Alexander is a partner in the construction and dispute management practice in our Doha office and is part of our Middle East construction team. Alex regularly acts for contractors, consultants, employers and funders in Qatar and the wider Middle East.
He is experienced in both contentious and non-contentious matters, and prides himself on his ability to support a client from the inception of a project, provide commercial and pragmatic advice at all stages of the project life-cycle, take a firm and reliable lead in commercial negotiations and mediations to push a project to completion, and provide thorough and cost effective solutions when arbitration or litigation is unavoidable.
Alex has substantial experience in preparing Qatari law advice on a range of issues, including assignment and novation, termination and suspension, contractual inception, debt recovery, liability periods, interest, prevention and delay. Alex combines a clear and succinct advisory style with a detailed understanding of the relevant industry issues.
In addition, Alex is experienced in the drafting, amendment and negotiation of construction documentation, including construction and development agreements, consultancy agreements, warranties, bonds and joint venture arrangements. He regularly acts on the 'front end' of projects in Qatar and the region. Alex also reviews and negotiates FIDIC, JCT, NEC, Ashghal and bespoke forms of building contracts, and RIBA, ACE, FIDIC and bespoke forms of consultancy appointments.
Examples of his experience include:
– Arbitration: Acted for a ground-works contractor as claimant in a high value ICC arbitration regarding the termination of a contract for the construction of a leisure resort, including issues such as the quantification of works, the allocation of delay responsibility and concurrency, and liability for consequential losses.
– QFC Courts: Acted for an international contractor on a claim against a bank in the QFC Courts, including complex issues of Qatari and QFC law, bad faith and fraud, and the quantification of consequential losses.
– Claims advice: Acted for a European contractor on the Doha Metro in the preparation of claims, including strategic claims guidance, the preparation of a template form of claim
document, and detailed claims input.
Contract interpretation: Acted for an international contractor on a hotel project, including detailed analysis of issues such as concurrency, force majeure, damages quantification, omissions and certifications.
– Settlement: Drafted a bespoke and highly complicated settlement agreement in respect of a medical facility in Qatar, including extensive consultation with stakeholders, technical experts and commercial representatives, and the drafting of bespoke testing, hand-over and valuation mechanisms.
Alex was admitted to practice in England and Wales in 2010. He attended Durham University
(2006), BSc, and then Oxford Brookes University (2007), LLB, Graduate Diploma in Law, and completed his LPC at Nottingham Law School (2008).
