Meet the man behind the world’s first Shariah-compliant law firm who thinks this is the start of a new business model.
Moving from a high-profile position as the global head of DLA Piper’s Islamic finance practice, Oliver Agha went it alone earlier this year to launch the world’s first Shariah-compliant law firm in the UAE, Agha & Shamsi, a move which stunned and intrigued many in the legal industry.
The firm’s mantra is ‘Principle before Profit,’ and its founding partner is certainly principled. So much so, in fact, that early this year he went where others wouldn’t dare, at a time when the world’s economy was in turmoil from the first wave of the financial crisis. By going fully Shariah lawcompliant, Agha & Shamsi would be turning away many ‘conventional’ clients and big-ticket legal work, which is the foundation behind many of the world’s most successful law firms. What led to this sudden breakthrough and why, more importantly, the timing?
Agha says he’d been contemplating the idea for a number of years, and it was in fact, the perfect time, considering the growing number of clients in the Islamic banking sector. “There were a number of triggers for this, but overall, it was the right climate,” Agha said. “There are many Islamic banks and Islamic insurance companies who feel comfortable with a service provider with a similar mindset. I believe some clients would be best served if they had an independent base of lawyers that practiced their own conduct in accordance with Shariah, as well as offering Shariah services.”
The other ‘trigger’ was spiritual. Following Agha’s high-ranking corporate positions in the world’s biggest law firms (Clifford Chance’s Saudi affiliated firm and Fulbright), the independence that opening up a niche firm offered was highly attractive. “Having worked at large law firms my entire professional career, I was very interested in setting up a law firm with an express ethical mandate, which serves the law and … a higher spiritual purpose,” he explained.
“Of course it also means you can chart your own course – there’s a lot of independence in being a farmer waiting for the rain to come, rather than working on someone else’s land.”