Trowers down to one associate in Saudi office
Just days after Trowers & Hamlins announced Abdullah Mutawi as its new strategic head for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the firm has admitted it is down to one secondee associate in its ailing Saudi Arabia office.
Amid industry speculation about the health of its entire Middle East practice, head of international Martin Amison has acknowledged that Trowers associate Abbas Khan is the firm’s only remaining lawyer at its Saudi association firm, Feras Alshawaf Law Firm, following the recent departure of senior corporate lawyer Paul Fitzgerald to Fulbright & Jaworski.
“Saudi Arabia is an extremely difficult market,” admits Amison. “We regularly act on big independent power projects in Saudi but we wouldn’t expect to run that out of the local team. They will deal on matters of local Saudi law as it applies to each transaction.”
But the fact remains that Trowers’ Saudi presence has withered dramatically over the past 12 months. Its Jeddah office closed after less than a year of business, leaving it with a single outpost in Riyadh, and Khan casting a lonely shadow as Trowers’ only representative within the local firm.
Lawyers at other international firms in the region suggest there are other problems afoot in Trowers’ Saudi practice, including an increasingly tenuous relationship with Alshawaf.
A source close to the firm has even raised the question of whether the association will be renewed when its current two-year period expires.
But Amison is adamant the association is secure.
“The nature of our relationship and of every other firm’s relationship in Saudi is that they have periods of time attached to them, but that doesn’t mean they are automatically going to be terminated,” he states. “We haven’t given notice and we aren’t planning to give notice. We fully expect to renegotiate with Alshawaf.”
Then there’s the question of how to persuade promising lawyers to move to Saudi Arabia rather than the comparatively idyllic options of Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Amison concedes that Trowers’ presence in Saudi is likely to remain a one-man-show for the forseeable future.
“We don’t have any plans to close the Saudi office, or expand it,” he says. “It’s inevitable we’ll continue to provide advice on Saudi transactions, but a lot of elements of these transactions will be serviced from outside the kingdom.”
Meanwhile, Trowers made a bold move to strengthen its Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices last week by redeploying its Bahrain second-in-command Abdullah Mutawi to the newly created head of UAE role.
The appointment lends a new strategic and commercial dimension to Trowers’ operations in the two key bases. The appointment of Mutawi was viewed by many in the region as a positive step.
“[Abdullah] is a good lawyer and very commercial, and clients like him,” Amison states. “The role we’ve created for him is very much outward-facing and a strategic role, and aimed at bringing more business into our UAE practice.”
Trowers is also eager to shed its ’colonial’ image in the region, and Mutawi provides a local face for the firm which it hopes will translate into greater credibility.
“He’s an Arab and has Arab credentials,” says Amison. “The client base over the longer term has moved from being mainly foreign investors to a much more local client base. So it makes sense to have an Arab in this position.”
Elsewhere in the region, the firm’s offices in Cairo and Bahrain were forced to close temporarily earlier this year due to political turmoil in the region, and sources in Egypt now describe Trowers as “invisible” on major deals.
Even in the UAE the industry seems unconvinced by Trowers’ presence, particularly since the influx of larger UK and US firms hungry for a slice of the action.
“Trowers used to be a player in the region before the bigger international firms had the footprint they have now,” a Dubai-based partner at a global law firm comments. “But they’re a victim of stagnation. They haven’t merged or grown bigger, and they haven’t sought to distinguish themselves from other firms. We simply don’t hear much about Trowers & Hamlins: they don’t have much of a presence here.”
And therein lies the challenge.
Readers' comments (8)
James Henry | 13-Sep-2011 6:56 am
Trowers is a firm that has always punched above its weight in the Middle East. But since 2008 when things got tough, they have stood still, while more recent arrivals have invaded their turf and stolen marches with their ailing, longstanding clients by dramatically undercutting them on price whilst offering greater international reach and depth (not to mention quality).
Loyalty counts for less in tight markets; Trowers have found this out the hard way and lost work to competitors playing a long game. Sure, these new arrivals will barely break even in the short term but they will have had a chance to show clients what they can do, added to their regional track record and cemented their reputation. It may now be very difficult for Trowers to get back in with their old chums and Mutawi has uphill struggle on his hands.
They need a big shake-up in personnel; clear out the deadwood, improve the salary structure and attract a handful of star senior associates & junior partners to inject some fresh impetus into the place.
While they do still have a handful of very good people in Bahrain, UAE and Oman, it is hard to see them hanging on to them at this rate.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anon | 13-Sep-2011 10:58 am
A truly fascinating article.
The Saudi office was bound to fail and T&H is probably better off without it. It was set up on the cheap, lacked a partner presence and was never seriously engaged by Amison, the so-called head of the international department. Amison's endless reference to Saudi projects sums up his knowledge of the Saudi operation, which was entirely a third-tier corporate/commercial practice.
More interesting is Amison's current position. The gossip around London is that there was a vote at a T&H management committee meeting in March in favour of closing the office. It would have been a shock to some of those on the committee to even learn that there was a Saudi office.
Presumably the only reason that the committee's decision has not been implemented in full is fear of more bad publicity. The Jeddah closure seems to have started a chorus of disapproval about the management and direction of the firm that the management at T&H cannot silence.
The result is a complete farce. The Saudi office exists on paper but receives no instructions from T&H. Saudi work is being done by the silos in Bahrain, Dubai and London with no co-ordination whatsoever. Mutawi may be able to bring Bahrain and Dubai together, but he has no brief for London.
I say good luck to them. The real problems at T&H appear to be centred around a lack of energy and clear focused strategy at ownership level. It is time to go for a number of the more senior players and the sooner that Adlington and Amison in particular move on the better.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
John M | 13-Sep-2011 4:03 pm
The secret behind successful international law firms in Saudi? Being associated with an already "successful" .... "Saudi" lawyers.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
The Septic Skeptic | 14-Sep-2011 7:35 am
I don't think that is true at all.
The most successful firms in the current set-up are those which are either between an international firm and an ambitious Saudi or those with a silent Saudi.
The terms demanded by a "successful" Saudi are often far too one-sided to allow the venture to grow on the ground in the Kingdom.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymouse | 25-Oct-2011 2:13 pm
Watch this space :)
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
The Septic Skeptic | 1-Nov-2011 9:36 am
Yes, here is some difficult mathematics for Amison:
1-1=?
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 8-Dec-2011 9:10 am
This is not the first time, and it won't be the last, that associations between international and local Saudi law firms have split up. Expectations from each side don't seem to match: International firms are looking for quality local input (which hardly any local lawyer can provide) and local firms (or rather their principals) simply want to cash in by acting as broker to bring in work, but are not suitably qualified to do such work themselves. In addition, most local clients (incl. global corporate players) hardly pay the level of fees typically charged by top tier international firms. Thus, it is time that international firms are allowed to set up shop in KSA on their, ie. without the need to have a local sponsor. This should also incentivise international firms to train local lawyers to international standards.
Of course, there are other (serious) obstacles to make KSA an attractive proposition for internationally qualified lawyers, but that is a separate matter...
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
The Septic Skeptic | 4-Jan-2012 12:55 pm
"This should also incentivise international firms to train local lawyers to international standards."
Do let me know how you get on with this winning idea.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment