Ahmad Rizwan, a legal advisor with the Government of Dubai, says that in-house counsel now face more competition, greater expectations and a tougher business environment than ever before. He shares with us the core competencies both he and his employer rely on for success.
Asian-Counsel: How did your career lead you to your current role?
Ahmad Rizwan: When I qualified to practice law in 1993 back in Malaysia, I never thought that my career destiny would lead me to my current role with the Government of Dubai. Fresh out of law school I was no different from many young lawyers, full of ideals straight from the law books and wanting to change the way the world works. As my legal practice evolved in time, reality of the world also set in, and so I fashioned my practice to be more adaptable to life’s realities.
Having started my career as a banking and finance lawyer, I realised that in order to be more adaptable and to add value to my clients, I needed to add corporate knowledge to my practice. I subsequently took on a wider focus of legal practice to include banking, finance, corporate and Islamic finance. Eventually, I decided to peek into the ‘other side’, moving in-house as the Head of Legal for a Malaysian financial institution. A few years later I decided to further ‘complicate’ my career by moving into investment banking, and I relocated to Dubai to take up a role as Head of Legal & Execution of an international investment bank.
As it turned out, I could not resist the pull from the rapid development of the UAE’s legal system, and I returned to legal practice with Habib Al Mulla & Company, a premium Dubai-based law firm. After undertaking two years of private practice in Dubai, I was humbly honored to be presented with the opportunity to join the esteemed Government of Dubai in my current roles as legal advisor to the Department of Finance and the Dubai Financial Support Fund.
 AC: How do you manage your time as legal advisor to two government entities? AR: The core competencies and KPIs for both roles are centred primarily on money matters from a legal perspective, ergo whether to treat these two roles as one or to separate the functions becomes academic. Furthermore the inter-connectivity of the functions, roles and responsibilities of the Department of Finance – Government of Dubai and the Dubai Financial Support Fund are closely interlinked and thus it makes the choice a non-issue. I utilise five core competencies in managing my time in both roles, specifically: resource allocation, proficiency, specialisation, communication and collaboration. These five core competencies reflect the organisational values and ethos of the Government of Dubai that are applied efficiently throughout its organisational structure, which ultimately allows me the flexibility to reach out and tap into the expertise and experience of my other learned colleagues from the various governmental departments and entities both efficiently and effortlessly. AC: In which circumstances might the entities you advise seek the advice of external counsel? Are there any criteria followed in choosing suitable practitioners? Nonetheless, due to the close relations and high level of communication between the Legal Affairs Department of the Dubai Government and all of the other governmental departments, reliance on external counsel is somewhat limited to a very small number of sectors and specialised areas. The Legal Affairs Department of the Dubai Government boasts some of the most experienced legal experts in the region and this knowledge bank, together with its human resources capital, are utilised efficiently across the various government departments. Choosing the right external counsel for us has provided various challenges, even though Dubai hosts many of the top international law firms from a global perspective. Our core focus first and foremost is conflict of interest and we undertake a microscopic examination to ensure that the external counsel we engage are not conflicted in any way whatsoever. We also place a heavy premium on external counsel that illuminates regional knowledge capabilities and cultural sensitivities. Many heavyweight law firms tend to market their international reputation as their selling point but in this current day and age, such notion alone is not a strong factor. Our selection process utilises the basic and time-tested principles of the Five Cs: Competency; Capacity; Commitment; Communication; and Cost. It is important to us that each external counsel engaged acts as a strategic lawyer and not a mere technician. They must fully appreciate our goals and not focus solely on minimising legal risk, but rather marry the two in order for us to achieve our objectives. AC: How has the in-house role evolved during your years in practice? |
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