Middle East law firm Habib Al Mulla & Company has recruited a senior business manager from Clifford Chance (CC) as its new chief executive officer.

The UAE firm has hired CC's Italy general manager Rob Morris, who is also the magic circle firm's global head of procurement. He will join Habib Al Mulla next week (19 September), relocating from CC's Milan arm to the Middle East.

The hire marks the first chief executive appointment for the 50-lawyer firm, which said the move had come as part of an effort to instate a more formal law firm structure after significant expansion and the addition of a number of new clients.

The firm's international client roster includes 
HSBC, AXA Insurance, RSA and UTC as well as a range of major Middle Eastern clients such as the UAE Ministry of Interiors and the Dubai Real Estate Corporation.

Commenting on the hire, chairman and founding partner Habib Al Mulla (pictured) said: "We took this decision as we have now reached a size where we need a proper structure and we need international expertise to put these new policies in place and supervise the implementation.

"We have been in growth mode, but are now focusing on adapting a best practice structure and we believe that Rob Morris' experience from a major international law firm will help us do this. In addition, he comes from a jurisdiction – Italy – which has seen some of the same challenges and issues that the UAE is now facing."

Habib Al Mulla, which launched 28 years ago, has offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Other senior positions the firm is currently looking to fill include a head of corporate as well as a head of international arbitration.