The ever-expanding number of international firms setting up shop in Dubai has attracted many senior Australasian lawyers to the region. ALB finds out what lures them to the emirate

Legal recruiters have called Dubai the 'flavour of the month', but those who have tried it seemed to like what they have tasted. The emirate is here to stay as an overseas destination and has thrown down the gauntlet to competitors in the battle over senior lawyers who do not shun the expat lifestyle.

After a brief slowdown last year, the invasion of international firms in Dubai has been reinitiated with full force. Early this year Herbert Smith and Lovells opened branches in Dubai, while US firm Chadbourne & Parke reopened its office after a 14-year absence. Cayman Islands firm Walkers established a presence in November last year and fellow offshore firm Ogier is rumoured to open up shop soon.

This has resulted in a run for senior lawyers to staff their newly established offices. "[Demand] has picked up in the last six months, especially with new UK firms entering the market," says Amanda Bear, director of legal recruitment specialist Dolman.

But it's not only the new firms that are on a recruitment mission; firms from the first wave are also looking to expand. "There was consolidation after law firms had done some aggressive hiring, but as people settled in, they realised they didn't have enough resources," says Bear. Mark Anderson, consultant Middle East for Laurence Simons in London confirms the image drawn by Bear: "We have near a hundred vacancies across the region."

The demand for lawyers is especially high in areas such as corporate & commercial, banking & finance, projects and real estate. Lawyers with experience in popular growth areas such as Islamic compliant financing and insurance are also desirable.

Dubai has drawn many Australian and New Zealand lawyers, either directly from firms here or from London-based firms, and the chances are high that many are to follow. "There are less senior lawyers arriving here from the UK and many firms now look to Australia and New Zealand as a primary resource for talent," says New Zealander Scott Campbell, who is a partner with Linklaters and helped to establish the firm's Dubai office.

The beginnings

The financial boom in Dubai has partly been linked with the September 11 attacks in the US. After the attacks, a great deal of Arab money invested in the US came back and was looking for a home. This state of affairs, combined with the money that traditionally has come out of Iran due to a substantial part of Dubai's population tracing back their origins across the Gulf, has established Dubai as an important financial centre of the Arab world.

The historic records of the oil price have added to the availability of funds in the region and made sure there are no liquidity problems. Dubai itself, however, derives a relatively small percentage of its revenues from oil - only 6% of its gross domestic product. The drivers behind its local economy, which until the 1930s was known for its pearl exports, are finance, technology and real estate.

The city of Dubai has been described as the fastest-growing city on earth; it is spending incredible sums on the construction of mega-projects. "20% of the world's cranes are in Dubai at the moment," says Zubair Mir, partner with Herbert Smith. A rough estimate shows that about US$100bn worth of projects are either underway or planned for the near future, almost twice the foreign investment in China.

Examples of these monster projects include the three world-renowned artificial peninsulas called 'palms', which feature hotels and signature villas. It is also making a bid to create the world's tallest building, named the 'Burj Dubai', which is expected to be around 800 metres tall and cost around US$1m per metre.

The combination of external investment and the available capital for the region to invest has lead to substantial economic growth and has attracted many large international banks to the region. "The arrival of a number of leading international banks has attracted firms like ours to the market," says Campbell.

The snowball effect that followed the establishment of the first international firms was accelerated by client demand. "The key change is that in the past, clients were satisfied to run a deal in the Middle East, using the resources of a law firm's headquarters in for example London," says Anderson. "Now, the market sophistication has changed and clients expect that the lawyers they deal with are face-to-face contacts and that they can meet them on the ground."

Dubai's appeal

The reasons for senior lawyers to move to Dubai vary, but salary is an important driver. Not only is income tax free for expatriates, but salary levels are also comparable or higher than in Australia and are still rising. "I just had a senior candidate - who is already in Dubai - accepting another offer and she said she was amazed to see the salaries going up day by day," says Bear.

Lifestyle is also a big drawcard; the majority of the population is made up of expatriates from South Asia and Southeast Asia, while the emirate is also home to some 100,000 British. The scala of travel destinations also adds to the temptation. Options include not only the Middle East and Asia region, but Dubai is only seven hours from London and Europe and is also on the travel route to Australia and New Zealand.

Besides these perks, the quality of work on offer forms an important motivation for lawyers to relocate. The quality is high and the industry is only getting more sophisticated. Campbell has been in Dubai for more than six years and joined Linklaters almost one-and-a-half years ago.

"I was initially attracted to Dubai by the quality of work and since then the quality of work has improved exponentially," he says. Billion-dollar deals are more often occurring in the region; Campbell, for instance, advised Saudi Oger/Oger Telecom on its US$6.55bn acquisition of a majority stake in Turk Telecom.

"The quality of work is equivalent to what we were working on in London," adds Mir. He articled with Corrs in Melbourne and went to London to work with Linklaters for a period of three years. After that he joined Norton Rose and moved to the Middle East, to the Kingdom of Bahrain, in 2001. He has been in Dubai since 2003.

Mir advised Emirates Telecommunications Corporation on its US$2.9bn of Egypt's third mobile operator license and its US$2.65bn acquisition of a 26% stake in Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited. The latter transaction involved a privatisation by the government of Pakistan and was the largest transaction in the history of the country.

There are many drawcards, but of course there are some 'buts' as well. Dubai is no democracy; the Maktoum family has a tight grip on the emirate. The working and living conditions of the construction labourers and the domestic servants from South Asia are notoriously bad and expatriates find many limitations in their way.

However, when you accept these conditions Dubai has a lot to offer, especially when you compare it with some of the other countries in the region. Dress codes are less stringent than in most Arab nations; bikinis and sunbathing on the beach are not an issue. It is also a very safe country, with police having a firm grip on society.

Enlisting Australasians

Australian and New Zealand lawyers make up an increasingly larger portion of the expatriate legal professionals in the emirate. Recruiters say these lawyers' popularity with international firms is due to their high level of education and commercial savvy.

Holman Fenwick & Willan has three Australian and one New Zealand lawyer working in their Dubai office, which counts 13 lawyers in total. Richard Jowett, who has worked almost a decade in Dubai, agrees with the image portrayed by recruiters. He says there might also be a historic reason for their popularity: "There used to be a perception that they were less costly than equivalently trained and experienced European lawyers, but I'm no longer convinced this is the case. Nonetheless, they compete well in the market."

Jowett originally qualified as a solicitor in 1991 in Melbourne and after a stint in London he was offered a position in Dubai in May 1998. He is about to relocate to HFW's recently opened office in Melbourne.

What lies ahead

Recent appointments show that recruitment efforts show no sign of abatement, but rather have found renewed momentum. Herbert Smith announced at the end of April that it will relocate three partners from its London office to Dubai, doubling the number of partners on the ground. DLA Piper attracted Damian McNair and Jim Delkousis from Mallesons Stephen Jacques' Sydney and Perth offices.

In the realm of lateral movements, we saw DLA Piper poaching three lawyers to boost its Islamic finance practice mid-April. Abdulaziz Al Bosaily joined from Clifford Chance affiliate firm Al-Jadaan Law Firm and new senior associates Adil Hussain and Saqib Awan jumped ship at Norton Rose and Saudi Arabian firm Alliance Law Firm.

It seems that Dubai will attract many more senior lawyers from various jurisdictions to its ever-growing number of international firms. Efforts to lure Australasian legal professionals have been stepped up, after several large international law firms recently held extensive recruitment campaigns on our shores and it is likely that many senior lawyers will find the offer too good to refuse.