Justine is the General Counsel for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Regional General Counsel for the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey (MENAT) region at HSBC. She leads a team of over 60 lawyers and legal professionals who advise across all aspects of HSBC’s business within the MENAT region. With a presence in seven markets and an offering that includes retail banking, wealth management, private banking, commercial banking, investment banking, and markets and securities services, Justine leads an on-the-ground, full-service team comprising subject matter experts across a wide variety of disciplines.

Justine’s team is recognised as best in class, having received the In-house Legal Team of the Year (International Bank) award from the International Financial Law Review Middle East Awards for the last three consecutive years.

Justine is a member of HSBC’s Regional Executive Committee, the UAE Executive Committee, and the Global Legal Executive Committee.

She invests significant time in developing others. As a Co-Executive Sponsor of the HSBC Global Legal People Programme, Justine leads a pillar under which individuals across the global function come together to design and promote initiatives for the purpose of developing ‘our’ people.

In addition, Justine plays a prominent role in the HSBC DE&I agenda – she is the Co-Executive Sponsor and Co-Chair of HSBC MENAT Balance, an employee resource group that focuses on career progression with gender intelligence, as well as being a Co-Executive Sponsor of HSBC MENAT’s Wellbeing Initiative.

Originally from the United Kingdom, Justine has lived and worked in the UAE for over 16 years. Prior to joining HSBC in 2015, she worked at Linklaters in its London, New York, and Dubai offices, specialising in structured finance, capital markets, and Islamic finance. Since joining HSBC, she has worked in various positions within the Legal team, including Regional Head of Global Banking and Markets Legal, MENAT, and Regional Head of Commercial Banking Legal, MENAT. Justine assumed the role of UAE General Counsel and Regional General Counsel, MENAT, in July 2022.

In 2023, Justine was inducted into the International Financial Law Review Middle East Women Dealmakers Hall of Fame.