Alastair Young
Senior Advisor
Alastair Young, Senior Advisor at EMIR, is a seasoned executive with over 35 years of experience in leadership, legal, and advisory roles across the Middle East, Europe, and the UK. He also has experience working in the US, Japan and South Korea. Alastair advises clients on leadership, risk, and stakeholder management in multicultural and geographically diverse environments.
Alastair recently concluded his roles as the Regional Managing Partner of Dentons’ Middle East business and a member of Dentons’ UKIME LLP Executive Committee. During his tenure, he managed Dentons’ Middle East business across nine offices in seven countries. He previously restructured and revitalised Dentons’ Dubai office, transforming it into the region’s highest-performing office and rebuilding Dentons’ Middle East dispute resolution team into one of the firm’s most profitable teams.
Alastair began his career in the British Army, serving nine years. He then qualified as a barrister and practised at the Independent Bar for eleven years. In 2011, he joined Dentons as a construction law litigator and moved to Dubai in 2016.
His notable achievements include managing Dentons’ Middle East business across a diverse and rapidly changing economic environment; leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic, which included implementing a successful remote working and risk-sharing strategy; resolving very sensitive issues in both Qatar and Saudi Arabia; and leading a large, multicultural, and skilled team in a significant arbitration concerning the construction of Dubai Airport Terminal 3.
As an executive coach (Meyler Campbell 2024), Alastair focuses on leadership in general and resilient leadership specifically, as well as the building and maintenance of high-performing teams. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and has served on various boards, including St Philips Chambers and Apperio. His career is marked by strong leadership and the ability to drive change, growth, and operational excellence across multiple sectors and regions.