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Simmons cites market turbulence as it trims Abu Dhabi and Dubai

Simmons has been a sinking ship in the Gulf for some time now, as has Norton Rose, meanwhile Trowers status has steadily been chipped away at through key departures. These three firms have two things in common that have contributed to their recent relative demise: Firstly (and obviously), they have all failed to crack the Saudi market. Secondly, and perhaps coincidentally, they are pretty much the only firms out here with a regional presence of less than 50-60 lawyers that employ full-time HRDs/COOs - on great salaries no doubt - and give them remits that are strategic rather than purely auxiliary. Part of the appeal of lawyering in this region is that you work in a smaller office (i.e. usually <20 fee-earners) and aren't as confined as you would be in the UK. Having such people wafting around, creating unnecessary levels of bureaucracy and generally interfering must take a lot of the "fun" out of it. I wonder if this might have been a factor that prompted people to defect to firms where they could just get on with the work. Most medium sized firms out here seem to get by just fine with the partners making the decisions, their PA's/Office Managers handling the ad hoc stuff and the rest being handled by HQ in London, New York, Houston (or Atlanta). Sure, if you have a huge number of lawyers, such as Clydes and DLA, a full time local HRD/COO might make sense; but for the small-medium practices it just seems like an avoidable expense.

22-Jan-2012

9:31 am