Trowers & Hamlins has shut its Cairo office, citing the unclear outlook for the country in the long term.

The firm had temporarily closed its office in early 2013 as a precaution to ensure the safety of staff based there.

A statement issued by senior partner Jennie Gubbins today (3 January) read: "Following careful consideration, we have taken the strategic decision to pull back from Egypt.

"Although the situation has improved somewhat since January 2011 revolution, the longer-term outlook for Egypt remains uncertain."

Trowers' resident managing partner Sara Hinton will join Cairo-based law firm Ibrachy & Partners alongside an undisclosed number of locally based fee-earners.

Trowers has also confirmed that it will operate on a best-friends basis with the local firm, which specialises in banking, M&A, capital markets and arbitration.

The statement continued: "We wish Sara, and the staff who will join her, all the best for the future and hope that stability will return to Egypt quickly."

Hinton has managed the firm's Cairo operations since the firm opened the outpost in 1999.

The office recently offered counsel on the sale of Thomas Cook's Egyptian and Lebanese operations to Bahrain business group Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo. The firm confirmed that its outposts across the Middle East in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai and Oman have remained unaffected.

In 2011 Trowers' Egyptian arm expanded when it merged with its Egyptian alliance firm Nour Law Office. Hinton became managing partner of the merged operations, while Nour Law Office's sole partner, Mohamed Nour, took up a role as senior partner.