The partner due to head DLA Piper’s Middle East finance practice has left after just a year as local senior partners are seconded to Australia.
Shehzaad Sacranie joined from Allen & Overy (A&O) in February 2009. DLA Piper announced that Sacranie would succeed Tony Holland as head of Middle East finance following the latter’s move in February 2010 to DLA Phillips Fox as its CEO, but Sacranie did not assume the role and is understood to have now returned to A&O.
Regional finance capability will be led by finance and projects co-head and Nakheel relationship holder Damian McNair, who is currently on secondment with corporate partner Peter Monk to DLA Phillips Fox.
DLA Piper regional managing partner for the Middle East Abdul Aziz Al-Yaqout said: “Damian McNair and Peter Monk, who continue to support our Middle East practice, are working in Australia on a number of significant projects. This reflects the global nature of our business and underscores our ability to respond to the needs of our mutual clients in the Middle East, Australia and elsewhere.”
Meanwhile, The Lawyer can reveal that DLA Piper is one step closer to launching in Brazil after forming a relationship with two-office local firm Campos Mello Pontes Vinci & Schiller.
Readers' comments (84)
Anonymous | 1-Mar-2010 9:21 am
Are we sure that McNair and Monk are really seconded to Oz? I reckon they lost their jobs because let's face it, McNair only had one client (Nakheel) which are not instructing anyone and Monk didn't have any big name loyal clients.
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Anonymous | 2-Mar-2010 8:54 am
DLA Piper Middle East have proven to have had a flawed Middle East strategy. They have made some horrible hiring decisions and now are paying the price!
By the way, wati and see...more partners to go. If you look at their regional offices some are still seriously underperforming.
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an insider | 2-Mar-2010 10:32 am
Shehzaad left DLA Piper as Regional Head Finance to become a senior associate at AllenOvery.
That should say about the state of affairs at DLA.
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Anonymous | 2-Mar-2010 12:05 pm
The great thing about the recession is that the people that only came to Dubai during the end of the boom years or at the beginning of the recession (because they lost their jobs in their home countries) will be got rid of and sent packing. The likes of Monk and McNair never had any real interest in the Gulf and only came to Dubai to get on the band wagon. They were paid far too much for doing next to nothing. They are now back in Oz and will never will return to the Gulf - thank God!
The people left in Dubai after the recession will be paid realistic salaries and have real long term careers. Such people will help Dubai grow and prosper unlike the DLA Aussie mafia.
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Anonymous | 3-Mar-2010 5:16 am
says it all really about tDLA - better off as a SA than DLA's regional head of finance - BTW - have they actually got a finance department?
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Anonymous | 3-Mar-2010 5:35 am
With regard to the second comment, I don't agree that the ME offices are underperforming - Given the poor quality of lawyers they've recruited (and who remain) you can't really expect anything else. I understand that utilisation is hovering around the 10% mark (whilst recovery is an other question).
Sir Nige - why don't you just close the doors and cut your (considerable) losses!?
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Anonymous | 3-Mar-2010 7:36 am
Correct me if I'm wrong but Damian McNair is a construction lawyer (whose professional gems include the drafting of Nakheel's standard form contracts).
God knows how he can possibly lead a finance department when he can't even get his specialism right- but wait - DLA haven't actually got a finance department!!
What a disaster!! Close up shop!!
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Anonymous | 3-Mar-2010 8:35 am
The term Aussie Mafia just shows how inept, ill-informed and ignorant some people are. The Aussies were specifically sought out and encouraged to come to the region especially during the boom as most of the people there at the time could not deliver and did not have the necessary skills. Many worked 16 hour days 7 days a week both at DLAs and at Nakheel and many national projects such Palm Jumeirah simply would not have been delivered without them. With attitudes such as these the region will only ever attract D grade talent.
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Anonymous | 3-Mar-2010 10:36 am
'With attitudes such as these the region will only ever attract D grade talent.'
That pretty much reads like an admission that all it's ever attracted to date is D (LA) grade talent....
Also the term Aussie Mafia is the one used internally within DLA Piper to describe them and refers not only to their place of orgin but to the manner in which they conduct themselves within the office.
So I'm not sure why you think using that term makes the poster above inept, ill informed or ignorant.
As for the 'many national projects such as Palm Jumeriah simply would not have been delivered without them' well that deserves all the attention that kind of excessive hyperbole should get.
Palm Jumeriah was essentially 'completed' i.e handover of first residential units in 2006 i.e before DLA Piper even opened an office in Dubai and long before McNair and Co turned up.
They were less important to the delivery of those projects as one of the guys in a blue boilersuit delivered to the construction site in a unairconditioned bus everyday. They just got paid a lot more and had nicer transportation.
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Anonymous | 3-Mar-2010 12:59 pm
Who did those project contracts then?
Btw, judging by some of the grammar, spelling and punctuation in these comments, I can’t tell if some of you people are lawyers or 9-year-olds.
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