College of Law. While at the College of Law, Fatima obtained extensive training in negotiation and mediation through a specialized Alternative Dispute Resolution program. She was also a member of the College’s national negotiation team and was selected as a judge for the College’s intraschool negotiation competition. Prior to law school, she received her Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and History from York University in Toronto, Canada.
Fatima is fluent in Arabic.
Samuel Miller
Sam is en route to becoming qualified as a New York lawyer and recently joined the team as a Junior Associate. Sam was formerly a legal analyst at Shorooq Partners, a leading technology investor in the Middle East and North Africa where Sam supported the firm in venture capital and venture debt transactions in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Sam earned his JD from the University of Iowa and his masters in law from the University of Chicago.
Kate Symons
Kate is an IPREG regulated, CITMA certified Chartered UK Trade Mark Attorney. With over 12 years of PQE experience, Kate has worked with a range of clients across the globe from SMEs to large blue-chip corporations providing advice on all aspects of contentious and non-contentious matters in the field of trademarks, designs, copyrights and domain names. Having worked in-house where her IP journey began, and in private practice in the UK, Australia and the UAE, Kate has a wealth of experience in IP, particularly trademarks, and her expertise includes advising on brand protection strategies, trademark clearance searching, filing and prosecuting applications, recording assignments and licenses, processing renewals, trademark watching, handling oppositions and cancellation actions, advising on infringement, drafting consent and negotiating settlement agreements.