The ebullient GFH Capital general counsel speaks to Alex Newman about buying Leeds United, his unorthodox legal career and lofty political ambitions

When David Haigh recounts his first meeting with Ken Bates the anecdote reveals as much about himself as it does about the famously combative ex-chairman of Leeds United Football Club.

"He had his leaving event recently and I was reminding him about the first time we met in Monaco," recalls Haigh, whose Dubai-based GFH Capital bought the club from Bates at the end of last year. "His first question to me, in a rather gruff voice, was 'how old are you?' – to which the answer was about a third of his age."

The comments are typical of the chipper self-confidence exuded by 35-year-old Haigh, the Islamic private equity group's general counsel and deputy chief executive  – and now managing director of Leeds United, with responsibility for the daily running of the club.

An active member of the Conservative Party, promoting the cause among expats in the Middle East, he also says he is considering running for Parliament and would like to be a Government minister. 

In a quirk of history, Haigh is the second high-profile lawyer to take the reins from Bates at a football club. The first was Bruce Buck, European managing partner of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, who became chairman of Chelsea after Bates sold it to Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire.

But while the patrician Buck has followed a fairly direct path to the upper echelons of his profession, Haigh's globe-trotting career – from London to Dubai and Leeds via the Caribbean – has been anything but straightforward.

Speaking with Legal Week, Haigh is eager to build a positive public profile after the Leeds takeover – the first Shariah-compliant acquisition of a major English football club – which is understandable when you consider the scrutiny that foreign owners have come under in recent years.

Though keen to press his credentials as a lifelong Leeds fan, Haigh grew up in Cornwall, penning a column for the local paper from the age of 13. On graduation, he says he turned down the offer of a training contract from a magic circle firm – a decision that left his parents "aghast" – and opted instead to join Fairmays, a West End firm focused on private clients.

One of the swing factors for Haigh was Fairmays' Bahrain office "at a time when no one else knew where Bahrain was". 

"I could see that the Middle East was going to be a boom area for business, partly down to the export of British legal services and banking," he says, neatly vindicating his later path to the UAE, where he has spent most of his time recently as head lawyer for GFH.

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After a stint at Thomas Eggar, where Haigh says he self-trained as a funds lawyer, he was encouraged by the firm's partners to move to the British Virgin Islands, where he worked at financial services company Citco.

"I did lots of interesting legal work there, and it was a fantastic place to live, but after a while, the Caribbean becomes a place where you've done everything you need to do," he says. Though another Citco role in the Cayman Islands beckoned, Haigh says he surprised his friends by abandoning the "fantastic tax-free lifestyle" and moving to London. 

After several in-house roles, including one at Barclays, he founded a team at DLA Piper in Dubai and later moved to Akin Gump. One of a large number of lawyers who moved to the Middle East in the early 2000s, Haigh paints a picture of a difficult period for the region's legal services.

"Expansion in the region at the time was epitomised by the trend of law firms to over-hire, become over-reliant on some clients, and then end up firing people left, right and centre when the market was saturated," he says. "These firms were getting so desperate to win work they were putting out crazy rates. It was like the Wild West of the legal world, and it was really damaging the industry and setting clients' expectations incorrectly."

Haigh says the experience has been useful in his current role. "Even now we discuss due diligence and you can still see the scars of the bad legal management, which is only just being corrected through firms downsizing, pulling out or consolidating with local law firms."

Haigh's strategy for mitigating risks is to stick to tried and tested law firms. GFH most frequently turns to Gibson Dunn & Crutcher for external advice, as it did for large parts of the Leeds United acquisition, alongside Thomas Eggar, Walker Morris and Addleshaw Goddard on corporate and real estate matters, and PSB Law for media work.

"Latham & Watkins also does some work for us, as does Vinson & Elkins and Hogan Lovells," says Haigh. "We don't have a panel arrangement unless we are tendering for a specific large piece of work. For much of the smaller work, we essentially use the firms as in-house lawyers," in addition to four lawyers in GFH Capital's team, including a secondee from Gibson Dunn, and the larger legal team based at parent company Gulf Finance House, an Islamic bank.

Haigh's efforts have been recognised, with a nomination for general counsel of the year at Legal Week's Corporate Counsel Middle East Awards.

The group that later became GFH Capital was first set up in 2002 as the first Islamic technology investment fund in the Middle East, co-founded by Gulf Finance House, Dubai Islamic Bank and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector. In 2005, it was rebranded as GFH Capital. It raises money through investment formation, as well as managing its own money and that of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals across the Middle East and North Africa.

"Traditionally our focus was technology, financial institutions, healthcare and real estate. We've looked at the finance side and real estate projects in places like Morocco, India and Qatar," he says. "Have we invested in pure sports like football before? No. We want to invest in more – there are so many other potential follow-ons in Leeds, which will really increase development in the city and elsewhere."

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The acquisition also threw up interesting legal questions. As a publicly listed Islamic investment bank, GFH had to make sure the deal was Shariah compliant, including removing a gambling machine from the club lobby, and removing preference shares in the club, forbidden under Islamic finance law.

"In overseeing the running of the club and making changes, the impact you see yourself making is fantastic. We reduced season ticket prices and immediately set about re-engaging the community and fans, and getting Elland Road back towards full capacity. Whether you're a businessman or you're a fan, you want to return the club to the Premier League; the goal is to get us there."

Besides business and the law, Haigh – who clearly does not lack drive – also fronts several charitable causes, as well as an initiative to help British expats in the Middle East vote in the UK.

And while he describes his Tory activism as political "with a small 'p' ", he harbours ambitions for office. "Am I planning to run for a seat in 2015?" he asks."Not at the moment, but you can never say no. Is it a long-term aim to be in Government? Yes."

Given his rise from offshore lawyer to the man charged with reviving Leeds United, you would not bet against him.