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Alghanim Industries’ legal team has taken a rigorous approach to streamlining procedures and taking efficiency to the next level. Santiago Lucero, senior director – legal, explains: ‘As part of an ongoing process, what we have done is to partner with our internal clients to combine our respective strengths in the contracting process. This includes making contracts as self-contained and standardised as possible so that the business can concentrate on the commercial aspects of a transaction while enabling speedier and more focused review by our department. The ultimate goal is to have a kind of online kiosk which automates certain processes and brings together various functions, such as an automated contract submission procedure done through an online portal and a web-based FAQ answering common legal queries’.

Elias Sayegh, also senior director – legal, noted that the team has been equally busy lately working on projects in support of new business initiatives. ‘Alghanim for the past few years has been in growth mode’, he explains, ‘both through venturing into additional business lines and through geographic expansion. For instance, Saudi Arabia has been a particular focus recently, and we have seen acquisitions, joint ventures and the opening of new businesses in that market’. The team is required to be adept at a wider number of areas than many in-house legal teams, as Lucero relates: ‘Because we tend to handle most of Alghanim’s legal matters in-house, and that work spans transactions and litigation both internationally and locally, we are uniquely placed to support the business at every stage, and our ability in these areas gives foreign principals and counterparties comfort that working with Alghanim means that they are in safe hands’. In terms of personnel, therefore, when adding new talent to the team Alghanim favours excellent commercial acumen as well as specialist legal skills. Understanding that they are business partners and are there to advance the commercial interests of the company wherever possible is required of all 20 lawyers within the Alghanim legal department. ‘As much as possible, we pride ourselves on finding a third way, and try to give the business a 360 degree field of view of their risks and opportunities’, Sayegh concludes.