About

Stuart Davies has practiced as a lawyer for over 20 years, an influential part of which was spent in private practice within Norton Rose’s corporate finance team in London, which provided him with a comprehensive grounding in all aspects of technical legal practice. Before the 2008 global downturn, Davies had formulated business interests in the Gulf and the 2008 crisis was ultimately the catalyst for his permanent move from the City to the Gulf. Davies initially helped a large regional corporate successfully grow from one to 17 markets and then completed another spell in private practice, heading a team at Al Tamimi, the largest regional law firm. Since August 2018 Davies has been general counsel for one of the most prestigious and prominent projects in the region: The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC). Here, he is developing a strong team of regional and international lawyers which oversees key strategic matters including the establishment of a Special Economic Zone which is at the heart of the project. With its headquarters in Riyadh, TRSDC is one of Saudi Arabia’s transformative Vision 2030 “giga-projects”. Wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund, it is one of the most ambitious tourism development projects ever undertaken, with phase one due for completion in 2022. Davies acts as a key advisor on all legal and compliance aspects to the business, and has also been working on various work streams. These have included the public private partnership for the design, build and operation of power, water, waste and district cooling assets, negotiating with prestigious hotel operators for TRSDC’s hotel assets and negotiating with global banks and investors to invest in the project. Looking forward, Davies sees ‘much more of a focus on developing and retaining local talent and expertise in-house, balanced with using external counsel’ both in Saudi Arabia and internationally, making it an exceptionally fertile ground for internal legal counsel over the coming years. Utilising his knowledge of all applicable risk and market issues as well as a high-level of legal expertise accrued throughout his career, Davies is able to demonstrate good, effective leadership and use his talent as a business-minded lawyer with a variety of partners inside and external to TRSDC. When asked about the local in-house market, Davies articulates: ‘Being general counsel at TRSDC is an incredible privilege. It is both interesting and very rewarding personally and professionally, not just because of the scale of the project we are undertaking and the variety of the work, but because we are building a legacy for the Kingdom and our legal team is responsible for delivering on this’. He concludes that any in-house legal team should “ensure the legal team stays close to the business; keep learning and embrace change”’.