Latham and Dewey Do... Dubai?
(And an open thread on Middle East opportunities.)
Some time ago, we received this request by email:
Is there any way to do a posting or open thread about what COLA biglaw firms are handing out overseas? Specifically, I was interested in what associates are getting to go to Dubai.
At the time, we viewed the topic as rather obscure, of interest to just a handful of people. Why not do an open thread on, say, lawyers in Burkina Faso? (No offense to Burkina Faso.)
But maybe we underestimated the allure of the Middle East -- which will, thanks to gushing oil revenues, own most of the U.S. soon anyway. On Sunday, we heard this from a tipster at Latham & Watkins:
Here's an email that went out to the firm today [about LW opening offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha]. Why Sunday? No idea, but rumors were going around about it, so they probably wanted to make an announcement before it leaked out. [Update: A tipster tells us, "Sunday is the first day of the work week in Dubai. Friday is the day of rest, so the weekend is Fri-Sat, not Sat-Sun."]Apparently, some Latham corporate associates have been asked if they would go to these new offices for a certain period of time. I have no details, but I hear they are getting handsome benefits and bonuses to go there. With domestic corporate/finance work slow, this is an opportunity for the firm to shore itself up by moving people there from slower offices.
And Latham isn't the first major law firm to venture into the region in 2008. Late last month, Dewey & LeBoeuf announced the opening of a full-service Dubai office.
Check out the Latham memo, after the jump. And if you'd like to talk about legal job opportunities in the Middle East, please treat the comments to this post as an open thread (because who knows when we'll post again about this part of the world). Thanks.
LATHAM & WATKINS -- MEMORANDUM -- EXPANSION IN THE MIDDLE EAST
TO: ALL PERSONNEL
FROM: BOB DELL
SUBJECT: EXPANSION IN THE MIDDLE EAST - DUBAI, ABU DHABI AND DOHA
We are pleased to announce Latham & Watkins' expansion into the Middle East with the opening of our newest offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and Doha, Qatar. We expect these three offices to open late next month.
Our Middle East offices will focus on M&A, private equity, project development and finance, structured finance, leveraged finance and capital markets, and will significantly bolster our practice in one of the most dynamic markets in the global economy. While we already have substantial experience advising companies and financial institutions operating in the Middle East, having a physical presence in the region is strategically very important for our continued global expansion. The region's significant M&A and investment work -- including both cross-border and regional deal activity -- present significant opportunities for our Corporate and Finance practices.
Corporate partner Rindala Beydoun will serve as the Office Managing Partner for the three offices. Rindala has broad experience across a number of industries and has advised extensively on M&A and private equity deals and real estate projects in the region. She joins us from Vinson & Elkins LLP, and worked previously in a senior in-house position at MasterCard International.
A number of other Latham partners and associates will transfer to our Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha offices in the coming months. They will bring a wide range of experience and expertise with them, as well as core values of the Latham culture. One of the most important aspects of our successful growth over the past several years has been our consistency in maintaining the quality, teamwork, collegiality, meritocracy, entrepreneurship and committee-driven management style that have been so vital to our "one-firm" culture. These and other firm attributes will continue to drive our success.
Please join us in welcoming Rindala to the Latham & Watkins family, and share in our excitement about our newest offices in the Middle East.
* Please note: we have issued a firm press release to the media announcing our Middle East expansion. If you receive a media inquiry related to this announcement, please do not comment and refer all inquiries to Bill Voge or Rindala Beydoun, or to Geoff Burt in the firm's press office.
Latham & Watkins to Launch in the Middle East [Latham & Watkins]
Dewey & LeBoeuf Opens Dubai Office [Dewey & LeBoeuf]
(48) Comments
Texas Firms OWN the Emirates market! Texas to OIL!!!!!
Look out for the ninjas (see picture)
I think King and Spalding has been in the middle east for several years.
Dubai is one of the few places in the middle east where you can get completely wasted: so that's a bene too.
Dewey in Dubai? My guess is that D&L's new office in Dubai is due in large part to LeBoeuf's energy practice. A good city to be in I suppose as oil breaks $100 a barrel - again. Any D&L insiders that can shed some light on how things are going over there post-merger?
Things are going okay here--much better than the first few weeks post-merger. Of course, firm bonuses get paid out on the 29th so there may still be a mass exodus (especially of legacy Dewey people) after that...
Somehow I foresee Jewish lawyers getting blamed for taking all the good jobs in the Middle East...perhaps in furtherance of our gift of democracy we can now extend the concepts of diversity hiring, LGBT dinners. ADA claims and maternity leave to our Arab business partners.
Why just legacy dewey people? firms generally see some kind of exodus after bonuses are paid, although today's market may slow that a bit this year.
White & Case opened an Abu Dhabi office just a few months ago, but has been doing business in the region for years..
I dunno Lat-- I realize that this is a US-focused blog (as it should be) but if this is "obscure", it's only because US firms have been outflanked overseas. Instead of just a Dubai thread, why not do a "US associates overseas" thread? That might yield a little bit more information about COLAs, housing allowances, perks and bonuses.
I agree with 4:20. I am considering overseas positions in Hong Kong and Singapore and would like to know the market COLAs and comp packages for those areas.
Does anyone know if these international firms in Dubai do India-related capital markets work? Or is most of that work done via Singapore or London offices?
Gibson Dunn just opened an office there a couple months ago, too.
Any Big Law have offices in Israel? Figure with all the high tech, someone must, right?
I don't have specific numbers (which makes my comment somewhat unhelpful, I know), but it was recently communicated to associates at my firm (in a firm meeting) that my firm is willing to pay huge COLAs to associates who are willing to relocate to places like Dubai and Abu Dhabi AND that we would have much better chances at partnership if we did so. The feeling at my firm seems to be that you can't be a major player in the US without an established presence in international markets. So, it doesn't sound like an obscure topic at all to me.
My old firm, which had a couple of branches in the middle east, pays a housing allowance and a COLA (which is probably more generous than it needed to be) for each of its non-US, non-London offices. I have to think that something like that is standard. Anyone have any numbers?
COLA in Dubai make little sense. The salary there tends to be the same as the NY scale, there is no (or at least very little) tax to speak of, and the COL is somewhere between NY and DC. The only hurdle is that the real estate market in Dubai is tough and you usually have to plunk down a year's rent in advance -- so many firms are allowing salary advances at no interest to make that payment and a month or two in a hotel to help you secure an apt.
I worked in London and commuted to the middle east on deals for a couple of months at one point, which I wouldn't recommend: the different work weeks mean you worked through Friday in London, flew out Saturday, then worked Sunday through Tuesday or so, flew back to London Tuesday night, and worked through Friday again, rinse, repeat. Yuck.
That said, I know people who've worked (and lived) in Bahrain and loved the experience. I guess the moral is that if you want to work in the middle east, go all the way and live there.
The other bene (if you aren't a US citizen) is that there is no income tax. So if you a UK solicitor that moves and becomes a resident over there, no taxes! Unfortunately, the US taxes US residents wherever they may reside.
DLA's already there
Akin Gump just closed its Dubai office and opened up an Abu Dhabi office. Dubai is so 2005.
What are COLAs in Hong Kong and Shanghai like?
I think you can get both Coke and Pepsi in Hong Kong. I am not sure of the COLA situation in Shanghai.
NYC is a dead market. Do you people not see the writing on the wall? Oil is at $100! The U.S. -- and possibly global -- economy is about to collapse!
As Lat pointed out, the Middle East will soon own the U.S. The good times are over. Why are we not discussing our options in this new world we are about to enter?
Forget the bonuses, just be happy if you have a job at all by the end of 2008.
To 6:25, you're nuts
6:25, do you have your bunker fully stocked?
I'm just glad I won't ever be asked to go there. No need for an employment lawyer where there are no laws to protect employees or constrain what an employer can do to them.
What amount of money could make you want to move to a place where you get gang-raped and then they charge you for sodomy/adultery?
I think 1 billion. Exactly 1 billion would be enough.
middle east is interesting to visit, but i would imagine the novelty would wear off very quickly if living there. every sentence ends with praise allah.
hahahaha. 6:03 is damn funny
On the upside, if you get in with one of the thousands of member of a royal family, you can accompany them on one of their charming "desert picnics" where they molest and rape little boys.
Shearman has an office there and just represented the Abu Dhabi investment arm in the Citi deal.
I used to be an NYC associate and am living and working in Hong Kong. I think housing is probably comparable to what you would pay in most major cities- maybe even close to what you would pay in NY. However, other costs such as clothing, dinners out, cabs and everything else, is definitely less expensive. Not necessarily cheap- but definitely less expensive than New York.
How much it total comp for a year?
8:32: excellent comment. 'Nuff said.
Guys in my high school used to work in Dubai all the time, 'twas no biggie:)
10:17
My comp is on par with NY base salaries, plus I get a housing allowance. Won't know what my bonus is, until I get one (won't know for another 3 weeks).
Taking bets on first law firm with a decapitation
females to burqas!!
What silly and ignorant comments
*dances arabian style*
Yeah, 5:06, COLAs is Dubai "don't make sense." They really don't even make sense in Hong Kong, if you're already paid a housing allowance. It's not really (as far as I can tell) a true adjustment based on a COLA calculator-- rather it's more like a bonus for living somehwere else (like a "hardship posting"). I wouldn't really argue against it anymore than I'd argue against 100k bonuses.
As for taxes, keep in mind that only your first 80k is cut out of your US taxes. You have to pay US taxes on the rest, so Dubai's tax situation isn't really as advantageous for US citizens as it is for most Europeans. Also, you can easily end up paying AMT as a result of the 80k, so again, that cuts into the tax advantages of places like Dubai and HK. Bottom line is: don't let your firm tell you they don't need to pay you more because of the "low taxes" abroad.
They can't send gays to Dubai. Homosexuality is illegal there.
Dubai is nothing. White & Case has an office in Riyadh.
What is the role of female lawyers in the Middle East? Do firms let their female associates go?
Yes, they let their female associates go to places like Dubai. It's a lot more like other expat finance centers than other places in the middle east. Riyadh might be a different story though.
COLA in Dubai - or some approximation - makes a lot of sense for associates coming from the US. US lawyers are at a comparative disadvantage to UK and Australian lawyers (to the degree that lawyers from those or other jurisdictions are as desirable for clients) given the declining dollar value and tax issues outlined above. One way around this other than a COLA or hardship pay (which starts to make sense the longer i have to wait for and sit in a taxi every day) is subsidized housing, since the housing market in Dubai is comparatively expensive - not far, in most of the desirable neighborhoods, from what one would pay in New York.
9:49 - in Dubai, cabs are cheaper; clothes, food and entertainment are not any cheaper than they are in New York.
5:26 - Akin Gump closed in Dubai and is trying to open in Abu Dhabi because they lost their team to D&L. Dubai is most definitely the preferable location (though offices in both cities are desirable).
4:04 - D&L's new office in Dubai is due in large part to LeBoeuf's presence in Saudi as well as the recognition by management that there is a tremendous amount of business in the region and comparatively little competition.