HFW continues to grow its construction practice

Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) continues to expand its construction practice with the recruitment of Beau McLaren who has joined as a partner in Dubai and Ben Mellors who has joined as a partner in London.

Beau McLaren, who joins from Dentons, has worked in the Middle East for over 10 years. He is based out of the firm’s Dubai office and heads up our Construction and Construction Disputes practice in the Middle East.

McLaren has over 10 years’ experience in the Middle East and has been based permanently in the UAE since 2007. During this time, he has advised on a range of construction projects and commercial disputes in the Gulf region and further afield.

McLaren represents and advises parties at every level of the supply chain, from procurement through to contract management, and has significant experience of a wide variety of project contractual arrangements across a number of types of projects.

In addition to his front-end work, McLaren also advises clients on bringing and defending claims arising out of construction projects, which are often both complex and high-value. He has experience of all common forms of dispute resolution, such as mediation, dispute adjudication and court litigation, but has a particular focus on construction-related arbitration. He regularly represents his clients in international and domestic arbitration proceedings and has extensive experience of proceedings under most institutional rules, including the DIAC, DIFC-LCIA, ICC and LCIA rules, as well as proceedings under the UNCITRAL rules and ad hoc proceedings. Beau also sits as an arbitrator and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Prior to 2007, Beau was based in London, where he advised on several infrastructure projects in England, including PFI/PPP schemes and a variety of other construction projects. McLaren is qualified in England and Wales.