About

‘My role is a constant balance between being a trusted advisor, protective influencer, strategic thinker, risk taker and moral compass’, explains Kiran Scarr, general counsel of Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, an organisation that provides the physical, market and financial infrastructure required to establish Dubai as a hub for global commodities trade under the authority of the Dubai government. Scarr has had a major influence in several important developments to the legal department at the Centre, taking steps to embed lawyers within operational businesses and contributing enormously to ‘transforming the view of legal as business enablers’. Scarr also facilitated the creation of a “legal charter”, which acts as a ‘written promise to the business to be transparent in its communication and to be of service to them’ evincing her commitment to not only serving the business but doing so in clear, mutually agreed terms. Scarr states this development has ‘greatly assisted the business to understand how we can add value beyond advice on commercial contracts’, helping define her and all other in-house lawyers at the DMCC as true business partners rather than just lawyers. By virtue of the location and the nature of their business as a free zone licencing authority (and their role as custodians of other regulatory framework within the commodities trading sector), there are numerous geo-political, social and economic factors that Scarr must consider. She has shown her talent and eye for efficiency by undertaking reorganising and integrating all legal and regulatory aspects of the company into one streamlined function that delivers ‘at one consistently high standard… with greater transparency regarding DMCCA’s role as a regulatory authority’. A key player within the business structure, Scarr has a direct reporting line to the CEO and enjoys a seat on the company’s executive committee – demonstrating the trust in her not only as a legal counsel but as a leader at senior level. Scarr explains that the qualities she expects to see in GCs have a common factor and focus on ‘dedicating time to people over processes’. A strong advocate of encouraging women to advance into leadership positions, she has recently participated in panel discussions as a panel member and moderator on topics including “leading through change” and contributed a feature article in The Oath Middle East Law Journal, entitled “making diversity a priority”. Despite having a multitude of career highlights, Scarr illustrates the ‘restructuring, attracting and retaining top talent’ to DMCC Legal and her promotion to head up DMCC Authority in 2016 as particularly notable, all adding to several years’ experience in international law firms across locations in Edinburgh, Sydney, Singapore and Dubai.