Norton Rose attempts to save jobs with four-day week, as crunch hits Middle East hard

Norton Rose has put more than half of its Middle East staff and lawyers onto four-day weeks in a bid to stave off job cuts in the region, which is feeling the pain of the recession.

The top 10 City firm confirmed that 50%-60% of staff  across Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Dubai are now working a four-day week in response to the downturn. Almost all staff in the region opted into the flexible working scheme in April, and the firm implemented the scheme a few weeks ago. The firm is also considering whether to put some staff on sabbatical.

Regional head Campbell Steedman commented: "The high acceptance of the contingency plan was very positive and as a result we have not had to make, and do not intend to make, any redundancies in the region. We will continue to implement the scheme until we see the markets are changing."

News of Norton Rose's plan came shortly after it emerged that DLA Piper had launched a second round of job cuts in the Middle East, with the firm cutting 9% of staff in the region, including one partner.

In total, 22 DLA Piper staff will lose their jobs across the Middle East, including nine fee earners, staff learned last week. Dubai will be the most heavily hit, seeing more than one third of the departures, with corporate, real estate, finance and projects affected.

The redundancies come two months after DLA Piper laid off eight associates in Dubai, equating to around 8% of the local staff. In February, Trowers & Hamlin announced that it was cutting seven fee earners in the region.

Legal Week previously reported that staffing issues in Dubai came amid claims that DLA Piper had been in discussion with a local client about alleged late fee payments. The company is a substantial client of DLA Piper in the region, and has since received state aid.

The Middle East has been hit hard by the recession, hindering international firms that have bulked up in the region during the boom times.

Allen & Overy Dubai corporate partner Pervez Akhtar, who oversees the firm's regional strategic clients, commented: "The Middle East market is significantly slower and a lot of law firms had recruited heavily in the region. Coupled with the many recent entrants to the market, there are too many lawyers in the region. Those law firms that have deep relationships still do well."

Linklaters Dubai-based Middle East senior partner Ewan Cameron added: "The reason we are seeing firms cut down in Dubai is that most people came here in the boom period without a sufficiently diversified business plan."

Several international firms are still expanding into the region despite the problems.  Lovells this month launched a Middle East disputes practice with the relocation of London counsel John Reynolds to Dubai. It will initially focus on real estate disputes, adding to the real estate capacity the firm built earlier this year through the hire of Al Tamimi & Co partner Mohammed Kamal as head of real estate.

SJ Berwin, meanwhile, received its Dubai licence on 1 June. The firm expects to be fully operational by September.

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