Team size: Five

A bilingual Egyptian qualified lawyer with tertiary qualifications in law, with around 20 years of post-qualified legal experience in three Gulf jurisdictions and Egypt. Currently the general counsel and head of corporate compliance in Danone Middle East.  Islam was previously the vice president in the United Arab Bank, acting general Counsel of RAKIA. He has also worked more than 12 years in private practice, with extensive experience in a broad spectrum of corporate and banking and finance work that include capital markets, investment funds, listing and pre-listing exercises, corporate and debt restructuring schemes, takeovers, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence review, securitisation, finance, project finance, PPPs, power projects, establishment of companies and banks, corporate governance, commercial transactions and medical and pharmaceutical practice. Additionally, he has undertaken the role of head of corporate compliance, where he facilitates sustainable growth by ensuring adherence to the global compliance programme.

Islam’s greatest achievement at Danone was ensuring infants with certain diseases were properly fed by innovatively changing the legal structure of sets of transactions to the extent where competitors began following the same pattern. Not only did Islam assist Danone by becoming the most compliant regarding a highly regulated commodity, but he also radically changed the market practice in the Middle East and Africa with regards to the compliance of infant formula products.

Islam was responsible for high profile transactions, which include, the first Jordanian Sukuk issue which was awarded the Sukuk Deal of the Year 2011 (Islamic Finance News), the first restructuring using Sukuk for First Investment Company, which was awarded Kuwait Deal of the Year 2011 (Islamic Finance News) and the restructuring of Global Investment House which was awarded the Best Restructuring Deal of the Year 2009 (The Banker Magazine). A mature, independent, highly motivated and fast learning professional with demonstrable analytical skills and ability to interact well with all levels.

What technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

Legal tech has advanced innovation offer-able by inhouse legal departments around the world. From the automation of contracts and case management, billing, document and workflow automation, and document storage. Implementing such technology helps legal departments facilitate business growth by streamlining drafting, opining, and by cutting costs and time spent on administrative duties.

Furthermore, legal tech has enabled companies and banks to become more transparent and compliant with regards to reporting and documenting processes. Moreover, it provides protection and confidentiality for whistleblowers, which leads to a healthier business environment.

What is a cause, business related or otherwise, that you care about, and why?

Investing in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is one of the hottest topics discussed at publicly listed companies’ board meetings. Companies have been investing to further ESG by strategising and committing to certain social and environmental standards beneficial to all stakeholders of the company and to the public. This is a cause I support as it shifts from the traditional shareholders wealth approach that proved to be detrimental to the public and environment. This shift from a traditional capitalistic approach driven by shareholder profit maximisation to a stakeholder approach is mutually beneficial to future generations and multinational corporations.