Trowers names new UAE chief for embattled Middle East practice
Trowers & Hamlins has named Bahrain partner Abdullah Mutawi as the new head of its United Arab Emirates practice in a strategic effort to reassert its presence in the Middle East.
Trowers & Hamlins has named Bahrain partner Abdullah Mutawi as the new head of its United Arab Emirates practice in a strategic effort to reassert its presence in the Middle East.
Mutawi will work with Nick White and Andrew Rae, resident managing partners of the Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices, to expand the firm’s corporate offering in the UAE while the Bahrain office remains under the stewardship of partner Dominic O’Neil.
The move follows a difficult year for Trowers in the Middle East, which has included a steady exodus of lawyers from its Dubai and Riyadh offices, the temporary closure of its Cairo and Bahrain offices due to political unrest and the permanent closure of its Jeddah base (23 May 2011).
Trowers’ head of international Martin Amison said: “We have always been proud of our longstanding presence in the Middle East and our Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices continue to perform well in trying economic times. Expanding our corporate finance capabilities in the UAE is a key part of our strategy going forward particularly as we have started to see significant deals coming to the market.
“Abdullah is the perfect man to lead this. He is a corporate heavyweight with a great reputation and has built a significant client base in the region.”
He added: “I am confident our clients will welcome his gravitas, his enormous experience and his ability to work seamlessly between Arabic and Western business environments.”
Mutawi has acted for both buyers and sellers on a number of the region’s M&A deals and has a particular specialisation in the telecom sector.
His clients include the Central Bank of Bahrain, Capital Management House, Unicorn Investment Bank, Vodafone, Orange, Bloomberg, Zain, the Bahrain Social Insurance Organisation, Cable & Wireless and Qatar Telecom.
Commenting on his new role, he said: “Investor confidence and deal flows are on the increase, making this an exciting time to add to our offering in the region.”
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Readers' comments (29)
Anonymous | 6-Sep-2011 10:40 am
Mutawi is a smart man and understands the Gulf.
Other partners represent the heart of Trowers' problems in the region.
Local clients have become more sophisticated and want more than overpaid, quasi-colonial drinking buddies as their lawyers.
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The Septic Skeptic | 6-Sep-2011 10:58 am
Is this the news that is supposed to act as a circuit-breaker after 6 months of negative headlines?
Trowers is, I suppose, at least attempting to address one of the key problems they have - a silo mentality across the MENA offices. But it cannot be seen other than as a vote of no confidence in the current non-senior equity RMPs. What role for them now? Or perhaps it is time for Andrew and Nick to join the other redundant Trowers' lawyers in greener pastures.
And I really do wonder when Amison will address the Saudi situation. The local partner has been given notice and there is a single associate with no support manning the phone in Riyadh. Surely it is time to come clean and admit that the Saudi practice has gone and only the Trowers' carpetbaggers from Bahrain, Dubai and London will be seen near Saudi deals.
Yesterday's firm clinging on to past glories.
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Anonymous | 6-Sep-2011 1:45 pm
The first sensible move that Trowers has made in a long time. Yet adding another partner is not going to solve any problems unless Mutawi has enough authority to clear out the dead wood. Good luck to him - he will need it.
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Anonymous | 6-Sep-2011 2:34 pm
Agree completely with Anon 1:45 pm. Unless AM can push out several obsolete Gulf partners, the numbers simply won't add up for Trowers.
In Dubai they've just lost one of their last Corporate associates.
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Anonymous | 6-Sep-2011 8:23 pm
AM is a great choice. He will make a difference but he has a massive challenge ahead of him; morale, recruiting loyal associates, convincing the clients that JB, NW and AR are not running the show, he is! Good luck to him.
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Anonymous | 7-Sep-2011 10:58 am
Any form of leadership would be progress
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The Septic Skeptic | 7-Sep-2011 11:13 am
Why on earth would Trowers want to recruit "loyal associates" when it has just sacked a whole bunch of them.
A lot of associates came out of last year's international conference in a positive frame of mind regarding their futures at Trowers. Many have since been sacrificed at the altar of PEP.
It would be rank hypocrisy for Trowers to now say it is short-staffed and needs to recruit - but wait, that is what Amison did say in another article on The Lawyer. Silly me.
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Superfly | 7-Sep-2011 7:23 pm
I do hope they can work things out. Us associates have had enough of the explicit and implicit bullying.
Cut backs, salaries now 20% lower than market and very low morale. As soon as something better comes along, we'll all be off. Some partners are on fantasy island - "we're doing great"/"we have such history" blah blah! Honestly, wake up and smell the dates and coffee.
Bullying can go so far. As Stalin use to say, freedom of course everybody has freedom. All were just damn scared to say anything.
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Anonymouse | 7-Sep-2011 9:55 pm
Why has this story disappeared from the News section?
Can it be that Trowers can't take some honest criticism or do they think that we should all be nice and quiet and let them treat people like statistics?
Sorry lads. What goes around comes around.
And as for Mutawi, I would say that his antics are likely to see Trowers before the Employment Tribunal when it is time for trainee retention, unless they are planning on 100% retention in an effort to boost their depleted offices.
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Anonymous | 8-Sep-2011 11:24 am
One third of the staff in of our office have resigned this year alone. Scared I am abandoned on a sinking ship.
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