2000 Admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England

Focus on Damac’s international development with a particular focus on acquisitions in Asia.

As one of four members of senior management, I played a pivotal role in:- cleaning up the bank’s debt-ridden balance sheet- reducing operating costs and correcting cash flow mismatches by selling off cash depleting assets- identifying and implementing improved control of cash to reduce the risk of erroneous payments and improving corporate governance.Working closely with the bank’s CEO, Head of Investments and Head of Financial Control significant achievements included:- successful exits from non-core and illiquid investments including a $31M exit from a cash burning US real estate development saving the bank net annual operating costs of $6M, significantly improving liquidity and reducing the bank’s debt burden.- defending the bank against several cases for amounting $6.8M, a £886K claim, a legal case for a write back of an $11.8M provision and securing a $1.7M settlement significantly- restructuring to buyout the existing management and thereby reduce management cost by $725K annually - advised on the implementation of cost reduction and cost rationalization policies resulting in payroll being reduced by up to 70%, staff benefits being overhauled and all non-critical marketing, legal and administrative expenses being eliminated as well as non-core support functions being outsourced- implementing best practice in terms of corporate governance by among others ensuring that all directors have written service contracts and ensuring that open and transparent lines of communication exist with all the bank’s regulators and stakeholders- helping to de-leveraging the balance sheet by negotiating debt write off and early repayments in excess of $14.5M as well as stabilizing the bank’s liquidity position by negotiating shareholder loans and credit support and the conversion of related party client fees to debt- advising on strategies to mitigate risks in bank’s operations including refinancing and revenue generation strategies

I moved to the GCC region to better service clients; having done my first deal in Bahrain in 2005 and moved on to do deals in the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. This became a crucial factor for me to be elected for the partnership of Trowers in 2009; although its based in Dubai.Key clients were Waha Capital and Addax Bank

- Building up the firm’s international cross border project- Acquisition of finance- Energy related businesses in Europe and the Middle East.Key client’s included a major private equity firm with key assets in Russia and innovative deals included advising on a complex Islamic finance structure which was a first for a Sharia-compliant financing provided direct by a UK bank for a management buyout of a Scottish oil servicing company.

Key member of V&E's worldwide Project Finance and Development Practice Group.Highlights:- Working with Hudson Advisors / Lone Star out of both London and Frankfurt on a number of deals involving financing the purchase of portfolios of non-performing loans from German banks.- Developed in-depth knowledge of how the business of Hudson Advisors / Lone Star works.- Gained excellent experience in a senior role representing both borrowers and lenders in international cross border finance transactions (including project, acquisition and property finance as well as capital markets transactions in the U.K., Europe, the Americas and Africa).- Spent a considerable amount of time in France and Germany working on projects for Hg Capital’s renewable fund.- Responsible for managing and supervising junior lawyers, trainees and para legal support staff in a wide variety of different roles.

- Built international finance and corporate experience at White & Case by moving to UK magic circle firm Allen & Overy.- Gained invaluable experience of the workings of a civil law jurisdiction plus vast technical knowledge and thrived on coordinating complex legal advice often across more than a dozen different jurisdictions.

- Developed a passion for international work in which I gained a formidable reputation as a lawyer capable of dealing with complex legal issues on a variety of different deals.- Often managed lawyers from offices in other jurisdictions and deal with complex issues in order to close deals under a very tight time frame.