What are the most significant cases or transactions that you have been involved in over the past year?

Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating agreements across various sectors including infrastructure projects, mobility, construction and advisory with government sector and private clients.

Based on your experience, what is the key to collaborating successfully with business partners?

Asim Habib leads the legal function responsible for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia having been with Systra since the end of 2024.

Trust, transparency, responsibility, accountability and a broad minded, agile approach are key factors in a general counsel collaborating successfully with business partners.

The mindset and action of being available, committing to timelines (exceeding when possible) and communicating effectively and concisely are also important qualities.

Trust develops when we help with and take on the issues faced by our business partners and to the extent possible, make them our own, standing with them on the front line whether externally with negotiations, claims, project management issues etc. or internally with reporting.

Understanding the roles of our business partners is also vital, the business and industries in which they are operating in, the challenges and struggles they face day to day, why a particular issue may have nuances and complications that we as lawyers may not initially see. The financial performance and results of their business are critical to our business colleagues so understanding the balance sheet and financial statements, making an effort to understand their language and the impact of our function on the balance sheet and seeking ways that we can help are also determinative factors in a successful GC.

Personal relationships can also be important in my view, getting to know the individuals, background, interests, likes, dislikes, experiences, cultures. Once the trust has developed, the business partners feel they can approach you at any time, they know you will support them where feasible and they can rely on you when needed, including to be honest and open for example where compliance issues, conflicts etc. may arise. The general counsel is one of the key gatekeepers in an organisation that runs smoothly and effectively and striving to demonstrate these qualities daily with effective governance ensures an efficient, collaborative environment where results are achieved and focused on.

What is a cause, business-related or otherwise, that you are passionate about, and why?

Supporting the development and growth of the next generation is something extremely important to me particularly in the form of mentoring as well as implementing modern day tech into the legal function.

The planning of a legal career and developing a proper, innovative mindset at the early stages of a student’s or young professional’s journey is something which requires careful thought particularly in terms of the practice area and environment in which they want to embark upon whether this is in-house, private practice or sectors such as corporate, finance, human rights, family law, criminal law, etc.

Developing the right mindset for a legal career also involves mentoring from individuals such as general counsels to implement life choices particularly involving factors such as health and fitness, hobbies, a positive mindset, family and friends (work/life balance!).

My belief is that the most productive lawyers are the ones who can maintain an (overall) balance in their life, operating with good ethics, integrity, diligence and dedication which will provide them with the creativity to be agile, innovative and achieve results for their business partners. I am passionate about this for myself and equally passionate about passing this on to the next generation.