DWF is set to launch its first international office, with the firm opening in Dubai in a bid to pick up construction, energy, insurance and transport work from clients across the Middle East and North Africa.

The two-partner office, which will take 1,000 sq ft of space in the Dubai International Finance Centre, will be led by non-marine insurance partner Chris Ryan, who will relocate from London.

He will be joined by partner Steven Hunt, who joins from Holland & Knight, and Fernando Ortega, who joins from the same firm as a consultant. Meanwhile, associate Jeremy Speller, who specialises in professional liability work, will move over from the UK.

Legal Week revealed last summer that Holland & Knight was planning to pull out of the Middle East and refocus on the Americas, with the bulk of the partners moving back to the US.

DWF's Dubai staff will be supported by a UK-based team, including partner and head of international Peter Campion and head of adjusting Keith Honeyman.

DWF chief executive and managing partner Andrew Leaitherland said that "a pipeline of work from existing clients" was already underway and that the office would consolidate the firm's commitment to the region.

Leaitherland was reappointed for a fourth three-year term in December 2014, three months after DWF moved its London office to the Walkie Talkie building at 20 Fenchurch Street.

The ambitious firm has set its sights on growing its City headcount to 600 by 2017 in the wake of multiple acquisitions across the UK in recent years, including a 50-strong team from Bristol-based insurance disputes specialist Greenwoods in October 2013.

Revenue at DWF climbed by 2% in 2013-14 to £191m from £188m.

The firm currently has 12 offices across the UK, nine of which are in England.