TORONTO – A Canadian Muslim has been named the global chair of Norton Rose Fulbright board, an international law firm with more than 4000 lawyers and other legal staff across the globe.

In accepting the challenge, Walied Soliman vows to focus on diversity and inclusion within the firm, Canadian Lawyer reported.

“Essentially, my role is going to be the chair of the global partnership board — a non-executive function but important governance function within the partnership and an important ambassadorial role outside of the firm,” Walied, who is also Canadian chairman at the firm in Toronto, said.

“Our number one goal remains our commitment to being widely regarded as the leading business law firm in each of our jurisdictions,” he says.

“That is what every single one of our lawyers wakes up every morning committed to delivering. The internal governance of law firms, while not very interesting from an outward-facing perspective, is very important in helping enable our lawyers to have all the very best tools to achieve the mission of being the very best they can be.”

Norton Rose Fulbright is an international law firm with thousands of lawyers and other legal staff based in 33 countries across Europe, the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East.

Soliman replaces Tricia Hobson, whose term as global chair expired by rotation on Dec. 31, 2018. The global chair role is for one year.

“The appointment of Walied Soliman to the role of global chair for Norton Rose Fulbright will be a boost to the continued growth of our global business,” said Peter Martyr, global chief executive, Norton Rose Fulbright, in a statement.

“Walied is a leading practitioner in the Canadian M&A, takeover defence, complex reorganizations and shareholder activism market. His extensive experience will be invaluable as we grow these practices worldwide.”

Canada is one of the world’s most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations with a population of 35 million.

Muslims are the fastest growing religious community in Canada, according to the country’s statistical agency, Statistics Canada.

Canada’s Muslim population increased by 82% over the past decade to more than 1 million in 2011. Muslims now represent 3.2% of Canada’s total population.

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