The sky’s the limitx
From the towering skyscrapers of Dubai to the bustling streets of Cairo, the Firm’s Middle East region is highly diverse and anything but ordinary.
We’ve been involved in the region for more than 50 years through our relationship with Saudi national oil company Saudi Aramco, and opened our first office in the Middle East in Jeddah in 1989.
Since then our presence and reputation in the area have gone from strength to strength. We recently won recognition as Best Law Firm in Saudi Arabia at the 2017 IFLR Awards, where the Firm won six awards in total.
It’s the latest success in nearly three decades of growth, during which we’ve opened offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha and Riyadh, with Cairo added to the network in 2016.
“Each country also has its own distinctive identity.”
DOUG PEEL, MANAGING PARTNER
Doug Peel, who was named Managing Partner of the Year at the IFLR Middle East Awards, explains: “To describe the Middle East as a region is actually a bit misleading. Each of the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a market in itself, the GCC as a whole is different from the rest of the region, and Egypt is also very much a distinct market in its own right.
“Each country also has its own distinctive identity – when you visit Dubai you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in a city anywhere in the West, while you’d not be likely to think that in, say, Cairo or Riyadh.
“But one thing that the best clients in the region do tend to have in common is the way they do business – valuing personal and institutional relationships, and local presence, over price.
“This makes working here very different from the United States, Europe or Asia-Pacific and quite refreshing, because once you’ve established trust, the relationships tend to last and grow and there is less pressure on pricing.
“In Riyadh, it also helps that 80% of our colleagues are Saudis, so there is a genuinely local feel, an investment in people and tremendous potential to build on the relationships of our colleagues.”
The region has a formidable client base, with major clients including Saudi Aramco and TAQA in Saudi Arabia, Carbon Holdings, EFG Hermes and Orascom Construction in Cairo, ADNOC and ADWEA in Abu Dhabi, KBBO and DP World in Dubai and the QIA and Qatar Petroleum in Doha, and many others. The Disputes team also does work for the Omani Government.
New opportunities
Aspirations for future growth in the region are high, with the success of our Middle East Priority Clients program helping the team double its revenue from these nine clients from 2016 to 2017.
Revenue growth is steady with ongoing priorities including a focus on large clients and driving up revenue per lawyer by choosing the right work for the right clients and maintaining high rates of productivity.
“Saudi Arabia also has a
new crown prince with a
very ambitious vision,
so the amount of investment
from now until 2030 is
going to be phenomenal.”
The team is also relishing new opportunities that have developed from counter-intuitive circumstances.
Doug says: “People assume that the current low oil price would be a challenge for us but, while it is a source of economic trouble for the region, it actually presents a big opportunity.
“For instance M&A work is increasing because investors see attractive valuations; and the macro-economic pressures mean that there is a movement towards privatization and government reform, particularly in Saudi Arabia.
“Saudi Arabia also has a new crown prince with a very ambitious vision, so the amount of investment from now until 2030 is going to be phenomenal.”
New horizons
Another exciting development for our Middle East team was the opening of our Cairo office in 2016.
Doug says: “Adding Cairo is strategically important and we do a lot of cross-border work between Egypt and London, Saudi and the UAE.
“Eighty percent of the team is Saudi, and half of those are women lawyers. It’s made for a really exciting, dynamic office.”
“Cairo was on the radar for a long time, but ultimately our timing looks to have been perfect because we opened just as reforms really began to take root and the IMF began lending again. It’s a vibrant market with a deep culture and I’m excited to see what our team achieves.”
It’s been an exciting time in Riyadh too, where our 18-month old association with the Law Firm of AlSAlloum & AlToaimi has paved the way for greater diversity and reaped immediate results.
“Since the first quarter of 2016 we’ve gone from a team of 11 people to 25. Eighty percent of the team is Saudi, and half of those are women lawyers. It’s made for a really exciting, dynamic office.
“To have also been named Saudi law firm of the year shows the extent of the progress we’ve made in Saudi Arabia in the past 18 months.”
Massive investment
Success in Saudi is strategically vital to our success in the region – it is the dominant economy with an unrivalled level of investment.
“You only have to look at the plans laid out at the Future Investment Initiative Conference in October to see how startling the numbers are,” Doug explains. “The plans for NEOM alone (a new economic city in Saudi’s northwest), require $500 billion of investment over 20 years, which is unlike anything else in the region or even the world.”
So how does Doug see our business in the region developing? He says: “I see us going from strength to strength as we build on our excellent team, premier client base, presence in key markets and the numerous high-value opportunities available to us in the region.”
