Norton Rose Fulbright appoints Mohammed Paracha as Head of Middle East

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright announced today the appointment of Mohammed Paracha as Head of Middle East. Mohammed Paracha will succeed Deirdre Walker, who has held this leadership role since 2017 and continues with the firm as a disputes partner.

A partner at Norton Rose Fulbright since 2010, Mohammed Paracha currently leads the banking and finance practice in Dubai. He is also the firm’s head of Islamic finance for the Middle East and Africa. 

Mohammed Paracha commented: “I am delighted to be appointed to the role of Head of Middle East. I look forward to working with our team and colleagues around the world to support our regional clients at a time of profound legal, regulatory and economic change.” 

Peter Scott, Managing Partner, Europe, Middle East and Asia, commented: “Mohammed Paracha has over 20 years’ experience of working in the Middle East both at our firm and as in-house counsel at a leading Bahraini bank. I know Mohammed will work closely with our entire Middle East team to build on our strong foundations and capitalise on the significant opportunities for growth in the region. On behalf of the firm, I would like to thank Deirdre Walker for the significant contribution she has made as Head of Middle East, particularly in growing our award-winning dispute resolution practice.”

Mohammed trained and qualified with Norton Rose Fulbright in London in 2001. He focuses on Islamic finance and banking matters and has extensive cross-border transactional experience. Mohammed led the firm’s team on a US$1bn first-of-a-kind cross-border Islamic financing last year, one of several ground breaking Islamic finance mandates he has advised on over his career.

Norton Rose Fulbright has expanded in the Middle East over the past year with four lateral partner hires including Nicholas Kramer, Nicholas Robinson, Zayd Alathari and Kayaan Unwalla, as well as counsel Shabnam Karim and Jonathan Burton. Earlier this month, Angela Croker was promoted to partner.

Recent accolades for the firm’s wider Middle East practice include “Litigation Team of the Year” at the 2020 Law.com Middle East Legal Awards, as well as several 2020 Islamic Finance News Awards including Hybrid Deal of the Year, Syndicated Deal of the Year and Law Firm of the Year in the Banking & Finance category.