HFW has hired finance expert Euan Pinkerton from Baker Botts to launch an on-the-ground transactional offering in Riyadh. 

He becomes the UK firm’s third full-time partner to be based in Riyadh since it entered the city through an association with local firm Mohammed Al Khiliwi in 2019, which is led by name partner Al Khiliwi. Pinkerton will also work with insurance partner John Barlow, who splits his time between Riyadh and Dubai. 

Pinkerton, who moved to Baker Botts’ Riyadh-based team in 2018, has previously been a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills and White & Case. He specialises in conventional and Islamic finance, corporate matters and financial regulation, as well as on the procurement, development and financing of large-scale projects. 

With more than 20 years of experience, including a decade living and working full-time in Saudi Arabia, Pinkerton has built up his practice to cover a range of sectors including infrastructure, energy, petrochemicals, aerospace, defence, transportation and manufacturing. 

HFW said Pinkerton’s hire feeds into its wider strategy of building out its global transactional platform to complement its litigation and dispute resolution practices. The firm has added 22 transactional partners to its international network since Pinkerton's arrival in 2018, including additions to its offices in Abu Dhabi, London, Monaco, Paris, Riyadh, Shanghai and Singapore. 

Welcoming Pinkerton’s arrival, Alistair Mackie, HFW’s global corporate head, said the firm considers Saudi Arabia as a “key jurisdiction” for the further development of its business in the Middle East. 

“Euan is one of the most experienced projects and transactional lawyers in Saudi Arabia, and we're very pleased to welcome him to HFW,” he added. 

“We do a lot of transactional work in Saudi from our offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Kuwait, but adding on-the-ground expertise in the Kingdom is a real step-change in our offering. Our global transactional practice has grown significantly over the past three years and we will actively pursue opportunities to continue that growth."

The firm has been active in the Middle East since 2006 and boasts more than 60 lawyers across its three other regional bases in Dubai, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi. 

Other recent regional moves by the firm include the hire of litigation partner Nick Braganza, who joined HFW in Dubai from Clyde & Co earlier this year, as well as the relocation of construction partner Kijong Nam from the firm’s London headquarters to its Dubai office in 2020. 

The firm has also been busy in Asia this year, having snapped up Winston & Strawn’s Shanghai managing partner Brinton Scott alongside counsel Danielle Peng back in May. And last month, HFW hired Hong Kong disputes partner Karen Cheung from local independent firm Li & Partners to grow its private client work in the region. 

Going the other way, Squire Patton Boggs secured two HFW commodities and shipping partners in September – corporate partner Ivan Chia in Singapore and litigation partner Hazel Brewer in Perth, Australia.

Baker Botts has Middle East offices in Riyadh, where it operates in association with the Law Office of Mohanned bin Saud Al-Rasheed, as well as in Dubai. It's Middle East practice boasts 15 legal professionals including seven partners, according to its website.