Taylor Wessing has reclaimed its former Dubai office head from Pinsent Masons, seven years after he left the firm.

Osama Hassan, who is currently head of the Middle East region for Pinsents, is taking up the position of managing partner of Taylor Wessing's Dubai office.

He will be taking over the role from the current regional managing partner, Jerry Parks, who is staying on at the firm.

Longstanding Pinsents partner and board member, Catherine Workman, will take over the role from Hassan, the firm has confirmed. Workman has been at the firm since 2003, and works in the infrastructure practice in the firm's Dubai office.

Hassan previously headed up the Middle Eastern corporate practice for Taylor Wessing, departing in 2011 to join Canadian law firm Bennett Jones as senior partner in the Middle East. He subsequently joined Pinsents as its corporate head in 2015.

Speaking to Legal Week, global managing partner Shane Gleghorn described Hassan as "homegrown talent". He added: "Osama is a significant figure in the market, not just in Dubai but in the region as the whole."

A spokesperson for Pinsents said in a statement: "We can confirm that Osama will be leaving the firm and wish him all the best."

Taylor Wessing has made a number of strategic partner hires throughout October. Earlier in the month, the firm appointed Barbora Dubanská as its co-head of life sciences in the central and eastern European region.

The firm also hired Eversheds Sutherland partner Adrian Toutoungi as a partner in the firm's Cambridge office.