The Asia Chronicles: What is a Dubai?
[Ed. note: This post is authored by Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting — sponsor of the Asia Chronicles, and an ATL advertiser. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past two years. You can reach them by email: asia at kinneyrecruiting dot com.]
Evan here, writing from Dubai at my suite in the Burj Al Arab, in the first week of another month-long visit this stunning city. I just finished perusing through my usual daily go to websites for industry information, such as ATL and LawDragon.com. To my surprise, LawDragon.com just published a top 100 law firm consultants list, and named me as one of 15 recruiters, and the only Asia and Middle East focused recruiter, on the list (my shameless plug for the day). This tops off what has been another great day, here in Dubai.
Ever have one of those days when everything seems to go right? If you want to improve your chances for the perfect day, I suggest you check into the Burj Al, for pampering fit for a king. A few days ago, my wife and I checked into the smallest category of rooms at the Burj - a two story suite no less, complete with grand staircase, 6 person hot tub, two living room areas, two bathrooms (each big enough to be small hotel rooms) a fully equiped office, stunning views, and oh yes, the 24 hour butler (complete with tuxedo and coat tails), and BMW 7 and driver at your disposal.
To give you an idea of why this hotel deserves its claim of 7 star service, here is one example of many: Last night my wife and I invited over for drinks some of my associate friends from Gibson Dunn’s Dubai office (who are very happily employed, by the way, which is no surprise as the managing partner of their office is one of the most well regarded and nicest people in the business), as well as an old college buddy who happens to be in town. We met at the Sky View lounge on the 27th floor and had some drinks. After being there for about an hour, a bathroom attendant shows up to our table with a small package of breath mints. Strange, I thought, but no big deal, right?
Later, I found out that one of our guests had asked the lounge restroom attendant for a breath mint. No? No biggie. Turns out, the restroom attendant had a different take on the importance in this mint request and promptly made a call to our butler down on the 19th floor, who went down to the lobby to find some mints. Being that it was after 1am (and the middle of Ramadan) there was not much open down there, so the butler called up our suite’s chauffeur on call and the driver promptly drove off to pick up some mints from the nearby Jumeirah Beach sister hotel. The butler then gave about the nicest looking package of mints I have ever seen to the restroom attendant up in the lounge, so he could finally offer a mint to my friend.
But you have to hear about the suite, after the jump.
After an hour or so at the lounge, the group of us decided to go down to my suite. Our waiter called our butler letting him know that he overheard we were bringing guests to the suite. We were greeted by two bottles of champagnes, gratis, sitting on the expansive in-suite wet bar in chilled buckets. It was getting close to my birthday after all, and although no one mention the occasion to any Burj staff, they seemed to have been planning for it as if they were immediate family (today, on the actual birthday, my wife and I were given a gourmet birthday cake, spa services, 3 course dinner, along with a number of other small presents left in the suite).
A snapshot of what it is like to stay at the Burj Al is clearly not indicative of what it would be like to live in Dubai as an associate or partner at a major law firm. However, there is also a lot more to understanding living and working in this market than simply being made aware of a list of job openings at top US and British firms here. Considering the current state of the market in the US, many recruiting firms are suddenly proclaiming themselves to be experts on the Middle East, as well as Asia. For example, I noticed one advertisement recently where a US based recruiting firm made the claim that it is the only recruiting firm with a focus on Asia and the Middle East. Sadly, when a recruiter from the same firm earlier this year cold called a big law associate friend of mine in LA regarding Asia opportunities, she responded to his question, regarding whether she could discuss Dubai instead, with a counter question: “What is a Dubai?” Hilariously the same recruiter, only a few months later, now proclaims herself to be an expert on Dubai and is now on the prowl looking for US associates for Dubai, armed with a list of job openings, no less.
When an associate candidate for Dubai is referred to Kinney, we usually spend our initial discussions on living and working in Dubai, the practice area focuses, Islamic Finance, personalities of senior partners at various firms, the most sought after clients, and the top firms’ probable near-term, medium-term and long-term strategies in this market. Of course, just about any of the attorneys contacting us about Dubai are interested in working for top 20 US firms and magic circle British firms out here. That is a no-brainer. And, yes, we have the supposedly “exclusive” job lists too, to go along with our knowledge of which firms are interested in making opportunistic hires, regardless of whether they have a “need.”
Robert and I have been asked repeatedly by Asia Chronicles readers to write about Dubai and the Middle East. Thus, we will start explaining “what is a Dubai” over a series of new posts. Although I have the good fortune to be staying at Burj Al, Al Qasr and the new Atlantis over the next few weeks, while I wait for my apartment in Marina (a popular high rise residential area of Dubai) to be ready, we will not be writing any more about fancy hotels. Having a snap shot of the Burj Al, the region’s most recognizable symbol, is just a fun way to start writing about Dubai.
Just as with the Asia markets, as well as Moscow, we are on the ground quite often in Dubai. At the conclusion of Ramadan and Eid (where most US lawyers in Dubai run off for a few days on some Middle East adventure a short flight away), I plan to meet for the third time this year with senior partners of such Dubai and / or Abu Dhabi firms as Latham, Shearman, Gibson Dunn, Linklaters, Baker Botts, King & Spalding, Chadbourne, Bracewell, A&O, Clifford Chance, and others. Yes, another market report is forthcoming, this time on Dubai and Middle East. While you sit on the edge of your seat waiting for our Middle East market report, we will provide another few posts on living and working in Dubai.
Earlier: Prior installments of the Asia Chronicles (scroll down)
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The Asia Chronicles are sponsored by Kinney Recruiting. You can reach them by email: asia at kinneyrecruiting dot com.
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Reading about jobs in a market about which I have zero interest is more interesting, many times over, than any MysTTTal post, ever.
Ahhhh ... to be able to live like an old time colonialist with locals scurrying around fetching breath mints on demand. What a life?
Ahhhh ... to be able to live like an old time colonialist with locals scurrying around fetching breath mints on demand. What a life?
Nice to see ATL is whoring itself out to the highest bidder...
That is why this is in the "Sponsored Content" column. Treat it like an advertisement.
Ahhhh ... to be able to live like an old time colonialist with locals scurrying around fetching breath mints on demand. What a life?
Where would first year associates sign up for this at OCI, because I'm definitely willing to go, especially after all the financial crap hitting the fan over the past couple of weeks?
NYU 1L
This is way better and more interesting than anything MysTTTal has written. We should have Jowers and Kinney replace MysTTTal as editor.
garbage
Burj Al Arab is over $1,000 per night for the smallest room if you can afford it. But in general, Dubai has terrible air polution, is very hot in the summer and the food in the restaurants is bad.
Burj Al Arab is over $1,000 per night for the smallest room if you can afford it. But in general, Dubai has terrible air polution, is very hot in the summer and the food in the restaurants is bad. If you are considering moving to Dubai, suggest you visit first.
I tried to stay in Burj Al last year and the cheapest room was over $2,000 a night and it was booked solid. Don't care what services they offer, not worth it...
the guy can't write, but that list Evan is on at law dragon is pretty impressive, at least with regards to the handful of recruiters that are on there. I guess he is not full of bs after all. Or do these recruiters just pay off law dragon?
funny stuff
Evan, how selective are firms in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and are there foreign language requirements?
Why not just have a normal ad to show off being named a top 15 recruiter, rather than throw it in a post, completely out of place. A bit silly. I realize it is a sponsored post, but please keep out the silly plugs. Otherwise, it was entertaining.
probably paid off law dragon.
This is nothing. We live it up like this in Bratislava all the time.
this is a dubai:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/international/middleeast/26dubai.html?scp=2&sq=dubai%20india&st=cse
This assclown knows that all those obliging waiters and butlers zooming across town to fetch him a breath mint are slave labor imported from Indonesia, Phillippines, and elsewhere, right? And that if they didn't move fast enough to find the damn mint they'd be flogged and sent home penniless, right? And that their sisters who are working as maids cleaning his $2000-a-night room are routinely raped by management and clients, right? Never mind, it's 7-star luxury.
20, Evan here. Thanks for pointing out a big problem in Dubai that is very sad. Although my stay in the Burj Al for a fun week was a first time and perhaps only time thing for me (due to the outrageous cost), I can assure you that the people working there (at least the ones guests have interaction with) are not slave labor. These butlers, who I made light of because I don't normally have butlers running around for me and never asked the Burj Al ones to do so, are fluent in several languages (always English and usually Russian), extremely intelligent, and most seem to come from the concierge desk of some other luxury hotel. The tips they get are routinely in the 4 figures, upon a guest's departure. The driver for the suite happened to be a retired policeman. The question is whether very cheap labor helped to build the Burj Al... The problem in Dubai of very poor conditions for the labor force that helps build all the shiny buildings is not a problem that expats here simply dismiss. It is a very sad situation. However, living here and working here, and even going a little crazy and booking a week at the Burj Al, does not make the expats here "assclowns" or somehow ignorant of the labor conditions problem that exists here in Dubai. There is also a very sad prostitution problem here, with many of the sex workers coming from impoverished backgrounds and tricked into the industry. If you are so wonderful, why don't you run down to your town's local ghetto and open a soup kitchen or something, instead of sitting in your nice office like an assclown.
20, Evan here. And your stories of rape and flogging of hotel staff, by management and guests, are of course outrageous. The problem is in wages and living conditions of mainly construction workers, although probably some hospitality industry staff too, such as cleaning persons. But this problem exists unfortunately all over the world, in various degrees.
Evan, 20 here. Nice try assuaging your guilt at picking up a week at the Burj by saying it goes on all over the world, but sorry. Poor working conditions for the lowest paid workers exist all over the world, to a greater or lesser degree; slavery persists in only a very few corners of the world of which the Gulf states and the KSA are the most notorious examples, and that is qualitatively different from the life of a Vietnamese shoe factory worker. Western firms (among which is my own, hence the anonymous posting or else I'd be happy to have this discussion with you in the open) have no business sustaining and benefiting from the economies of those societies, propped up as they are by slavery and apartheid, but the fact that they do doesn't justify the lyrical tone you take in your post.
And yes, the rape of domestic and service workers in GCC states is outrageous. Glad we agree on that.
Evan,
Is there any realistic chance of being able to go overseas, Dubai specifically, after just 1 year of doing transactional work? I am at a V40-V50 firm.
Evan,
Is there any realistic chance of being able to go overseas, Dubai specifically, after just 1 year of doing transactional work here in the states? I am at a V40-V50 firm.
Evan,
Is there any realistic chance of being able to go overseas, Dubai specifically, after just 1 year of doing transactional work here in the states? I am at a V40-V50 firm.
evan,
you eats balls. i did a terrible job with you.
best wishes,
mom
Evan, HofstraMagna here. I have some questions, please address the following:
1) How does Hofstra place in Dubai?
2) How would a fairly recent Hofstra grad (magna cum laude and member of HLR) with no experience and an interest in international law do placement wise over there?
3) Can you get Mets and Jets games on TV?
Regards,
HM
1) About as well as it places anywhere else outside of Nassau and Suffolk counties: crappy
2) About as well as the Jets' defense this past Sunday.
3) Yes but the Jets are a bad TTTeam, but if Wayne Chrebet attended HofsTTTra, then the team is smarter without him.
Evan, what is the work-life balance like at U.S. practices of firms in Dubai and Abu Dhabi? How would you compare the hours to HK or NY?
Evan -- What is the difference in the type of work between Abu Dhabi and Dubai? I have seen some U.S. or British firms open offices in both places.
Evan, you need to ask Elie to put you back in the main column. I know you stay up longer when you're on the side like this but I forget to actually focus on you.
Ha! I notice there are no Jewish law firms listed as having Dubai offices!
No Paul Weiss, no Cleary, no Wilmer, no Fried Frank.
Ha! I notice there are no Jewish law firms listed as having Dubai offices!
No Paul Weiss, no Cleary, no Wilmer, no Fried Frank.
Great place to visit--see www.uaetorture.com
I rather find jobs on Outlines.com in the U.S. then have to deal with living in Dubai just to have a butler
I rather find jobs on Outlines.com in the U.S. then have to deal with living in Dubai just to have a butler
I acknowledge that CNBC and Bloomberg is pretty much all I watch these days but how could I have missed news that Latham, Shearman, Gibson Dunn, Linklaters, Baker Botts, King & Spalding, Chadbourne, Bracewell, A&O, Clifford Chance gave up their respective UK or US domiciles and become Dubai and / or Abu Dhabi firms??? Christ, bad enough that jobs get outsourced to India but now entire firms are moving bases to foreign lands?
Informality in a post is fine. I just have a problem with lazy writing (as well as fact that half of post was about author's stay at a hotel...a hotel which offended me the moment I saw it).
Hm, that would be "became" Dubai and / or Abu Dhabi firms.
I'm a white New Yorker who just started out in Riyadh. Dubai sounds like paradise compared to good olde Rio.
24, Evan here. We have placed a number of junior associates, 1st and 2nd year in Dubai. However, firms have also been able to move their own juniors from US and London, as the markets have obviously slowed down in Western markets. Thus, it is a bit more difficult for a 2nd year associate to move to Dubai than it was let's say 6 months ago. However, it is still very possible. I am in the process of placing 2 class of '07s now, one in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi. Firms are more selective in Dubai and than in Hong Kong and other international markets though and there are a higher number of candidates than this time last year. But being from a top 40 -50 firm, if your academics are good, then you should be a competitive candidate for Dubai. There are a lot of variables I am not aware of though in your background and potential candidacy. I am happy to help of course. While I am in Dubai the best way to reach me is by email, evan@kinneyrecruiting.com or +971.50.912.6894 (mobile).
23, Evan here. I am admittedly not an expert in this area. I am as offended by any abuse and slavery conditions as you are. I know there are some poor working and living conditions for construction workers here in Dubai. I know that the Dubai government has taken great steps to improve the living conditions for these workers, but it is not nearly enough it seems. Re your claims of rape and other tragic abuses taking place at hotels here, even by guests no less, I do believe I have stayed at enough hotels here to know that this simply is not true, at least at the nicer hotels (which are the vast majority in town). Keep in mind also that Dubai and the UAE is a very religous place, even though they are much more tolerant and open-minded than other parts of middle east. The vast majority of people who have lived here all their lives are of very high moral character, but every society has some bad apples. My new apartment in Dubai is smack dab in Marina, a new development that is like living in a construction zone. I see construction workers everywhere when I walk out of my building and they seem to be mostly from other parts of the world, but generally happy and healthy. That is just a surface observation though. But as an expat here, whose clients are top international law firms, I don't see or experience the ugly side of Dubai that I understand exists. I have been all over Asia and Russia (have lived and worked in both) and have seen much much worse conditions for the poor than I see in Dubai. I also don't think that any expat should feel guilty because they work in and enjoy life in Dubai.
30, Evan here. The hours in Dubai are quite a bit less than the hours in NYC (during normal economic times in NYC). I know associates in Dubai at top US firms that are billing as few as 1500, but these numbers will go up dramatically, to more normal levels, in the next year or two, as the newer top US firms get more established in the market. Keep in mind that these offices are still small though and if an associate colleague or two leaves at exactly the wrong time, when heavy deals are just flowing in, you could be in a world of hurt for a few months as part of an understaffed team (takes a while to replace associates that leave).
30, Evan here. Re quality of life in general in Dubai, most US associates I have placed here or otherwise know are happy in Dubai. Most are looking at this as a 2 to 3 year stint, with some being seconded here byu their firms for only 6 months to a year, so their perspective is different than someone who is looking for a place to permanently settle down. On the plus side, there are great beaches, diving / snorkling (mainly in Gulf of Oman nearby), very impressive nightlife, great shopping (Dubai natives seem to love their shopping malls), and wonderful high end restaurants (even if the mid range restaurants can be lacking at times). The complaints are usually with re to expensive housing (although very nice selection to housing available, especially if you like highrise living in buildings that win architectural awards) and a lack of tradition / culture, as this is truly a brand new city for the most part (Dubai is of course very old, but 99% of what it is today has just been created it seems). The best part about living here for a few years is that you feel on the cutting edge, in an exciting new city unlike any the world has ever seen, with new buildings and other developments seeminly coming from dreams rather than reality. The people here are very friendly, botht the locals and the many expats (85% or more of the town are foreigners). There is an exciting vibe to the place that can't be described in words. One has to see it and feel it in person to understand. There is a lot to do on weekends off, with many interesting places in the middle east to discover for those not familiar with this part of the world (most US associates who have landed here have no connection at all to the Middle East).
30, Evan here again. I forgot to mention the biggest negative of all: The terribly hot summer weather in Dubai. It is a very nice climate, especially in the winter, but June, July, August are unbearably hot, to the point where it is almost impossible to play golf and have other extensive outdoor activities.
Thanks Evan for your responses
Evan, do most of the U.S. firms in Dubai give a COLA to associates who move there? If so, what is the typical amount? Sounds like real estate costs in Dubai are close to London or NY.
47, Evan here. The COLA / expat / housing allowances are a sore point in Dubai, unfortunately. Housing is similar to NY, although the rest of living costs are lower in general. Also, even though you will pay similar rents as NYC, you will have 3 times bigger apartment and more luxury. Most associates live in Old Town or Marina.
The reason that cola is substantially lower than in HK, for example, is because the market has until just recently been mainly staffed at the associate level by Brits, Canadians, Aussies and other non US persons. There is 0% income tax here so of course all the non US persons are thrilled to be here, finances wise, and don't need any further assistance. US persons do receive the bonus of 0% income tax on the first 86k earned and for the most part tax free housing expenditures. Also, keep in mind that we are in what most experts agree is a big housing bubble in Dubai so the rents will likely be coming down (right now you will pay about $3500 US for a nice to two bedroom place in Old Town and you can pay as much as $5000 a month if you want more luxurious 2br to 3br place in Marina). Other than that, firms are taking things on mostly a case by case basis and there is negotiation invovled with new hires, as there is not yet a settled on structured housing / expat / cola at most US firms in Dubai (as well as the US practices in British firms). I have been able to get about 30k for my junior to mid-level placed associates. Not sure if the expat / cola / housing numbers will go much higher than about 30k any time soon, but that could change due to a few big players coming into the market soon (top 10 to 20 US firms that are known for helping set the market for expat in other overseas markets, such as Asia).
Evan -- what are the exit opportunities like after a stint in Dubai? When there is turnover at these firms, where do you see most of the associates go? Are there in-house opportunites in the region?
Evan is an assclown.
Evan is an assclown.
50 and 51, Evan here. You are correct. I am an assclown.
HofstraMagna, Evan here.
I have placed many Hofstra alumni in Dubai -- including members of the HLR. None of my Dubai placements have been at law firms, however. I have better luck placing slave laborers at the hotel Burj Al Arab. You sound like a great candidate and I am interested in helping you out in any way that I can. While I am in Dubai the best way to reach me is by email, evan@kinneyrecruiting.com or +971.50.912.6894 (mobile).
[This comment is authored by Evan of Kinney Chinamen Recruiting -- sponsor of the Chinamen Chronicles, and an ATL advertiser. Kinney Chinamen Recruiting has in made more placements of Chinamen in sweatshops, slaves in Burj Al Arab, and illegal immigrants as delivery boys in NYC than any other firm in the past two years. You can reach them by email: asia at kinneychinamenrecruiting dot com.]
ATL, Evan here. I have no testicles.
asia will come up in everything that is the cycle of development..europe...us...then..asia.
Mortgage Modification.
asia will come up in everything that is the cycle of development..europe...us...then..asia.
Mortgage Modification.