Having grown up in Lebanon, Bassel joined Rouse in 2006 as a paralegal. Since this time, he has progressed through the ranks, becoming an executive, the firm's equivalent of partner, in 2016 and has been deputy country manager since late 2017.

Bassel has led Rouse’s MENA Dispute Resolution team for several years and manages the IP portfolios of multinational clients across the Middle East and North Africa, as well as regional clients worldwide.  Bassel has acted in his career on many cases that have established new principles relating to intellectual property issues and is regularly recognised as one of the leading IP practitioners in the region.  He also advises on the potential legal and cultural risks associated with Arabic language marketing and advertising across the MENA region. 

Bassel will head the most comprehensive team of partner-level intellectual property specialists in the UAE, continuing the firm’s long-term commitment to the region following several consecutive years of growth.  Samantha Grainger (Head of Trade Marks) and Manisha Sawhney (Head of Finance) were made up as Rouse executives in 2017,  and longstanding executive, Sara Holder continues her leadership of Rouse’s global patent, innovation and IP strategy offering and overall strategic management of the firm’s services in the Middle East and Africa region from the UAE office.

The current UAE Country Manager, Chad Dowle, will continue to be actively involved in Rouse’s MENA practice as he takes on new responsibility for developing the firm’s global marketing, advertising and digital proposition and IP consultancy offering.

Chad Dowle, Rouse’s current country manager for the United Arab Emirates, commented:

“Having worked with Bassel for nearly 10 years, I am delighted to be passing on the role of UAE country manager to him. Bassel’s appointment is a further demonstration of  the firm’s proud history of developing talent internally to ensure clients receive the sort of consistent, high level service they expect from all Rouse offices. In Bassel’s case, we are doubly pleased that we are one of the few global firms in the UAE that is able to combine truly international standards of service with the nuanced understanding that comes from growing up in the region.”