Speaker profile

Tara Marlow

Partner, Head of Real Estate, Hotels & Leisure
Al Tamimi & Company

Tara Marlow heads the Real Estate and Hotels & Leisure practices at Al Tamimi & Company, the largest law firm in the Middle East. With over 20 years’ experience (including 15 years in the Middle East region), she is recognised for her specialism in all aspects of hospitality, real estate and development related matters. Tara is regularly published in hotel industry and legal journals and is a speaker at hotel industry and real estate development seminars and conferences throughout the Middle East region.

Bringing her combined hotel industry and real estate development skills and experience, she provides solution orientated advice to owners, operators, property developers, financial institutions and investors on all areas of commercial real estate and development. She has worked on some of the region’s highest profile transactions, mixed-used and resort developments and joint ventures, as well as advising and representing her clients on numerous hotel and serviced apartment management agreements, including rental pool structuring. Tara is well respected by her peers and clients for her ability to negotiate her way through complex management contracts whilst maintaining a grasp of the bigger picture and commercial parameters.

Tara qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales in 2000, working with a well-known international law firm before moving to the Middle East in 2004 to join Al Tamimi & Company. In the Middle East, she also had the opportunity to gain valuable hotel industry experience in her role as Vice President, Legal within the hotel development and asset management arm of a large Dubai based development company, advising on the acquisition, development, operation and asset management of a hotel portfolio spread across the MENA region comprising approximately 3,500 operational rooms, together with a number of hotel projects at various stages of development.