Kirsty Dougan

Vario Asia, Pinsent MasonsManaging Director

Kirsty leads Vario across Asia, where she is responsible for strategy, all operations and business development. Kirsty has overseen significant growth in her time at Vario and established the Hong Kong office in early 2019. Kirsty possesses a wealth of experience in this sector, having pioneered alternative legal services in Asia as co-founder of Axiom in the region.

Prior to her experience with Axiom, Kirsty served as Senior Counsel to Diageo where she led the first foreign investment in China’s domestic spirits industry and built Diageo’s first legal function for the Greater China region. She was also Adjunct Professor of Law at Fudan University and East China Normal University of Law and Politics. Kirsty was previously Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Strathclyde where she taught European law, International law and IP and is the author of several leading legal texts in these fields. Kirsty has a First Class Honours degree in Law from Strathclyde University, a Diploma in Legal Practice, an LLM in International Law from the University of British Columbia and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship in 1994. She regularly contributes to legal conferences across Asia, thought-leadership pieces in leading legal and financial services journals and makes frequent media appearances.