Alison joins W Legal from the oil & gas services industry (Shell and Aramco EMEA) and prior to that high quality Law Firms including Sidley & Austin, Watson, Farley & Williams, and Minter Ellison. She holds a BA, LLB and Masters with a Japanese government Scholarship (Monbusho Scholarship) in International Law and Economics from the University of Kyushu. In addition to being a Solicitor she has studied with INSEAD and is also a Chartered Arbitrator (with listing on various international lists of Arbitrators).

Experienced in international cross border deals, contentious and uncontentious work; for the past 10 years she has specialized in international regulations and Ethics & Compliance. As Chief Compliance Officer of Aramco EMEA (appointed in 2016) she was a significant part of its Compliance Transformation Program, leading to its record-breaking listing on the Tadawal (Saudi Bourse).

She has extensive practical experience of building Ethics & Compliance programs, from policies and procedures stakeholder engagement, embedding understanding and knowledge and remediation and continuous improvement. The range of enterprises she has worked with is varied in size and operational area. Specifically, she is familiar with Trade and sectorial sanctions, classifications, the Dual Use Legislation, ITAR, data privacy, Fraud, AML and KYC processes internationally.

She is highly competent at dealing with risk assessments, investigations and responding with remediation. She firmly believes that Ethics & Compliance is especially significant with support from the top and following the best practices represented by Sapin II, the SFO and Article 8 of the USSG and current guidance.

She is recognized in various publications for her research and knowledge on international Law and Conflicts of Law. Although she grew up in the UK she has embraced all her international experience in the Law and especially her years in the Netherlands working in a consensual manner with all vested stakeholders.