Law takes Tala from Middle East to North East | 27 November 07
A COMMERCIAL lawyer from Jordan has been finding out how lawyers in the North-East do business on a week-long visit to Tyneside.
Warm welcome – (from left) Marian Martin and Paula Myers of Ward Hadaway with Tala Al Mauge of Zaru Associates and Alexia Dawson of Ward Hadaway.
Tala Al Mauge, a partner at Zaru Associates in Amman, spent time in a range of departments at Newcastle-based law firm Ward Hadaway as part of an exchange programme organised by Women into the Network (WIN).
Tala, who holds an MBA in addition to her law degree, worked with members of the commercial, employment and litigation teams at Ward Hadaway and attended events including a client dinner, a Business Executive Network meeting and an event for young entrepreneurs.
Her main hostesses during the week at the firm were commercial litigation partner, Paula Myers, commercial associate Alexia Dawson and employment partner Marian Martin.
Tala said: “It has been a great experience and I have really enjoyed my time at the firm.
“I think I was very fortunate to be placed with Ward Hadaway. Everyone here has been very helpful, very welcoming and very open in terms of giving out information and being eager to teach and to learn.
“The way business is done here is actually very similar to how we do things in Jordan, although the weather is very different!”
Paula Myers will be visiting Tala in Amman next year to find out more about the legal sector in Jordan.
Paula said: “We have really enjoyed having Tala at Ward Hadaway and we hope to have given her a real flavour of what life is like at a leading regional law firm in the UK.
“I am sure it will be fascinating for me to see how Tala works when I visit Zaru Associates next year.”
Tala was one of five business women from Amman who visited the North-East during the week as part of an international project led by the British Council to tackle the issue of cultural and traditional stereotyping of women’s roles in the workplace and society.
The other members of the delegation visited female business representatives and WIN members in the region from Young Enterprise North East, The B Group, Newcastle Girls School and Mechetronics.
Female journalists from the United Arab Emirates-based TV station ‘Al Arabiya’ accompanied the group and reported on their visit.
Dinah Bennett, WIN programme director at Durham Business School, said: “This was a really successful visit which has been of immense benefit to everyone who took part.
“The WIN model is becoming increasingly recognised internationally as the blueprint to promote networking and entrepreneurship between women in different professions.
“It aims to build a dialogue for exchanging and sharing experiences so that we can advance the international debate on the role of women in public life and bring about attitudinal change.”
Yara Shahzadeh, Jordanian representative on the British Council, said: “Durham Business School’s WIN model successfully assists the integration of women entrepreneurs, both aspiring and practising into existing business networks in the North East and business women in other countries can benefit from its practices.”