Dubai, UAE: Al Tamimi &amp; Company, the Middle East’s largest law firm, has announced the appointment of Stephen Lansdown as the new Head of Office for Qatar.

Stephen replaces Mohamed Khodeir, who is moving to lead the firm’s association in Egypt, and will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Qatar office, developing and executing strategic business initiatives, and contributing to the firm achieving its overarching strategic goals.

Prior to his new role, Stephen spent 18 years at international law firm Hill Dickson LLP, where he was Head of Commercial, leading the firm’s commercial, projects, IT and intellectual property practices, and working with clients in EMEA, UK and South East Asia. Before this, Stephen worked at Clifford Chance for two years, and trained as a solicitor at Herbert Smith in London.

Stephen has particular expertise in advising on projects to provide or upgrade energy infrastructure through energy performance contracting, district heating projects, and associated asset and project finance structures.  He qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 1994.

Al Tamimi’s Qatar office is the firm’s largest office outside of the UAE, established in 2004, and it advises national and international clients across the banking and finance, construction and infrastructure, property, sports law and hospitality sectors on a variety of complex transactions.

<strong>Husam Hourani, Managing Partner at Al Tamimi, said;</strong>

“I am delighted to announce the appointment of Stephen to his new role. Stephen’s extensive experience will enable him to share valuable insights into how we can support the growth of our operations in Qatar, as well as across the business more widely.”

“As Qatar’s economy has grown, we have continued to enhance our presence in Doha through the recruitment of leading partners and associates to build an excellent team of legal experts, and our office there has worked on some of the country’s highest profile and complicated projects, truly establishing itself as a key player in the Qatari legal services market.”

<strong>Commenting, Stephen Lansdown said;</strong>

“Qatar and the rest of the region are facing interesting challenges and opportunities in the years ahead, particularly as the country works towards its Vision 2030, which poses great opportunities for our firm. Al Tamimi has had a presence in Qatar for over a decade, and I look forward to working closely with the team to ensure continued positive momentum and growth across our operations in Qatar and to cement the office’s position as an established, trusted legal advisor.”

2015 has been a strong year for Al Tamimi so far. The firm was awarded the Corporate Counsel’s Middle East Law Firm of the Year Award in May and expanded its network to include Cairo, Egypt and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The firm has grown to over 620 employees over the past 12 months, and has a total of 16 offices across nine countries.