About

Appointed group general counsel at the Commercial Bank of Dubai in 2013, Souhayel Tayeb has since implemented new technological changes aimed at streamlining work within the legal function. Legal portals utilised by all internal clients have been introduced, with users now able to select the type of advice they are requesting (legal opinion, review of documents, drafting of documents etc.). ‘The case is assigned to a lawyer and the dashboard helps all stakeholders to follow up,’ Tayeb says. ‘This helped in producing accurate reports for the department on the amount of workload, understanding the departments requiring most of the advices, being proactive in planning training and content of newsletters’, he goes on. Other technological improvements have included a legal database, which ensures that all litigation cases are captured and updated accordingly and all third parties’ agreements are added, as well as a process of automation to drafting of standard documents. Prior to joining his current employer Tayeb managed a team of three lawyers dedicated to loan and security documentation, service agreements and trade finance. As prior to moving to UAE, Tayeb worked as a corporate and investment banking lawyer in France, Tayeb had to quickly adapt to an entirely new work environment. He says: ‘I joined Mashreqbank just five days after leaving Paris. My first legal opinion was about a Letter of Credit and the delivery of poultry shipment to Jebel Ali Port. This change from the world of derivatives to the real world of trade finance was an amazing experience.’