About

Aldar Properties, a leading regional developer, investor and manager of real estate, has a legal function that is recognised for its many strengths. The team is led by Brett Scrymgeour and, according to one nominator, is a group of ‘accomplished lawyers who are savvy, commercially-aware and technically excellent; they are one of the leading teams in the UAE’. The team has undergone very little change in recent times, illustrated by high employee retention, and the 90% positive feedback from business units in internal surveys indicates the quality of the work from the in-house team. Scrymgeour and team have evolved to comply with the new Abu Dhabi real estate law, escalating Aldar to market leader and one of the first registered developers and the first to successfully register and launch a project under the new law. According to Scrymgeour, ‘other developers are looking to Aldar for guidance, the company has achieved this because of the drive and focus of the legal team’. Aside from adapting to new laws, the legal team has an impressive 100% success rate in the litigations it has advised on from origin over the last three years, enabling it to earn the respect and trust of the business. It has also instigated impressive innovation through the replacement of numerous documents, such as construction contracts, policies and procedures governing business conduct both internally and externally. The legal department is at the core of increasing efficiency in processes, having recently written and implemented internal software to increase communication between the board and legal. In another first, the Aldar team successfully registered the first Usufruct Agreement in Abu Dhabi history. This ability to go beyond the requirements of the law characterises the approach of Scrymgeour and his team. Internal calculations demonstrate that each in-house lawyer has reduced external spend by an estimated AED2-3m ($500,000-$800,000). Aldar Properties’ impressive legal team is driving the company forward in real estate, setting standards for others to follow and overall encouraging Abu Dhabi to competitive levels more commonly seen in markets such as Dubai.