Rindala Beydoun was born and raised in Sidon, Lebanon, about 25 miles south of Beirut, but at the age of 17 she left for the U.S., where she attended the University of Michigan, then Duke University Law School. In 2000 she packed her bags to head back east, this time for Dubai, where she went to work for the large local law firm Al Tamimi & Co. She’s been in the booming, oil-rich emirate ever since.

From Al Tamimi, Beydoun went in-house at MasterCard before moving to Vinson & Elkins as senior counsel. She made partner at V&E, and after five years with the Texas firm she left this February to serve as the managing partner of the new Latham Dubai office. Latham opened shop in Dubai relatively late in the game compared to its peers at the top of the Am Law 100, but the Los Angeles-headquartered firm made up for it by announcing three new Gulf offices — in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha — in one fell swoop this February.

Beydoun specializes in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, with an emphasis on energy matters. She served as the executive vice president and a board member of the American Business Council in Dubai from 2002 to 2005, and is a founding member of the Executive Women Group in the United Arab Emirates.