Shaun Johnson – GC Powerlist
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Middle East 2025

Industrials and real estate

Shaun Johnson

Chief legal officer and Head of compliance | BEEAH Group

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Middle East 2025

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Shaun Johnson

Chief legal officer and Head of compliance | BEEAH Group

Team size: 9

What are the key projects that you have been involved in over the past 12 months?

I am very fortunate that BEEAH works across so many different verticals and business line and that we operate in a wide variety of geographies and sectors across the 70+ companies within the group. This allows me the opportunity to work on some cutting-edge projects, innovative technologies and sustainable practices which are all part of BEEAH’s DNA and ethos for developing a better tomorrow.

Because of such breadth, I’ve had the opportunity to work on something BEEAH Real Estate is extremely proud of the launch of its first net-zero development: Khalid Bin Sultan City, a mixed use residential and commercial smart city in Sharjah. BEEAH Environment Continues to expand its geographical footprint across India and the African continent by expanding through its most experienced subsidiaries involved in integrated waste management, city cleaning and collection and recycling. BEEAH Capital continues to work on new innovative financing structures, including green finance, which will fuel the group as a whole. These are just a few headline areas in which I have been involved in the last 12 months.

What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?

The most important attributes in-house counsel can possess are a sense of commercial reality and pragmatism. Whereas we need our peers in private practice to be technically superior, cover all hypothetical scenarios and canvas all risks, in-house counsel need to possess the ability to see the commercial reality of a situation and be decisive, proactive and an originator of value. The most successful in-house lawyers don’t just ‘add value’ but they create value within their business. This is something that can be done at all levels, including junior and mid-level lawyers, to propel a business forward. At the senior end of the spectrum, in-house counsel must be all the above as well as know how to manage, liaise and interact at board and shareholder level.

What is a cause, business or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

As lawyers we are in a privileged position to be part of a profession that is an enabler of business as well as the author and regulator of laws. So I feel that once you obtain your legal practicing certificate, you have a duty throughout your legal career not only to maintain the same standard of development that got you there, but to give back no matter what stage you are at in your legal career. As a senior lawyer, I feel a duty to train, develop and mentor the next generation of the legal profession. And I am passionate about this which is why I enjoy speaking to high school students to open their minds to what role a lawyer can play and how a legal degree can springboard other careers. I equally enjoy mentoring law students, guiding junior lawyers in practice or advising senior lawyers with tips on how to make that step up to the next level.

Shaun Johnson - Middle East 2024

Group chief legal officer | BEEAH Group

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Shaun Johnson - Middle East 2023

Group general counsel | BEEAH Group

Shaun has over 24 years of experience as a general counsel and C-suite executive, working for both public and private sectors across Australia, the UK, Europe and now the Middle...

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Shaun Johnson - Middle East 2022

Group general counsel | Beeah Group

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Shaun Johnson - Middle East 2019

Director, legal | Vision Invest

Shaun Johnson credits his time in private practice with Ashurst (formerly Blake Dawson) in Australia and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as having been instrumental in his later success as an in-house...

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Shaun Johnson - Middle East 2017

General counsel | ACWA Holding

Shaun Johnson has practiced as a lawyer for 18 years, one third of which was in private practice at Ashurst in Melbourne, Australia and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London, which...

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