Middle East firm Al Tamimi & Company has hired Hill Dickinson head of commercial Stephen Lansdown as the head of its Qatar office.

Lansdown replaces Mohamed Khodeir, who is moving to lead Al Tamimi’s association in Egypt which was formed in January.

He was previously based at Hill Dickinson’s Liverpool office, leading the firm’s commercial group which covers its commercial, projects, IT and intellectual property practices.

Lansdown advises on projects and other issues in a variety of sectors, including energy and natural resources and transport.

Al Tamimi’s Qatar office was founded in 2004 and is its largest outside of the United Arab Emirates.

Lansdown said Qatar and the surrounding region were “facing interesting challenges and opportunities in the years ahead”.

As well as setting up the association in Egypt in January, Al Tamimi also expanded its Saudi Arabia operations to Jeddah this year with the hire of former Baker Botts lawyer Sumit Soni.

Mark Fitzgibbon is now head of commercial at Hill Dickinson.