EY Law has promoted Clifton Harrison, global law markets leader, to partner and has appointed him legal transform & operate (LTO) leader for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. As part of the role, he has relocated from the UK to the UAE, and will continue to cover the global law markets leader role which he has held since 2022.
His initial focus is to build out the regional practice across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, leveraging EY’s global network and delivery centres to provide legal services, particularly in finance, energy, and government sectors.
In a recent interview with Law Middle East, he discusses his plans in his dual role as well as EY’s strategic growth in the Middle East.
Congratulations on your new role. Can you elaborate on your plans for the practice?
Many thanks. Our EY Law teams provide our clients with an integrated business solution that aligns our legal offerings with other EY services. I will be focused on helping our legal department clients deliver services in a more innovative and technology-enabled way to increase productivity, save time, and reduce costs. Clients have reacted positively to this focus on improving legal department operations, and our goal is to collaborate with them to help address the key issues which they are facing. Our soon-to-be released global general counsel study points to the complexity of leading a high-performing legal function amid disruption, and our aim is to help clients innovate with confidence.
As part of the role, you will be relocating to Dubai. Why is the Middle East a strategic growth market for EY Law?
We have been successful in growing our practice over the last three years under Chris Sioufi’s leadership, and my arrival will add to the momentum which both he and the team have created. I am hugely excited to be moving to the region, which I have been visiting frequently since 2015. I have watched in awe as to the market development in the UAE, Qatar, and more recently, in Saudi Arabia. It is a hugely dynamic economic market which we are focused on. We have global clients opening here and international players in the region expanding overseas. We are seeing client demand increasing and evolving markedly, as they seek modern legal services underpinned by technology which provide real value for money.
Are there any challenges you anticipate in building out the practice across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, and how do you plan to address them?
We have teams in the UAE and Saudi Arabia which we will leverage as we provide services to clients. We will utilise our EY Law capabilities within the region to drive our planned growth, and as we grow and increase the size of our managed services team locally, we will use our global network of legal transformation and legal managed services specialists to provide support where required. The local teams have been incredibly welcoming and are excited to be part of a team which brings something different to clients.
Why is your initial focus on financial services, energy, and government & public policy? Do you anticipate branching into other sectors in the near future?
There are a few reasons for this approach! We will initially focus on industries which have large legal needs which have already been asking for support in managing legal function demand, budgetary pressures, and transformation efforts. This includes financial services, energy, and government and the public sector, which are among the primary industries in the region and where EY as an organisation is focused. It makes sense to start here and then follow client demand.
How will EY’s offering differ from similar services in the region?
Our services complement the existing services on offer in the region, and help clients reduce spend on high volume work types such as commercial contracting, employment law, and entity management, as well as legal transformation and technology adoption. This is consistent with the EY “All in” global strategy in which we are working together across law, tax, consulting and beyond to empower business leaders, including general counsel, with managed services, transformation solutions, and other capabilities that they can use to shape the future with confidence.
EY has delivery centres in Lebanon, Jordan, Poland, and India. How will these integrate with its Middle East practice, and what specific benefits will they provide to clients?
Our delivery centres are a key component in our service delivery proposition with clients. They allow us to provide an extended service using different time-zones and meeting a wide variety of language requirements to increase efficiencies and client satisfaction. We will continue to use and grow our resources in these locations, alongside our teams in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, to meet the needs of our clients.
You will be managing both the global law markets leader role and the regional LTO leader role. How do you plan to balance these responsibilities, and are there any synergies between the two?
We believe there are synergies between the two roles. My global markets leader role is centred on listening to client needs and creating new solutions to help general counsel meet their challenges. In many ways, there is no better place to be based than the MENA region, given the fast-developing needs of clients here. We have seen some clients seeking to jump several evolutionary stages, and create a future-proofed, technology-enabled function which provides value to their organisation. There is no reason why MENA-headquartered clients cannot be at the forefront of the changes within the legal sector.
