About

Coming off an extremely successful period as regional counsel of Strategy& (formerly Booz & Company) during which he established the firm’s law department in the Middle East, Fayez Khouri joined the legal team of PwC (known as the Office of the General Counsel or OGC) following its acquisition of Booz & Company in 2014. In July 2017, he took over the role of Middle East general counsel and continues to impress in this role. ‘Upon joining’, he says, ‘I set up a legal hub in Beirut that specialises in contract reviews and litigation. Not only is a hub in Beirut cost-effective for the firm but it has come with the introduction of important changes to the firm’s contract review policy. These commercially robust changes have reduced the number of contracts requiring review, thereby enhancing efficiency and reducing resourcing costs’. Khouri goes on to outline further team developments of the last 12 months: ‘Over the past year, the wider legal team, with lawyers both in Dubai and in Beirut, transformed into a comprehensive and much more relevant support to the business with each lawyer now specialising in legal aspects that the firm needs. We now have experts in areas including litigation, regulatory and company and commercial law, and our OGC team consists of 12 lawyers from six different nationalities who between them speak five languages and have qualifications spanning five separate jurisdictions’. Khouri puts into practice the “Be Digital” transformation strategy of PwC by holding weekly team meetings via Google Hangouts and encourages the team to function within the flexible working structure promoted by the firm. He also promotes close interaction with other OGC teams across the Global PwC Network in order to exchange ideas and benefit from shared experiences, all for the purpose of ensuring the continued delivery of the best possible legal support to the PwC Middle East Network.