About

Since 2008, Dean Stelfox has taken charge of the legal function for Dubai South (formerly Dubai World Central) as general counsel. Dubai South is an emerging 145 km2 city built around Dubai’s $32bn Al Maktoum International Airport which will ultimately sustain a population of one million workers and residents. Dubai South focuses on the aviation ecosystem and the facilitation of fast cycle logistics within a Free Zone environment. Already home to 40 of the world’s largest companies, Dubai South is entering the next phase of development, delivering and investing in built to suit (BTS) campuses for its key international partners and is well on its way to becoming the aviation and logistics capital of the world. The legal and business support required to sustain this long-term, megacity project are correspondingly vast. Fortunately Stelfox is well-equipped to handle the role. Formerly working in-house for BT and in private practice for boutique London-based firm Kemp Little, he gained experience in litigation and ICT. He moved to the Middle East as a legal counsel for Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) in 2002 where he worked on ENOC’s expansive international upstream and downstream operations. In April 2008, he began his tenure with Dubai Aviation City Corporation and has grown the legal department from sole counsel to a team of five lawyers (which includes two Emirati Nationals) specialising in joint ventures, Islamic financing, real estate, construction and regulatory affairs. Dean is a member of various committees and councils including Dubai South’s Executive Committee and the Legal Committee of the Dubai Free Zones Council. Stelfox explains in detail the vast amount of changes he has made to the internal legal function of the company: ‘I have been fortunate to have started with DACC just two years’ after its inception with almost a blank slate, and have made a point of ensuring the culture of the legal function is accessible to all, no matter how large the project or small the query. This has allowed me to identify and track the needs of the business over time, build a rapport of trust and confidence across the board and quickly standardize contracts, policies and other legal documentation so a fairly small legal team can deliver results efficiently and effectively. The level of accessibility also means we have our finger on the pulse of the organisation and can quickly implement changes from lessons learnt’, he concludes.