New corporate regional head for DLA Piper

DLA Piper has appointed leading corporate and M&A lawyer, Ben Gillespie, as head of corporate for the Middle East.

Gillespie joins the firm's Dubai office as a partner, effective January 1, 2016. He specialises in regional and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and private equity investments across a wide range of sectors.

Having worked in the Middle East for ten years, most recently as a partner for Addleshaw Goddard and prior to that, Clyde & Co, Gillespie has an established reputation advising multinational corporations, private equity firms, regional heavyweights and family offices on a wide variety of corporate transactions.

Commenting on the appointment, Regional Managing Partner, Peter Somekh, said, "We're pleased that Ben has joined us. His appointment supports our ambitions to grow our corporate and transactional offering across the GCC. Ben's extensive experience advising local and international clients on high value, complex deals throughout the region adds to our existing capability, providing us with specialist M&A and private equity expertise that can be leveraged across our nine GCC offices for the benefit of our clients."

Ben Gillespie said of his appointment: "I am delighted to join the DLA Piper team. The firm offers clients an exceptional regional platform and has a clear strategic focus on building its corporate transactional capability in the Middle East and beyond. It is a law firm with significant momentum, and growth, with it's clear commitment and investment in the Middle East region a real draw for me and something that I look forward to contributing to."