Logie-Smith Lanyon employs Shari’ah adviser

According to LexisNexis publication Lawyers Weekly, Logie-Smith Lanyon, a firm of lawyers with its HQ in Melbourne has engaged a Shari’ah law advisor in the form of Sheikh Mohamadu Nawas Saleem. Sheikh Mohamadu Nawas Saleem migrated to Australia in 2000 and was educated in Sri Lanka where he completed a seven year course in Islamic Studies & Arabic at Jamiah Naleemiya Islamiya in 1983.

He worked as a Lecturer in the Matriculation Centre at the International Islamic University, Malaysia for almost 10 years before the move to Australia where he gained a Graduate Certificate of Education (Professional Development Studies) from Monash University in 2007.

Commenting on the appointment, Hyder Gulam, a senior lawyer at Logie-Smith Lanyon and board member of the Islamic Council of Victoria, told Lawyers Weekly: "Sheikh Nawas provides a unique expertise in his training under the common law system (as followed in Australia) and his expertise in the understanding of Shari’ah law." Sheikh Nawas serves on the executive committee of the Australian National Imams Council. "It was a great honour to be part of Logie-Smith Lanyon and to be one of the first consultant Shariah advisors to a law firm in Australia," he said in a statement.

Sheikh Nawas obtained a Bachelor of Law and Master in Comparative Laws at the International Islamic University in Malaysia and also works as an interpreter and translator in Tamil for a number of Federal Government agencies.

While the Gulf and Malaysia are knee-deep in lawyers with a specialisation in Islamic finance, Australia is only at the start of the curve – and we can expect to see more developments of this sort before long.