
Firm boosts international private wealth offering with new partner
Charles Russell Speechlys has welcomed Amira Shaker-Bortman as a partner in its private client team. Amira is based in the firm’s London office and joins Charles Russell Speechlys from McDermott Will & Emery.
Amira has over 15 years’ experience acting for ultra-high net worth individuals, family offices and respective investment holding companies on corporate transactional and advisory matters. Her primary area of focus is advising on complex, cross-border investment structuring and wealth management, as well as acting for clients on the acquisition of high-value assets and financial instruments in Europe, the US and the Middle East.
Most of Amira’s clients are based in the Middle East, where she acts for ruling family PEPs and their corporate structures. At Charles Russell Speechlys, she will be instrumental in expanding the reach of the firm’s international private client offering in the Middle East and beyond.
Amira said of her appointment: ‘Charles Russell Speechlys’ presence and commitment to providing world-class private client and private wealth legal services in the Middle East is hugely attractive to the clients I look after and to me personally. In turn, my Middle East private wealth experience is a complementary addition to the firm’s private client capabilities.
‘I am particularly keen to be an interface between offices and divisions to broaden the firm’s reach in the UAE and wider AGCC region. I also look forward to contributing to and building on the firm’s client base of high-net worth individuals, particularly prominent female investors in the Middle East.’
Piers Master, partner and head of private wealth, added: ‘We have a high-profile private client team in the UK, and one of the strongest Middle East private capital practices of any international firm. While Amira’s arrival is a boost to our London team, where she will be based, given the growing demand for locally based legal advice in the Middle East, her ability to assist our teams there will be particularly valuable.’