Law Firm Highlights – Dec 2022

• Lex Mundi has announced the admission of Said Al Shahry & Partners (SASLO). The firm’s admission to the network as the exclusive member firm for Oman was effective as of 1 November 2022. Established in 1992 by Said Al Shahry, SASLO is a full-service law firm based in Muscat, Oman, and was one of the first legal firms to be established in the Sultanate of Oman. The firm has grown to become a leading, globally recognised, Omani law firm – connecting its “on-the-ground” legal expertise to international markets. With the firm’s strong local roots and a deep understanding of Omani law and practice, it is able to advise both local and international clients. For three decades the firm has been a leader and influencer in the Omani legal market. Priding itself on being a friendly and inclusive multi-cultural, multi-national organisation, the firm’s lawyers and staff are drawn from many different jurisdictions around the world. In 2008, the SASLO Legal Training Centre (SLTC) was founded by Said Al Shahry to provide legal training and continuing education in Oman. Over the years, SLTC has trained more than 7000 professionals from both the public and private sector in support of its mission to develop the legal profession in Oman. The firm has expanded beyond Muscat through branch offices in Salalah and Sohar – the two major industrial centres in Oman. Said Al Shahry, founder and managing partner of SASLO said, “We are honored to join Lex Mundi. Our membership is another milestone in the growth of SASLO as a leading Omani law firm and will bring significant benefits to both our lawyers and clients.” President & CEO of Lex Mundi Helena Samaha said, “The exciting addition of Said Al Shahry & Partners to Lex Mundi is of great importance to the network. As one of the top firms in Oman, SASLO will greatly enhance the strength of our network in the Middle East, a key market for global business.”

• Norton Rose Fulbright announced today that Scott Atkins, the firm’s Australia chair, will become the firm’s global chair effective January 1, 2023. In this leadership role, Atkins will help to drive the execution and achievement of the global firm’s strategy and efforts to maintain consistently excellent client service around the world. The firm’s global chair role is an annual appointment. Scott follows London partner Farmida Bi, CBE, who will continue as the firm’s EMEA chair. Along with this global chair role, Scott will continue as chair of the firm in Australia, as well as global co-head of the restructuring team and the Australian head of risk advisory. Gerry Pecht, Norton Rose Fulbright’s global chief executive, said, “Scott is a true firm citizen who never stops prioritising what is best for our clients and our people. His impressive history of leadership roles and experience advising business and governments on international matters will be a tremendous support to our global leadership team. I would also like to sincerely thank Farmida for her incredible and selfless contributions as global chair over the past year.” Atkins, who is based in the firm’s Sydney office, said, “I am honored and humbled to serve in this global role. My focus will be to support the firm’s leadership to implement our strategy; support our clients as they pursue new frontiers, such as the burgeoning commercial space industry; and above all, to continue to deliver our exceptional standards of client service. Norton Rose Fulbright has tremendous potential leading into 2023, and I look forward to helping the firm seize market opportunities for the benefit of our clients.” Atkins will draw on his decades of experience leading international organisations and teams, as well as advising on significant cross-border matters involving complex restructurings, risk management and the design and implementation of new legal frameworks and reconstruction projects in emerging economies. Across his near-three decades as a lawyer, Atkins has become an internationally acclaimed and recognised industry leader in restructuring, regulatory and risk advisory work. His deep industry knowledge and experience allow him to help shape the global policy and regulatory agenda and act on some of the most high-profile matters in the world. He also has a strong focus on developing the firm’s space sector. Atkins is also the president and an inaugural fellow of INSOL International, the globally leading professional association of restructuring professionals; chair of INSOL’s Asian Advisory Council; a member of the International Insolvency Institute; fellow of the Australian Academy of Law; and immediate past president of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association. In his career, Atkins has cultivated a deep commitment to capacity building initiatives in emerging markets and developing economies. In Myanmar, he led a team, working alongside the Asian Development Bank and the Union Supreme Court of Myanmar, which drafted a new restructuring and business rescue framework, culminating in the passage of Myanmar’s Insolvency Law in February 2020. This work was transformative in Myanmar’s modernisation process, and the legislation now serves as the best practice model for other nations: a focus of Atkins’ upcoming December address at the United Nations in Vienna. This pioneering work has also led to similar advisory engagements in Armenia and Bhutan.

• HFW’s Jeremy Shebson has been re-elected to serve a second four-year term as managing partner of the global, sector-focused law firm, effective April 1, 2023. He will continue to work alongside HFW’s global senior partner, Giles Kavanagh, and the rest of the board to manage the strategy and operations of the firm, which comprises more than 1,100 people across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, and which provides a wide range of legal and consulting services to the aerospace, commodities, construction, insurance, and shipping sectors. Jeremy Shebson, managing partner, HFW, “I am very proud to have been re-elected by the partners, and would like to thank them – and everyone at HFW – for their continued trust and support. This is an exciting time for HFW – having invested significantly in expanding internationally and broadening our practices, we now have outstanding lawyers and business services professionals across five continents, and we are seeing that clients increasingly value the fact that, as a sector-focused law firm, we understand their business and their industry, as well as the law. We are now seeking to really ramp things up across our sectors, services, and global network, and will continue to actively target partners, teams and bolt-ons that align with our strategy and that can deliver sustainable, profitable growth. The legal market is more competitive than ever before, but I truly believe in HFW, our clients, and our people, and I’m looking forward to working with Giles, the Board and everyone at HFW to achieve our goal of being the world’s leading sector-focused law firm.” Shebson’s re-election comes amid a period of sustained international expansion for HFW, with its two most recent financial years being the best in the firm’s 140-year history.

• Al Tamimi & Company has relocated to new premises in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), as part of their KSA growth plans. The move will see the firm’s team in Al Khobar shift to a bigger office space in order to accommodate their growing team. The office in Abdulhadi Al Hugayet Tower is located in the busy commercial centre in the city of Al Khobar. The growth of the firm’s team in Al Khobar shows its continued commitment to The Kingdom and is testament to a buoyant KSA market. Commenting on the move, Samer Qudah, managing partner, Al Tamimi & Company said, “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is vital to our growth plans. This move not only reinforces our ambition to be a regional leader, but it reaffirms our commitment to investing in the Kingdom and playing our role in supporting the Saudi Vision 2030. We want to ensure a first-class experience for our clients and colleagues across all the jurisdictions where we have offices, and this includes securing office space in the best office buildings. Along with this is the ESG standards we set for the firm, and this move will allow the firm to improve its environmental footprint and achieve its sustainability objectives in Al Khobar as well attract a more diverse workforce.” Commenting on the move Grahame Nelson, partner and head of office – Al Khobar and the head of Al Tamimi & Company’s Energy and Resources Sector, said, “Building on the establishment of offices in Riyadh and Jeddah, we opened our office in Al Khobar in 2016. This was both a case of trade following the flag and the flag following trade. We already had a substantial client base in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and we were keen to have a visible on-the-ground presence to better serve those clients. At the same time, we saw the move as strategically important as it enabled us to develop our mainstream corporate and litigation practices as well as new practice areas in Saudi Arabia’s energy and industrial heartland. Since its opening, our Al Khobar office has expanded rapidly in step with the Government’s Vision 2030 social and economic programmes. However, it had been clear to us for some time that we were outgrowing the physical confines of our previous Al Khobar offices and that we needed to move to larger premises. The office move will also support our ambition to attract the up-and-coming legal talent in the country as well as our ambition to continue to provide training to young Saudi lawyers. With the space we have created, we will be able to realise this ambition.”