Dentons Elevates Suzannah Fairbairn and Paul Prescott to New Roles in MENA Offices

Dentons Elevates Suzannah Fairbairn and Paul Prescott to New Roles in MENA Offices

Dentons, an international law firm, has announced the promotion of 13 lawyers to partners across its offices in the UK, Ireland, and the Middle East, with effect from May 1, 2023.

Among the newly appointed partners are Suzannah Fairbairn and Paul Prescott, who both come from the disputes practice in the MENA region. Over the past year, Dentons has also welcomed 14 new partners, bringing the total number of new partner hires in the region to 27.

“My congratulations to all of our new partners, whose promotions reflect the depth and diversity of talent that we have coming up through the ranks across the UK, Ireland and Middle East,” Paul Jarvis, UK, Ireland and Middle East (UKIME) CEO, said.

Dentons has said that the recent promotions in its UK, Ireland and Middle East offices are in line with the firm's new five-year strategy.

The strategy aims to establish a "Golden Thread" of connectivity across practices, sectors, and regions, allowing the firm to assist clients with their most intricate global matters.

Suzannah Fairbairn is a senior associate in Dentons' Middle East Construction and Engineering Practice, based in Dubai. She brings over 10 years of experience handling a diverse range of contentious and non-contentious construction matters, with a particular focus on the oil and gas, leisure, and multi-use infrastructure sectors.

Fairbairn has expertise in representing clients in arbitrations governed by major arbitration rules such as ICC, LCIA, DIAC, ADCCAC, and UNCITRAL, as well as ad hoc arbitrations. Her work frequently involves complex multi-party disputes arising from projects with multiple contractors.

Paul Prescott is a highly experienced senior associate who works in Dentons' Doha office as part of the Projects, Construction & Dispute Resolution team. With a career spanning 18 years, Prescott has provided valuable advice to clients operating in the infrastructure, real estate, energy, and water sectors.

Since 2012, Prescott has been based in Doha, where he has advised various entities, including government departments, investors, sponsors, developers, lender clients, D&B, and EPC contractors on significant construction, infrastructure, wastewater, and energy projects in the Middle East.

He has a wealth of knowledge and extensive experience in using the FIDIC suite of contracts, NEC, ICC, ICE, MF/1, and LOGIC standard form contracts for the procurement of construction and engineering projects. He is well-versed in advising clients on various project delivery methods, such as PPP arrangements, EPC arrangements, framework agreements, and target cost arrangements for the successful delivery of major construction, infrastructure, and energy projects.