Could you provide a brief journey of how you arrived where you are today?
I started my legal career as a straight capital markets and structured finance lawyer at leading Australian law firm Mallesons Stephen Jacques in my native Melbourne. At the end of 2002, I moved to London and joined Norton Rose. It was during my time there that I developed an interest in Islamic capital markets and structured finance techniques.

I joined Dechert as a partner in January 2006 to spearhead the development of the firm’s London-based Islamic finance practice, working closely with our New York and German Islamic finance teams.

What does your role involve?
Structuring, documenting, implementing and closing Islamic capital markets and structured finance transactions. Not to mention helping to build and promote Dechert’s Islamic finance practice.

What is your greatest achievement to date?
Having helped Dechert build an award-winning Islamic finance practice in less than two years!

I am also proud to have advised CMH on the launch of one of Bahrain’s key Shariah compliant private equity funds, and to have worked on the landmark Bahrain Financial Harbour Sukuk.

Which of your products/services deliver the best results?
Complex and innovative Islamic structured finance products and capital markets instruments. Also, the service which delivers the best results for our clients is our ability to take a conventional financial product, take it apart and re-engineer it to create a Shariah compliant product that works.

What are the strengths of your business?
We are very successful in helping clients to structure and implement highly complicated and innovative Islamic finance structures, thanks to our team of experienced Islamic finance lawyers with capability in English, New York and German law.

What are the factors contributing to the success of your company?
Perhaps our key strength is our thorough understanding of conventional structured products, which ensures that we can deliver on complex Islamic structured products according to our clients’ needs.

We believe we are also unique in being able to offer Islamic finance expertise on both sides of the Atlantic – there are many US and UK firms with a good understanding of Islamic finance, but none can offer our strength in-depth in both the US and Europe.

Dechert is pretty unique in offering a comprehensive, “one-stop shop” service with full support on a transatlantic basis.

What are the obstacles faced in running your business today?
There simply aren’t enough lawyers with both the relevant Islamic and conventional finance expertise out there!

Where do you see the Islamic finance industry, maybe in the next five years?
There will be a much wider range of Shariah compliant products available, and a lot more traditional investors tapping and trading the Islamic markets.

Name one thing you would like to see change in the world of Islamic finance?
More lawyers really need to get involved in the industry and get themselves up to date with the products that are already available and the direction the industry is heading in.

Dechert is an international law firm that focuses on core transactional and litigation practices, providing world class services to major corporations, financial institutions and private funds worldwide. With more than 1,000 lawyers in our global practice groups working across Dechert’s 16 offices in Europe and the US, we have the resources to deliver seamless, high quality legal services to clients worldwide. Our top-ranked, world class practices include corporate and securities, complex litigation, finance and real estate, and financial services and asset management.

Dechert’s Islamic finance team focuses on the full range of commercial efforts on behalf of major players in the Islamic finance industry, including securities and capital markets advisory work, structured finance, real estate and infrastructure development, mergers and acquisitions, and private equity and hedge fund formation. In addition, the regional experience of Dechert’s lawyers, gained while living and working in Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) jurisdictions, enables us to counsel both clients based in the OIC and clients planning to expand to such jurisdictions.