Saarah Badr

Through working in-house in the media & entertainment industry for many years, I bring extensive regional knowledge, coupled with a practical and commercial approach.

I am Senior Counsel in our International Commercial Group, based in the Middle East, with over sixteen years of media & entertainment, regulatory, gaming, intellectual property and commercial experience.

I have gained unique expertise and perspective through several senior regional in-house roles; leading the regulatory team of an Abu Dhabi government media authority, serving as Companies Registrar for a free zone and overseeing the commercial legal and compliance work for a regional pay-TV platform.

As I have been embedded in both a regulator and a commercial business, I am able to advise clients from both viewpoints, providing practical and realistic risk assessments, commercial legal advice and workable solutions. During my five year tenure as Companies Registrar, I oversaw regulatory compliance for the free zone and have a hands-on understanding of new UAE regulatory regimes such as anti-money laundering, media, virtual assets and economic substance. I am an expert in policy development and regulatory drafting, having developed and implemented numerous policies and procedures, and drafted regulations, codes and guidelines.

I draw on my expertise to offer advice on all aspects of the content value chain, from content development and talent agreements to distribution and carriage deals, from production services agreements to rebate applications and from script approvals to content compliance. I have also worked closely with gaming companies on a wide range of business matters from funding deals to in-game tokenisation and from content regulation to potential gambling aspects.

I am an England & Wales qualified solicitor and hold a Master's from King's College London in UK, EU and US Copyright Law.