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10 years practising as a lawyer at a leading corporate law firm in the City of London, with significant international experience in Asia and the Middle East. Since leaving, first volunteered as a lawyer with a leading international NGO and then spent 5 months working as a development legal consultant to Nepalese Government on infrastructure projects in Nepal. Seeking next challenging opportunity. |
 Contact Habibunnisha Patel
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Area of Expertise: |
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Human Rights, Law, Migration, Conflicts, Justice
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Professional Experience: |
I spent 10 years working as a corporate lawyer at Slaughter and May (a leading corporate law firm) in the City of London from 2002 - 2012. During that time, I obtained significant international experience and worked and lived in India, Dubai and Singapore.
Since leaving in April 2012, I have spent the last 8 months working and volunteering in the development sector.
I worked for 5 months as one of two legal consultants to the Investment Board of the Government of Nepal, working for Adam Smith International and with the Nepal Centre for Inclusive Growth, in relation to their negotiation of major hydro project development concession agreements of 500MW or more. The scope of my work principally related to (i) advising on the negotiation of the template project development agreement, to be adopted by the Investment Board, for concessions awarded to private developers for hydro power projects of 500 MW or more, based on best practice requirements; and (ii) the procurement and instruction of international, Nepali and Indian legal counsel. This multi-million infrastructure development project is managed by Adam Smith International, and is funded by UK Department for International Development.
Prior to that, I volunteered for 3 months with the General Counsel of an international NGO, headquartered in the UK. I advised on a range of matters including drafting a new suite of fundraising agreements, compliance and policy matters relating to anti-bribery and corruption and Supreme Court litigation in Jakarta, Indonesia, for which I spent some time at their offices in Banda Aceh.
During my 10 years at Slaughter and May, I worked for a very wide variety of clients on corporate, M&A, finance, insolvency and litigation matters. Some examples of the clients I worked for are listed below.
(i) The Government of the Republic of Botswana was one of my main clients for a number of years, principally the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources in relation to their diamond mining assets and business ventures with De Beers. I was the main lawyer advising the Botswana Government on their proportion of the US$1billion equity injection in the recent refinancing of De Beers. I also worked as part of a 3-man legal team advising the Botswana Government in 2006 on (i) the renewal of mining licences to De Beers and (ii) the much wider negotiations on the Government/De Beers relationship and the establishment of a joint venture with De Beers in relation to the sorting and valuing of Botswana's diamonds.
(i) I was seconded for a short while to HM Treasury to act as a liaison between the UK Treasury and Slaughter and May in relation to the firm's advice during the Northern Rock bank run, at the onset of the financial crisis in 2007.
(iii) I was seconded to Istithmar World (Dubai), the private equity investment arm of Dubai World for 8 months. I was the Senior Legal Counsel to the aviation and venture capital businesses of Istithmar Wo
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Education: |
Advocates for International Development: October 2011 - May 2012: Voluntary course. Completed
Legal Practice Course (2000 - 2001) at Nottingham Law School (Nottingham, England): Awarded Distinction
MA BA Hons Law at the University of Cambridge (1997 - 2000): Awarded 2:1
A' Levels at Bolton School Girls' Division (Bolton, England): 4 As
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Affiliations and Achievements: |
I am currently on the board of the Regional London Group of Mosaic, a HRH Princes' Trust charity that seeks to provide mentoring support to underprivileged young children throughout the UK.
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Available for: |
- Consulting assignments
- Job opportunities
- Internships / Fellowships
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