Simon Perhar

Of Counsel

Dubai

Simon Perhar, Of Counsel at BSA LAW, is a senior commercial barrister with over 28 years of advocacy and advisory experience across the United Kingdom, the Middle East, North Africa and offshore jurisdictions. With more than two decades in London’s High Court commercial practice, he is dual-qualified and now practises before the DIFC Courts and ADGM as Senior Counsel within BSA LAW’s highly esteemed Dispute Resolution Group, which has a strong focus on offshore and arbitration matters.

A specialist in digital-asset and blockchain disputes, Simon advises and represents clients on matters involving Bitcoin mining contracts, hash-rate misappropriation, crypto-treasury management, token misrepresentation and exchange collapses, as well as compliance under DFSA and VARA regulation. His cross-disciplinary expertise in finance, technology and law enables him to address the full spectrum of issues arising from digital-asset transactions and enforcement across the GCC.

Building on his Legal 500-recognised expertise in data protection and intellectual property, Simon applies this background to the digital and financial sectors, where privacy, IP and asset-ownership rights intersect with contractual and banking obligations. He advises on disputes involving proprietary trading algorithms, smart-contract code, blockchain-stored data and confidential information, together with the application of the DIFC Data Protection Law No. 5 of 2020 to decentralised systems.

Simon acts in high-value commercial, contractual and financial disputes, including shareholder and investment litigation, joint-venture breakdowns, loan-facility enforcement, insolvency and recovery proceedings, regulatory investigations and asset-tracing. He is known for leveraging the DIFC Courts’ international commercial framework to secure rapid and effective outcomes in complex, multi-jurisdictional matters.

Simon is recognised for his analytical clarity, persuasive courtroom advocacy and strategic foresight. His clients include government entities, financial institutions, family offices and corporate groups engaged in complex commercial, banking and digital-asset litigation across the Middle East and Europe.

A regular lecturer at the DIFC Academy, Simon combines English-law rigour with the DIFC’s transnational, UNIDROIT-influenced commercial framework to deliver practical, commercially focused outcomes in complex international disputes.

SERVICES

Arbitration & ADR
Commercial
DIFC/ADGM Litigation
Intellectual Property
Litigation

INDUSTRY

Cyber Security & Data Protection
Financial Institutions
FinTech & Digital Currencies

HUBS

Family Business
Start-Ups

Acted for an international corporate group in securing a US$350 million DIFC freezing injunction and proprietary relief in a shareholder and insolvency dispute.
Represented a minority shareholder in a private equity-backed joint venture before the DIFC Courts, achieving a strategic settlement following a £120 million unfair prejudice action.
Advised on a US$200 million crypto-asset fraud and recovery claim to determine control of digital assets and enforcement across the UAE, EU and US.
Acting against an investment fund in the DIFC for losses attributable to breaches of DFSA regulatory duties (Regulatory).
Provided expert opinion before the Arbitrazh Court of St Petersburg in UK Unicredit Bank GmbH (UKSC 2024/0015).
Acting for a global crypto-mining company in contractual disputes involving hash-rate diversion and overcharging of electricity and local taxes.
Acting in a claim against a bank for breaches of Quincecare duties.