DLA Piper adds Kuwait managing partner to international board

DLA Piper has appointed a new international board member, handing a role to its Kuwait managing partner.

Abdul Aziz Al-Yaqout, who has headed the transatlantic firm's Kuwait offering since June this year, joins the international board as an elected member.

He takes the place of litigation partner Janet Legrand, who was named senior partner of DLA Piper International in June. Legrand replaced Peter Wayte as senior partner.

Al-Yaqout, who will sit on the board for up to three years, is the sole representative from the Middle East on the board, which includes elected members from the UK, the Netherlands and Russia and executive members from Europe and Asia.

Al-Yaqout said: "It is a huge honour to have been elected and I very much look forward to working alongside other members of the board in order to serve the wider needs of the partnership across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia."

DLA Piper Kuwait was formed last year when the firm set up a joint venture with Kuwaiti law firm Al Wagayan Al Awadhi & Al Saif Partner.

The international firm also has Middle East bases in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Muscat, as well as an association in Saudi Arabia. However, it has made heavy cuts to its Middle East practice during the economic downturn, cutting 9% of staff in the region in a second major round of job cuts in June this year. In April, it had previously laid off 8% of staff in its Dubai office.

DLA Piper international board

Elected members

• Stephen Sly, UK
• Frans Stibbe, Netherlands
• Constantine Lusignan-Rizhinashvili, Russia
• Abdul Aziz Al-Yaqout, Kuwait

Executive members

• Andrew Darwin, UK - managing director, Europe
• Steven De Keyser, Brussels - strategic projects director
• Alastair Da Costa, Hong Kong - managing director, Asia
  

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