32 Asian Legal Business | October 2024 Middle East ‘Aramco’s legal organization has been ahead of the game’ Nabeel Al-Mansour is the executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, at Saudi Aramco. In this interview, he discusses the challenges in navigating a rapidly transforming Saudi Arabian economy, managing a large team across multiple jurisdictions and the changes to legal engagement as the Kingdom opens its doors to international law firms. By Nimitt Dixit To ensure that our high-quality services are delivered consistently and efficiently across border lines, we have rolled out a global legal service delivery model a few years ago. Through this model we proactively manage global legal risks by establishing communication channels with legal teams at our affiliates, and monitor regulatory developments in the jurisdictions that become increasingly relevant to our business. This model also enables our counsel throughout the group to collaborate and align on our common objective of delivering high-quality legal services. ALB: What has been your experience with the opening of Saudi Arabia’s legal market, in terms of costs, efficiency and availability of options for external counsel? Al-Mansour: The recent opening of the legal market in the Kingdom to international law firms is a welcome development. It should improve the ways in which law firms interact with and serve in-house legal organizations in our region. I believe that law firms will provide more specialized, jurisdiction-specific expertise which complements the resources that are available in-house. I also expect that law firms will leverage their local experiences to advise on nuances in regulatory expectations that are otherwise not readily apparent to companies that are new entrants to the Kingdom. The increased availability of international law firms and competition among them have led to a noticeable improvement in engagement. Locally present law firms are expected to become more closely engaged with in-house legal organizations, and hence more effective and familiar with the business. This will likely position them to be better able to proactively provide a broader catalog of legal services that take holistic account of the opportunities that are pursued by the business and the risks attendant with those opportunities. ALB: How has the role and significance of an in-house counsel changed in the Middle East in recent years? Nabeel Al-Mansour: I believe that the role of in-house counsel has increasingly become more important in the region, particularly in the Kingdom where we have seen significant developments to the judicial and regulatory environment take place in recent years. With the introduction of increasingly specialized regulations, the private sector—which plays a major role in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—had to significantly bolster its in-house capabilities. Large companies had to develop sophisticated legal departments staffed with counsel who are both specialized and versed in the business. To some extent, Aramco’s legal organization has been ahead of the game: In the late 2000s, we transformed our team of twenty generalist lawyers to a fully functioning organization rivalling the biggest law firms in the region. Today, our organization is comprised of well-trained counsel in increasingly specialized disciplines, including intellectual property, tax, and project development and finance. ALB: What is your approach to managing a team of over 200 lawyers across multiple jurisdictions? Al-Mansour: This is something that we have been working on as Aramco’s global business footprint continues to expand into new jurisdictions through its expanding network of affiliates. This expansion has increased the demand on legal services, and this demand is met, primarily, by the legal organization here in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia as well as those of our affiliates in Asia, Europe, and the Americas—each supported by leading international law firms with worldwide expertise. Nabeel A. Al Mansour currently serves as the executive vice president and general counsel of Saudi Aramco, a position he has held since 2017. With a career spanning over three decades at the company, Al Mansour has risen through the ranks, showcasing his expertise in both legal and corporate management roles. His career highlights include leading the legal team for the development of Sadara Chemicals, overseeing significant oil and gas concession negotiations, and transforming Saudi Aramco’s legal function into a best-in-class international entity. Prior to his current role, Al Mansour held key positions such as associate general counsel, executive director of procurement and supply chain management, and deputy general counsel.
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