MAISA ALSAIDI

Maisa is the Founder and Managing Partner of Equest Law, the first law firm in the Middle East specializing in sports, media, and entertainment. She has advised on major media productions,  acquisition and distribution deals, representing a leading media fund in KSA and other companies across the region.

Her career spans more than 15 years in senior legal roles in the UAE and KSA, including serving as General Counsel to Arab Media Group and Alif Alif TV, as well as senior legal positions at MBC Group. With this extensive experience, Maisa decided to establish her own firm dedicated to sports, media, and entertainment law.

Maisa is also the Founder and Managing Partner of Equine Legal Consultancy, the first firm in the Middle East specializing in legal services for equestrians, professionals, and businesses in the equine industry. She represented a large number of national and international show jumping athletes in a major appeal before the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) Tribunal, and has also acted on behalf of more than 70 equestrians in the UAE in a case brought to the FEI President addressing one of the most challenging equestrian disputes in the region.

In the corporate sector, Maisa has advised numerous clients on restructuring, mergers, and acquisitions. Notably, she advised on the joint venture between AquaChemie DMCC and Kurita Europe GmbH, resulting in the creation of a new entity to serve the GCC specialty chemical market, valued at over USD 350 million.

Maisa also founded and managed iRights, an initiative to establish the first music rights association in the Middle East. iRights provides consultancy and legal advice to companies and individuals in the media sector and represents global music rightsholders whose works are publicly performed in the UAE.

Prior to founding iRights, Maisa served as General Counsel of Alif Alif Media Group, a Saudi media company owned by His Royal Highness Prince Khalid Al Faisal. The group operates TV, radio, production, and print media, focusing on Saudi affairs, heritage, and modern development. In addition to her role as General Counsel, Maisa was a member of the management team and worked closely with other business units.

Earlier in her career, Maisa served as Director of Legal Affairs at Arab Media Group (AMG), where she was also a member of the steering committee. She advised on all corporate and media-related legal matters and led several transactions. Before AMG, she worked as in-house counsel at MBC Group, one of the largest media companies in the Middle East, and as a legal consultant with Afridi & Angell, a leading law firm in the UAE.

Experience Highlights

• Advising on media production, acquisition and distribution arrangements ng 

• Advising on sports-related matters including dispute resolution, mediation, and disciplinary issues.

• Representing athletes before local and international federations and sports governing bodies.

• Advising national sports federations on regulatory matters.

• Negotiating sports-related agreements, including event organization, sponsorship, athlete and team management, venue leases, agency, franchise, and broadcast/streaming rights.

• Drafting, advising, and negotiating media-related deals such as program acquisitions, production, commissioning, co-production, format licensing, merchandising, and new media agreements.

• Preparing and negotiating music-related deals, including music acquisition, rights buyouts, artist management, and service agreements.

• Advising on commercial deals such as sale and purchase agreements, franchise agreements, and barter arrangements.

• Drafting and advising on IT agreements, including service level agreements, software licensing, and hardware/software purchase agreements.

• Managing IP-related matters for iRights clients, including trademarks, patents, trade secrets, and copyrights.

• Providing corporate consultancy on joint ventures, shareholders’ agreements, acquisitions, and corporate restructuring.

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EDUCATION

• LLB in Law, University of Jordan

• Member of the Jordanian Bar Association 

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LANGUAGES

Arabic, English and French.