Gulf governments have been riding high on rocketing fuel oil prices that have led to sovereign wealth funds to bulge. The result is that the international law firms with Gulf offices have this year seen their recent revenue significantly outstripping those of their counterparts that have not moved into the region. But the good times could be slowing, if not exactly grinding to a halt.
LPA Legal Recruitment, an agency that has been dealing with the Gulf for several years, says: "These figures will reflect the end of the boom market. They will be completely different at the end of the next financial year and the 2010 numbers are probably the real numbers that will indicate how bad the current situation is." LPA indicates that the situation the Gulf could turn fairly quickly. Perhaps the most shocking is that lawyer redundancies loom on the immediate horizon in Dubai.
"There will be a contraction of firms in the region in the fairly short term. It will also affect the substantial sized firms that do not necessarily have the client list in the region to sustain feeding those international lawyers the requisite hours they need to be fed. That will happen sooner rather than later." LPA adds: "Abu Dhabi and Bahrain are still growing, but in Dubai there is too much capacity of lawyers at the moment. The market is slowing and the firms are expanding. Those two factors don't marry well and there has to be fall-out."
LPA Legal Recruitment was interviewed by Jonathan Ames, City AM (December 2008)