In-house spotlight: Business as usual
ALB speaks to Citi’s country legal counsel for the Middle East, Tarek Mogharbel
Slashed budgets for external legal spend, shrinking legal departments and calls to handle more work in-house are pressures that are common to most, if not all in-house lawyers across the region over the last 12 months. For corporate counsel in the Middle East however, these age-old issues have been exacerbated by the two themes somewhat unique to the region: the very real possibility of economic and regulatory uncertainty.
But as Citi’s country legal counsel for the United Arab Emirates, Tarek Mogharbel told ALB, while the last 18 months have presented a stern test to the region’s growing cache of in-house lawyers, they have also been some of the most exciting of their careers. “We can see changes occurring before our eyes and mostly these are changes for the better,” he said. “In this regard, it has been a very exciting experience and many have been forced to ride a very steep learning curve.”
It has also been one of the busiest times, especially for those in the banking & finance industry, and Citi is no exception. The fact that the bank has one of the most diversified offerings of any international financial institutions in the Gulf has helped Mogharbel and his team work through the crisis.
“The UAE is big business for Citi and we have developed very quickly over the last few years,” he said.”
But Mogharbel does note that the complexion of the work being handled by his legal team has changed somewhat since the crisis hit the region.
“While it is business as usual for us, in a crisis you will always have an upturn in litigation and we are currently close to top of this cycle at the moment,” he said. “But the interesting thing to note is that the work generated by our business units plus the work that comes in on a transaction-to-transaction basis didn’t really slow down all that much either.”
In the Gulf, Mogharbel says that the bank usually looks to outsource most of its litigation and disputes work out to local law firms, while it may also look to engage outside counsel on other matters.
“Here in Dubai, we have an informal panel of about three of four local law firms.”
Mogharbel says that while recent moves to elucidate the UAE’s legal frameworks are undoubtedly a step in the right direction, there is still much more that needs to be done. “The changes that have been happening are extremely positive, but in a short space of time one cannot expect to change everything,” he said. “The task for regulators at the moment is to focus on long-term legal development in parallel with short-term crisis control. “
Meanwhile, the task for in-house lawyers, in his opinion, is to remain positive. “See the positive side in things, ride the ups and downs and learn from them,” he said. “The events here offer a once in a lifetime event for in-house lawyers and this is something that can’t be learned but has to be experienced.” ALB
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