Alastair recently concluded his career as the Regional Managing Partner of the Dentons’ middle east business and as a member of the Dentons’ UKIME LLP Executive Committee, roles he held until his retirement in April 2023. Dentons is a large international law firm.

Alastair was previously a Board member of the Dentons UKIME LLP and he has held a number of senior management positions including the Managing Partner of the Dentons’ Milton Keynes and Dubai offices as well as head of the Dentons’ middle east dispute resolution team. 

Alastair has extensive leadership experience relevant to multi-cultural and multi-geographical locations and the building and maintenance of high performing teams. 

Alastair is an executive coach and focusses on the subject of leadership, particularly resilient leadership and the creation and leadership of high performing teams. 

Alastair’s career started in the British Army in 1987 where he served for nine years as an infantry officer including tours in Norway and Northern Ireland. On leaving the army in 1995 he qualified as a barrister where he practiced as a member of the Independent Bar for eleven years specialising initially in criminal law and latterly commercial law.

Having left the Bar in 2007 and after a short time as a partner at a national law firm Alastair became a partner of Dentons UKIME LLP in 2011, where he practised as a litigator specialising in construction law. He moved to Dubai in 2016.

What other people say about Alastair:

“driven by efficiency - means efficiency for his time and your money”

“unnerving ability to cut through noise and quickly identify the root cause of a problem - means he will find solutions that actually address the issue and so will be enduring rather than addressing symptoms and having the same or a similar issue recur in a different guise”

“Willingness to constructively address the elephant in the room to enable teams to progress together - means whilst not being a team effectiveness coach, he confronts trust issues and promotes healthy conflict in order to achieve collaboration and collective commitment”

“Very aware and adept at navigating cultural perspectives - in international companies he finds solutions and prepares the groundwork to allow cultural differences to be understood and built into any solution”

“Building and nurturing a high performance team – in particular bringing talent through to leadership roles and managing and working across several offices/countries”

“Building strong relationships with clients and potential clients in the market – selling and cross selling well”

“Focuses on profit and margin and running individual projects so as to provide a high quality of service and maximise profit”

“Highly strategic in approach – acute at analysing the market and responding to it”

“He is not afraid to make hard decisions or to see them through”

“Asks questions and will challenge strongly on an issue if he thinks it right but once a decision is made he gets behind it and works as part of the management team”

“Fun to work with and makes really strong bonds of friendship and respect with colleagues”   

“Alastair spoke as the key note address at my Global Legal Leadership conference in London in October 2023.   The theme of the conference was Resilience.  Alastair was so engaging that my team referred back to his content for days.  He had a great impact and is a skilled  storyteller.  I would also recommend him as a great speaker on leadership topics more generally.”

References are available to support the above quotations as and when that is appropriate.

Management of Dentons’ middle east business (2020 to 2023)

Alastair was responsible for the leadership and management of the middle east business across nine offices and seven countries whilst interacting with the Firm’s leadership at an LLP and Global level. Responsibility for the delivery of the middle east business’s strategy (both design and delivery), plus the delivery of both the annual budgeted revenue and profit. In addition to the management and leadership of all the legal professionals employed across the nine offices Alastair was also responsible for the various business services which supported the business.  

Re-building, re-structuring and running of the Dentons’ Dubai Office (2016 to 2020)

In 2016 Alastair was asked to restructure and lead the Dentons’ Dubai Office which at that time was significantly underperforming and had done so for several years. By focusing on the key practice areas in the office, integrating the office more fully and effectively into the wider middle east and global network the Dubai Office delivered markedly improved financial results within 18 months and was the highest performing office in the Region within three years, delivering profit levels (well) in excess of two times the average for the Firm. Inevitably restructuring of this type required significant changes which were not necessarily popular nor easy to deliver.

Re-building and running the Dentons’ middle east disputes team (2016 to 2020)

In restructuring the Dubai Office it was necessary to restructure and completely rebuild the Dentons’ middle east dispute resolution team. This team, which ought to have been a leading force within the regional business had, for various reasons, fallen into disarray. In order to rebuild the team it was necessary to design an appropriate strategy for its regrowth, its reduction in size and then the recruitment of new team members. This process started in mid 2016 and was complete by the end of 2018 by which time the team had grown to nearly twenty lawyers, revenues had increased by several multiples and the team was, for two years, the most profitable team in the Firm. 

Saudi & Qatar issues

Leadership of a team that resolved a number of highly sensitive and confidential issues in Qatar and Saudi. This required an appreciation of local laws and customs, cultural sensitivity and the very delicate handling of key individuals both inside and outside of the Firm.

Qualifications & other experience

2024 – Meyler Campbell Mastered programme

2018 to 2020 – Member of the Dentons’ Audit Committee

2019 - Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

2015 – Member of the Board at Apperio -  www.Apperio.com

2007 – Qualification as a Solicitor

2000 – Member of the Board at St Philips Chambers www.st-philips.com

1996 – Called to Bar of England and Wales

1987 - Royal Military Academy Sandhurst