Taher S. Helmy

Taher Helmy has been with the Firm for well over three decades. He is the Co-founder and senior counsel of the Egyptian Law Firm Helmy, Hamza & Partners - Member Firm of Baker & McKenzie International. He is a member of the Illinois and Chicago Bar Associations, is admitted before the Federal Court of the US and was the first Arab lawyer to be admitted before the US Supreme Court in 1979. He is admitted before Egypt’s Supreme Court and was admitted to practice in Saudi Arabia in 1979.

He joined the Global Firm of Baker McKenzie in May 1975. In 1981, he was elected full partner in Chicago. He practiced with Baker McKenzie’s head office in Chicago for approximately nine years, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for four years, in Egypt since 1987 and for the past six years between London and Cairo, handling corporate, banking and commercial matters. He co-founded the offices of Baker McKenzie in Riyadh and Cairo. He served as a member of the Strategic Planning Committee, the Global Policy Committee, the EMEA Regional Council of Baker McKenzie and the Gulf Offices Managing Body.

He participated in drafting and reviewing numerous Egyptian legislations as well as the US/Egyptian Investment Treaty. He served on the board of trustees of the Government’s Investment Authority and is a member of Egypt’s National Production Council.

He is the principal founder and past chairman of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies, the first independent, private, non-profit economic Think Tank in Egypt. He is the former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt and former member of the US/Egypt President’s Council. He is the former co-chairman of the US-Egypt Business Leaders Forum and founder and member of the executive board of Egypt’s International Economic Forum. He is a co-founder of the British Egyptian Businessmen Association and a member of the French Chamber of Commerce.

He is a founder and a member of the Board of Trustees of the British Egyptian Foundation for Children in Need. He served on the Board of the Binational Fulbright commission and also served on the board of the Washington based educational organization Amideast. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Nile University in Egypt. He is a founder of the American University in Cairo Legal Masters Program.

He has also served on the board of directors of a number of leading corporations within and outside Egypt. Over the years, he has authored many articles and given numerous seminars and speeches in the United States, Europe and the Middle East on doing business in the Middle East, and on legislative and economic development in Egypt and the region.