Global law firm Ashurst today announced the expansion of its consultancy offering with the launch of a risk advisory business in the Middle East.
It is understood to be the first international law firm to offer risk advisory services in the region with teams of legal and consulting professionals working side by side.
Led by Nisha Sanghani, who brings over 19 years of experience, the new branch focuses on risk management, corporate governance, and complex infrastructure and capital projects across various sectors.
It is headquartered in the UAE across the firm’s offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and will also service the wider Middle East.
Established in Australia in 2020 and expanded into the UK in 2022, the firm’s risk advisory business has grown to around 130 consultants, who can work remotely to resource clients globally. The team help guide clients through financial services regulation, workplace health and safety, ESG and sustainability, data and analytics, and cyber and strategic risk. It is complementary to Ashurst’s core legal services and “one of the fastest growing parts of the firm”, according to a statement.
Speaking to Law Middle East, Sanghani, who recently moved from London to Dubai to spearhead the regional business, said: “I joined Ashurst in 2022 to launch the risk advisory business in the UK, and what I have seen come to light is the best way to work in the region—clients require legal and consulting advice, both strategic and operational, and that is exactly where we want to play, offering an integrated solution in collaboration with our legal colleagues.”
“The region is at the forefront of growth, both socially and economically, and we want to be working with boards of companies to help them understand, navigate, and mitigate risk,” she said. “It is very much a bona fide consulting offering which sits alongside our legal offering. I was a partner at a Big Four firm and ran my own business for ten years—we are not building a back office function, we are investing in the business.”
Sanghani has plans to recruit risk advisory specialists into the region. She is also focused on building client relationships, telling Law Middle East the business is currently in talks with a range of potential clients in the energy & infrastructure and telecoms industries, as well as asset management companies, government authorities, corporates and family offices.
“We do not want to do traditional transactional work, where we come along, support a client and walk away,” she said. “We want to go right to the heart of a company.”
As the landscape of risk continues to change, Sanghani said she reckons other law firms in the Middle East may well follow with risk advisory offerings of their own as they anticipate these shifts and demand from clients for comprehensive support.
