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International Edition

DLA Piper settles payment issues with Middle East client

DLA Piper has resolved payment issues with a significant Middle East client, recouping an outstanding seven-figure sum. The international law firm worked out a payment plan with the Dubai-based company earlier this year and is understood to have been paid all of the outstanding fees in full over the summer.
2 minute read

International Edition

LG international private capital chief joins wealth management group

LG private capital practice head Andrew Young is leaving the firm to join wealth management business Opus Group. Young has spent more than a decade at LG, having joined as a partner from legacy firm Alsop Wilkinson in 1997. He will continue to be based in Dubai - where Opus recently opened up a new base - having relocated to LG's office in the emirate last year.
2 minute read

International Edition

Akin Gump launches Middle East investment funds practice

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has relocated London-based partner Robert Griffin to Abu Dhabi to launch a Middle East investment funds practice for the firm. The funds specialist has been based in London for the last five years since relocating from Akin Gump's Dallas office.
2 minute read

International Edition

Middle East Corporate Counsel Forum: Eastern promise

If the old adage stands true that in adversity there is opportunity, in-house lawyers in the Middle East have never had such a good opportunity to entrench their role as trusted legal adviser. As the global economic slump tightens its grip on the Middle East, in-house legal teams have experienced increased pressure to scale back on resources and mitigate risk. But while there are undoubtedly challenges ahead, in-house lawyers should seize the chance to close the gap on their Western counterparts in Europe and the US, delegates at Legal Week's second annual Middle East Corporate Counsel Forum were told.
4 minute read

International Edition

Middle East, India and Islamic finance: Is the drought over?

The sukuk market was substantially affected by the global economic downturn with sukuk issuances at the end of 2008 being less than half those at the end of 2007, according to a report issued by Standard & Poor's. The drought in sukuk issuances, which took hold in the fourth quarter of 2008 now appears to be ending. The rapid growth of the sukuk market from 2004-07 was brought to an abrupt halt at the end of 2008, and undermined the theory that the Islamic capital markets had decoupled from the conventional capital markets.
9 minute read

International Edition

Weil Gotshal, DLA and Links lead on $2bn Middle East media merger

Weil Gotshal & Manges, DLA Piper and Linklaters have taken roles on a $2bn (£1.2bn) merger which will create the largest pay TV company in the Middle East and North Africa, reports The Am Law Daily. Weil Gotshal, which opened its first office in the Middle East this January in Dubai, advised Showtime Arabia on the deal, which sees it join forces with TV company The Orbit Group.
2 minute read

International Edition

Norton Rose slashes Middle East work hours as DLA cuts in Dubai

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.
3 minute read

International Edition

Pinsents to outsource litigation work to South Africa

Pinsent Masons has signed an outsourcing deal which will see the top 20 UK firm send litigation work to South Africa. The major regional player has launched a litigation support service in co-operation with global legal processing outsourcing provider Exigent, with the work to be undertaken by qualified lawyers in Exigent's outsourcing centre in Cape Town. Pinsents has outsourced document processing to Exigent for a number of years, but will now also see the company provide a data review and e-disclosure capability for its 360-lawyer litigation practice.
2 minute read

International Edition

DLA Piper lays off 9% of workforce in Middle East offices

DLA Piper has 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 staff will lose their jobs in the region, including nine fee earners. Staff were informed last week, with the cuts taking effect immediately.
2 minute read

International Edition

Pinsents transfers partner to Dubai to head up local corporate team

Pinsent Masons has added a Dubai corporate head as the firm bids to boost its Gulf presence. Birmingham-based partner Alan Wood has transferred to the emirate to head up the local corporate team, with a brief to expand the firm's capabilities in the region. The firm has not previously had a local leader of the group, which was launched in June 2008 and until now consisted of just two associates.
2 minute read

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