About

Lubna Qassim is the group general counsel of Emirates NBD, the largest banking group in the Middle East, which, owing to its reputation and a total asset portfolio worth around USD $122bn, requires diligent, timely and business savvy legal advice from its chief in-house lawyer. Operating within an organisation that has a large scope in terms of its remit and its own size – Emirates NBD is one of the UAE’s largest companies by employee numbers – Qassim is required to provide comprehensive legal and compliance support in addition to showing strong leadership in her role on the bank’s executive committee. Qassim is highly pleased with the progress she has made in improving the legal function at Emirates NBD and is complimentary of her team: ‘My biggest pride is that I have built a fit-for-purpose in-house legal function for EmiratesNBD and lead a team of a diverse and highly motivated professionals’. On top of this, she is expert at combining her strategic managerial input with her responsibilities as head of the legal team: ‘I have a very strong relationship with my team and being an executive member of the bank I work very closely with my executive colleagues which gives me full visibility on how we should be adapting our priorities to serve the business most effectively’. An outstanding professional, Qassim is not only defined by her role at Emirates NBD, but is also highly active in other fields; she is a fellow at the Dubai School of Government and undertakes leadership roles in various bodies, having seats on the boards at the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment (CISI) and Injaz UAE Foundation, enabling her to work towards bringing together and inspiring young people to succeed. Qassim is also a speaker on issues that will affect the landscape of the law and business for years to come including governance, education and female leadership. Perhaps the best indication of her outstanding reputation came in 2015 when Qassim was elected to the Dubai Women’s Establishment by Dubai’s ruler HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, where she works to increase the number of women in employment and leadership positions in the UAE. Given this extra-curricular passion of hers, she provides the following advice to up-and-coming members of the in-house legal community: ‘My advice to another GC would be that you have to be more than just a lawyer. To be effective you have to have strong technical skills but also the personality and drive to influence the overall activities of the business as someone whose advice is always sought out’.