Experience

The work the firm is trusted with

For four decades, Mogadishu Law Office has been the counsel through which international business, capital and institutions operate in Somalia.

The firm runs the full range of a business-law practice: corporate and commercial work, banking and Islamic finance, regulatory and licensing, disputes and international arbitration, tax, employment, real estate, and the drafting of the legislation itself. It acts across all three jurisdictions of the Somali market, the Federal Republic of Somalia, Somaliland and Puntland, from eight offices, and in Somali, English, Arabic and Italian.

Its clients are the operators, institutions and governments building the modern Somali economy: satellite and connectivity providers laying the country’s digital infrastructure, port and airport concessionaires, energy majors, banks and payment networks, development-finance institutions and humanitarian organisations, and the federal ministries that write the law. More than 140 international and regional law firms instruct MLO as their Somali counsel, many of them repeatedly across years and successive mandates.

The through-line is difficulty. The firm is brought in when a matter turns on how Somali law actually works, how a regulator will act, where federal authority ends and a member state’s begins, whether a commitment binds the state, and when getting that wrong is expensive. What follows is a cross-section of that work, described so that the nature of each mandate is clear while the client remains confidential.

Clients

The organisations the firm acts for

A selection of the companies, institutions and international organisations MLO has advised. The engagements described below are anonymized; the firm never ties a named client to a specific matter without consent.

International Committee of the Red Cross

Featured engagements

Selected work, in depth

Six mandates that show how the firm works: the problem a client brought, what the firm actually did, and why it mattered, each described without identifying the client.

Technology and telecommunicationsMarket entry · Corporate · Regulatory · Tax

A global satellite broadband operator

Jurisdiction: Federal Somalia
Instruments: National Communications Act 2017 · Unified Licensing Framework · Companies Act 2019
Instructed: Directly by the operator

A low-earth-orbit satellite broadband operator preparing to bring commercial service to Somalia needed a compliant local presence and a licensing position that would hold as the country’s telecommunications framework continued to mature.

The firm incorporated the operator’s Somali subsidiary and settled its constitutional documents and governance, then advised on how the service is licensed under the National Communications Act 2017 and the Unified Licensing Framework, how its spectrum coexists with terrestrial networks, and whether national-roaming obligations apply. It mapped the full multi-jurisdictional tax position for a satellite distributor, from corporate income tax and progressive payroll tax to sales tax and import duties, and carried out due diligence on prospective local operating partners.

The statutory regime was not written with satellite deployments in mind. The firm identified where it did not map cleanly and proposed a reading the regulator could accept, so the operator could launch on a defensible licensing basis rather than a contested one.

Digital infrastructureRegulatory · Two jurisdictions

A global social media and connectivity company

Jurisdictions: Federal Somalia and a second Somali jurisdiction
Focus: Cable landing licences · lawful-interception obligations · infrastructure sharing

The company was landing a major international submarine cable on the Somali coast and needed the Somali-law component resolved across both the Federal Government and a second Somali jurisdiction, each with its own authorities and its own political considerations.

The firm advised on the licences required to land the cable and the authority signatures needed to obtain them, on the law-enforcement-assistance and lawful-interception obligations that attach to the infrastructure, including data interception, metadata retention, encryption and the penalties for non-compliance, and on carrier-neutral treatment, infrastructure sharing and the political-risk considerations specific to the second jurisdiction. Every question had to be answered twice and reconciled into a single position.

The advice was structured so that it would hold as subsidiary regulation under the National Communications Act 2017 continued to develop, giving a landmark connectivity project one reconciled reading across two legal orders rather than two competing ones.

Dispute resolutionCo-counsel · International arbitration

A sovereign government

Amount in dispute: Approximately €157 million
Seat: Europe
Contribution: Somali constitutional and administrative law

The firm acted as co-counsel to a sovereign government in an international commercial arbitration seated in Europe, with roughly 157 million euros in dispute under a public infrastructure contract.

Its contribution centred on Somali constitutional and administrative law: whether the contractual commitments in question were validly entered into given the approvals that state institutions are required to give, and what the consequences are when that process is not followed. The work combined close analysis of the domestic legal framework with the practical demands of an international arbitral proceeding.

It is the kind of mandate that turns on a point of Somali public law inside a forum that has no other way to reach it, which is precisely why international teams bring the firm onto the record.

Ports, maritime and concessionsConcessions · Corporate

A Gulf-based ports group

Jurisdiction: Federal Somalia
Instruments: Port concession agreement · Companies Act 2019 · Public Procurement Act 2015

A Gulf-based ports group taking on a major Somali port concession needed to know how to hold the concession in Somali law and how to keep the rest of the group insulated from it.

The firm advised on the company-establishment obligations under the concession agreement, including whether to operate through a branch or a separate legal entity, the applicable requirements of the Companies Act 2019, and how liability could be ring-fenced within the concession vehicle. Alongside the concession itself, it advised on the procurement framework for a separate major port project, confirming which part of the Public Procurement Act applied and the proper basis for sole-sourcing a matter of strategic national interest.

The result gave the group a defensible corporate structure for a long-term, capital-intensive concession, with the federal and state approval risks identified before commitment.

Banking, finance and Islamic financeRegulatory · Payments

A global payments network

Jurisdiction: Federal Somalia
Focus: Payments licensing · AML/CFT · data protection · consumer protection

A global payments network weighing how to bring a cross-border payment service to Somalia needed to understand what would, and would not, trigger local licensing, in a market where mobile money is central to how people transact.

The firm analysed the licensing and regulatory requirements for the proposed service and concluded that a physical presence would trigger licensing obligations while an offshore model would not. It advised across payment-systems regulation, anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing compliance, electronic transactions, data protection and retention, authentication, liability and consumer protection, grounded not only in how the rules are written but in how the Central Bank of Somalia actually applies them.

That distinction between the two operating models let the network choose its route into the market with the regulatory consequences understood in advance rather than discovered later.

AviationTax · Operations · Employment

An international flag-carrier airline

Jurisdiction: Federal Somalia
Focus: Double-taxation treaty relief · branch tax · cross-border employment

An international flag carrier operating a Somali branch was unable to secure the tax exemption it was entitled to under a bilateral double-taxation treaty, and the cost of the impasse was mounting.

The firm analysed the obstacles on both sides of the treaty, diagnosed the procedural deficiencies in each jurisdiction, and set out the diplomatic and legal steps needed to secure the exemption, reviewing the bilateral agreement, the Somali tax statutes and the branch’s filings. In parallel it advised the carrier on cross-jurisdiction employment-law questions, including the obligations that arose during the COVID-19 period.

The work turned a stalled treaty entitlement into a defined path to resolution, and kept the carrier’s operational, tax and employment positions aligned as it flew the route.

Experience by sector

The breadth of the record

Across the sectors that move the Somali economy, a cross-section of representative matters, each identified only by descriptor.

Technology, media and telecommunications

The firm is the Somali counsel of choice for the platforms and operators building the country’s digital infrastructure, from satellite and submarine-cable connectivity to app distribution and content delivery.

A global satellite broadband operator

Incorporated the Somali entity and advised on licensing, spectrum coexistence, national-roaming obligations and the full multi-jurisdictional tax position for a low-earth-orbit broadband service.

A global social media and connectivity company

Advised on landing a major submarine cable across two Somali jurisdictions, including licensing, authority signatures and the lawful-interception and data-retention obligations that attach to the infrastructure.

A global technology platform

Opined on whether app-store seller and buyer support, and a consumer VPN product, require local licensing, concluding that an offshore model does not, under the National Telecommunications Act.

A global content and short-video platform

Assessed the licensing obligations for establishing content-delivery points of presence in Somalia under the Unified Licensing Framework, and the cross-jurisdiction compliance that follows.

Ports, maritime and concessions

From port concessions and their corporate structuring to cargo and casualty disputes, the firm has acted at almost every major Somali port and for the operators, shippers and financiers that use them.

A Gulf-based ports group

Advised on company-establishment obligations under a major port concession, including branch versus entity, applicable company law and liability ring-fencing.

An international ports and logistics operator

Managed casualty, cargo-damage and operational-liability claims at a major regional port, negotiating structured settlements, including a claim of roughly US$490,000 over a damaged concrete pump, with full mutual releases and salvage-rights transfer.

A global container shipping line

Represented the line in a Mogadishu court dispute over cargo containers and bill-of-lading release, arguing legal standing under Somali maritime law across successive hearings.

The Federal Government, on a greenfield port

Structured a land transfer for greenfield port development that preserved the collective ownership and traditional rights of the indigenous community while enabling the project to proceed.

Aviation

The firm has taken carriers from first licensing through to full operational status, and has run the tax, treaty and liability questions that cross-border aviation raises in Somalia.

An international flag-carrier airline

Advised on securing double-taxation treaty relief for a Somali branch, diagnosing the procedural deficiencies on both sides and the steps to resolve them, alongside cross-border employment advice.

An international airline

Prepared the complete documentation for full operational status, including governmental licensing, corporate structure and double-taxation questions, and handled high-value civil-aviation liability claims.

An international aviation-services group

Advised on an administrative dispute with the transport ministry before the Supreme Court, moving the matter from contested judicial review toward a negotiated resolution.

Energy, oil and gas

In a sector defined by the federal-versus-state question, the firm treats the constitutional question as the commercial one, on the basis that a production-sharing agreement is only as secure as the authority that granted it.

An international oil and gas supermajor

Advised on the Petroleum Law, model production-sharing agreements and licensing rounds, with the recurring federalism question, which authority controls a given offshore right, at the centre of the work.

An Asian national oil company

Advised, through international counsel, on country entry for an upstream investment, covering the hierarchy of laws, production-sharing authority, revenue sharing, local establishment and environmental commitments.

An offshore petroleum licence holder

Established the framework for registering the entity and assigning a production-sharing agreement over named offshore blocks, specifying every required approval and document.

A renewable-energy developer

Structured build-operate-transfer and power-purchase arrangements for solar plants and mini-grids with state authorities, working around the absence of dedicated BOT legislation.

Banking, finance and Islamic finance

The firm documents finance so that it holds before a court and a scholar alike, and advises the banks, payment networks and development financiers connecting to a fully Islamic banking market.

A development finance institution

Reviewed and helped structure a Shari’ah-compliant Murabaha facility supporting a microfinance and MSME lending platform, documented to satisfy Somali banking legislation and Shari’ah at once.

A global payments network

Advised on whether a cross-border payment service triggers local licensing, concluding a physical presence does and an offshore model does not, with full AML/CFT and data-protection analysis.

A US development finance institution

Acted as local counsel on due diligence and the regulatory position for an equity investment in the vehicle holding a major port concession.

An international law firm, on tokenised securities

Analysed the treatment of blockchain-based representations of US securities under Somali law, including the AML/CFT, customer-due-diligence and licensing obligations that would apply.

Development, humanitarian and NGOs

A flagship book of work: the firm advises international humanitarian and development organisations on operating lawfully and safely across all three Somali jurisdictions at once.

An international humanitarian organisation

Built a unified employment template for resident staff that complies across the Federal, Somaliland and Puntland labour regimes by adopting the highest common standard for employee protections.

An international medical relief organisation

Advised on employment structuring and warned that a practice of directly paying seconded ministry staff risked constituting the organisation as their employer, with the liabilities that follow.

A multilateral development institution

Delivered assessments of the private health sector across the three regions and of the secured-transactions and credit-information framework, to inform its programmes.

A US-based relief organisation

Opined that Somalia had exclusive jurisdiction over a cross-border labour dispute and that a foreign choice-of-law clause was unenforceable against mandatory Somali protections.

Corporate, commercial and trade

Market entry, import and export, procurement and brand protection: the everyday questions that decide whether an international business can operate cleanly in Somalia, answered with the detail they require.

A US consumer-goods manufacturer

Answered a full market-entry and customs questionnaire on importing and selling its products, covering labelling, safety standards and the applicable import requirements.

A global visa-services provider

Analysed a proposed visa and consular-services contract with a federal ministry under the Public Procurement, Concessions and Disposal Act, including contracting method and compliance consequences.

An international gaming company

Filed and conducted a trademark opposition before the Somali IP Office, protecting the client’s mark against a conflicting application on grounds including bad faith.

A defence and logistics contractor

Structured intercompany services and tax arrangements for a US-government-supported operation, and secured the recognition and tax clearances its Somali entities required.

Government and public sector

The firm does not only apply Somali law, it helps write it, drafting the legislation and regulation that the market and the ministries then rely on.

A federal ministry, with a development institution

Drafted the subsidiary regulation operationalising the Companies Act 2019, including minority-shareholder protections, electronic registration and conversion rules, validated through public and private workshops in Mogadishu and Hargeisa.

International counsel, on procurement reform

Advised on the amendment of the Public Procurement Law, including procurement procedures, committee composition, approval thresholds and timelines.

A federal ministry consortium

Formed part of a consortium delivering integrated legal and regulatory reform, spanning company law, procurement and the broader statutory framework for reconstruction.

Confidentiality

Every engagement on this page is described in a way that preserves the confidentiality of the firm’s clients. The descriptor conveys the nature of the work without identifying the party, and the firm never implies a named client without consent. Where a prospective client needs to test relevant experience directly, the firm can speak to it in confidence.

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