About

MH Alshaya is a leading international retail franchise operator with a portfolio of over 70 leading brands, including Mothercare, Starbucks, H&M and The Cheesecake Factory. Its general counsel, David Bligh-Smith has been with Alshaya for over ten years and leads a team of over 20 lawyers across the Middle East, Turkey, Russia and Central Europe, some of whom are general commercial transaction lawyers, others are more specialist (eg real estate) and others are implanted within local government relations/HR or regulatory teams. Certain lawyers are bilingual and advise primarily on Arabic law matters and within the team, these lawyers report to Mohammed Osman (associate general counsel).