King & Spalding has promoted Jawad Ali as the new managing partner of its Middle East operations. Ali, the co-head of Islamic finance, succeeds Philip Weems, joint-head of global energy, who is returning to the firm’s US office in Houston.

Both Weems and Ali originally formed part of the firm’s regional launch in 2006. Although the switch from Weems to Islamic finance specialist Ali seems to signal a shift in focus for the firm on Shariah-compliant transactions, Ali said his appointment does not change anything. “My appointment does not change the direction of the firm in the Middle East, it merely confirms it. Our practice in the Middle East goes back 20 years and was built off of Shariah-compliant real-estate and PE investments made by Middle East clients in the US, where I started my career at the firm,” he said.

The bulk of the firm’s regional work has been on Shariah-compliant banking & finance transactions–including the recent formation of a US$500m Shariah-compliant Real Estate Income Fund for Saudi Arabian client Al Rajhi Capital and Bahrain’s Arcapita Bank.

While some of the firm’s regional competitors have launched in new and emerging markets in the Middle East, Ali said King & Spalding is sticking to its practical and prudent business model. “Our firm is very opportunistic when it comes to expanding in new jurisdictions and we remain very bullish on the Middle East as a region. However, we usually go to a jurisdiction that we have a cluster of clients in and at the request of such clients. This model has worked for us in the past and I don't think we will be departing from it any time soon,” he said.

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