Reed Smith looks to boost UAE government work with Abu Dhabi GC hire
Reed Smith has hired Emirati partner and former general counsel at the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) Maher Al Mannaee, as it looks to increase the number of government mandate wins. Corporate and projects specialist Al Mannaee joined the firm's Abu Dhabi office last month, bolstering the number of partners in that office to six.
March 06, 2014 at 12:06 AM
3 minute read
Reed Smith has hired Emirati partner and former general counsel at the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) Maher Al Mannaee, as it looks to increase the number of government mandate wins.
Corporate and projects specialist Al Mannaee joined the firm's Abu Dhabi office last month, bolstering the number of partners in that office to six.
The firm recruited its first Emirati partner in Dubai in 2007, construction giant Dubai World's general counsel Sahia Ahmad, who later left the firm to take another GC role at Emirates Investment Authority (EIA).
Ex-Allen & Overy lawyer Ahmad is understood to be the first UAE national to become a member of the UK bar, as well as the first UAE woman to become a partner in an international law firm and the first to hold a general counsel role in government.
Since her departure, the firm has been keen to hire another Emirati in the hopes of boosting deals from government in view of a strong pipeline of state-investments in energy and infrastructure projects.
Maher, who also worked at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi as legal counsel and at Standard Chartered bank in both Singapore and Dubai, has strong government relationships and experience working on cross-border M&A, projects and strategic investments and financings at major institutes in the UAE.
Vince Gordon, partner and head of the firm's Middle East offices, said: "We now have a very senior Emirati in our practice, and that's something that's been a goal for us to achieve in recent times. [We wanted] someone with a good understanding of government here.
"We're looking at adding another two partners this year. That's our growth plan at the moment. We'd like one contentious partner and one non-contentious, corporate or finance partner. We would be very interested in getting one more Emirati partner in the region, as we continue to develop our relationship with the government."
"In terms of new client wins we have already received a number of opportunities that we wouldn't have received through Maher, and we're currently being engaged on a significant project in the defence sector."
Reed Smith currently has seven partners located across two Middle East offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, from which it services Saudi Arabia and Africa.
The firm has no plans to open new offices in the region, but has been looking to expand its corporate practice in the Middle East and globally in the last year.
In the past 12 months it has appointed ten new partners to its transactional practices across EMEA, including three new corporate partners in the last month: Paris lawyer Isabelle MacElhone and Kazakhstan based partners Vladimir Schuster and Arman Tastanbekov.
It's recently-opened Kazakhstan office is also the latest in a round of new openings, which included bases in Houston and Singapore.
Related: Reed Smith picks up Travers leveraged finance partner as Phillip Slater steps down
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