BEYOND COMMON PRACTICE
Burhan Almarifa is focused on maturing the legal sector, encouraging innovation, and enabling research and development in KSA through knowledge transfer and consultancy.
BIOGRAPHY
Her Royal Highness Princess Hala bint Khaled bin Sultan Al-Saud is the founder of Burhan Almarifa as well as the Saudi Law Conference and Chairman of its organizing committee since its launch in 2018. With a passion to preserve and conserve the ocean, she is also a Director of the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation’s board since 2016. Princess Hala is also the ICC Young Arbitrators Forum representative for KSA. She started her career in 2008 as a legal researcher at the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority Economic Cities Agency (SAGIA-ECA), and then as a legal advisor at SAGIA-ECA. She is currently a legal advisor at Faisal bin Adel Abu Khalaf Law Firm. Princess Hala graduated with a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Wellesley College in 2005 and then earned her jurist doctorate degree from Boston University School of Law in 2008.Burhan Almarifa is a platform for information and knowledge transfer. Could you tell us more about the organization?
Burhan Almarifa has two business pillars: transfer of knowledge and consultancy, the purpose of which is to develop initiatives and programs that will support and advance legal professionals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This will eventually promote specializations and expertise within the legal sector, whether in business law, intellectual property law, international humanitarian law, healthcare law, or environmental law, to name a few. One such initiative is SLC, which was inaugurated last year. We are also developing different training programs, publications, and digitalization projects for both the private and public sectors to promote cross-sector collaboration. This eventually extended to developing consultancy services that range from benchmarking and advising on regulations drafting to global strategic positioning of different initiatives. In order to fulfill our mission, we started establishing the “Burhan Network," which forms working partnerships with companies that are leaders in their fields both internationally and locally.
What do you envision for SLC in the next 10 years?
SLC positions itself as a platform for the transfer of knowledge from worldwide and national experts to our community on the key topics of the moment. The more important aspect of SLC, however, is the discussions that take place during the conference and recommendations that stem from those discussions. This is the first professional platform in the Kingdom that brings together policymakers, judges, lawyers, the private sector, and students to debate and discuss matters pertaining to their profession. In 10 years, I hope SLC is viewed internationally as the platform to gain knowledge on the legal trends of the year, that those discussions are led by Saudi experts, and that the recommendations SLC generates are substantive, practical, and effective to help develop the rule of law and truly elevate the legal profession, both nationally and internationally.
Why are IP and fintech the themes of SLC 2019?
The overarching theme of SLC is “Reinforcing a sustainable and inclusive business environment." With Saudi Arabia being party to a large number of IP international agreements and conventions, its obligations as a WTO member, the massive boom in new businesses and the influx of foreign investment into the Kingdom, protection of IP rights is a major topic of concern. Fintech, on the other hand, is a highly specialized, yet massively used, sector that is developing far quicker than the regulations that would regulate it, not just in the Kingdom, but internationally. Fintech is thought of as an independent sector, when in practice it touches upon almost every other sector. It is important to understand the issues that surround regulating this field, as we need to find the fine balance between too much regulation that may hinder future development and enough regulation to protect the consumer, whether individual, entity, or state.
What do you seek to achieve via Burhan Almarifa's vision to “elevate the legal profession"?
Saudi Arabia is a distinctive market in terms of the rate at which the number of lawyers is growing, which gives us a competitive advantage of having a relatively large young working force that is technologically savvy and has the potential to be leaders and experts in their respective fields. Burhan Almarifa strongly advocates specializing within the field. We believe that transferring international expertise to our legal practitioners will in the long run ensure the effectiveness, efficiency, stability and development of the legal sector.
BEYOND COMMON PRACTICE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Interview
Mohammed A. Al-Mowkley , Deputy Minister of Water Services, Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture & CEO, National Water Company (NWC)
NWC leads the Kingdom's efforts to preserve water as a non-renewable national resource and drastically reduce the average per capita water consumption.
read articleInterview
Majed H. Al Saadi , Managing Director, Priority Projects Office (PPO), Local Content and Government Procurement Authority
PPO and ECA act as an accelerator for the realization of Vision 2030 by bridging the gap between the private and public sectors and helping the government diversify the economy in the long run.
read articleInterview
HRH Princess Hala bint Khaled bin Sultan Al-Saud C, Chairman, Saudi Law Conference (SLC) organizing committee & Founder,, Burhan Almarifa
Burhan Almarifa is focused on maturing the legal sector, encouraging innovation, and enabling research and development in KSA through knowledge transfer and consultancy.
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