By Jack Douglas Smith
Almost every major international firm now has a Dubai office. For lawyers weighing a move to the Gulf, and for firms trying to hire there, that changes what actually gets rewarded. It’s no longer about being in the market. It’s about being the specialist a firm needs.
Firms are still building, but the hiring brief has changed
The build-out hasn’t slowed. Mishcon de Reya opened in Dubai World Trade Centre after registering with ADGM last autumn. Kirkland & Ellis registered with Abu Dhabi Global Market to sit closer to the sovereign funds and PE houses based there. Reed Smith and Pérez-Llorca have both grown their Gulf teams. Hogan Lovells brought in a senior partner group it called a defining hire for the region.
What’s notable is the shape of these moves. They’re not junior build-outs or general commercial hires. They’re targeted, senior, sector-specific additions, brought in to plug a named gap rather than add headcount for its own sake. ADGM’s figures tell the same story from the regulator’s side. Registered legal consultancy entities grew roughly 13% between March 2025 and June 2026, which ADGM puts down to capital in the region becoming more international, and clients needing correspondingly specialist advice.
What this means if you’re considering a move
A generalist commercial background gets you in the door less easily than it did five years ago. What’s opening doors now is specialist experience within practices like disputes, corporate and finance, rather than broad exposure across all three. Firms want someone who’s worked deeply on a particular type of matter within those areas, not someone who’s touched a bit of everything.
Two things sit alongside that specialism as essentials rather than nice-to-haves. First, genuine regional experience, either already in the UAE or in a major market like the UK, so a candidate understands how the work actually gets done locally rather than arriving cold. Second, a common law qualification, which remains a baseline requirement for most of the mandates we see, given how DIFC and ADGM courts operate.
What this means if you’re hiring
If you’re a firm trying to build out a Gulf practice, the lesson from the last year is that an office opening buys you very little on its own. The firms picking up work have partners on the ground who clients can actually check, with real depth in a defined niche rather than general capability across a practice area. That means the hiring bar for lateral moves into Dubai and Abu Dhabi has risen, and the premium on candidates with genuine sector depth, regional grounding and the right qualification has widened.
Even the disruption from this year’s Iran conflict didn’t change that. Several firms that paused hiring plans during the conflict picked them back up once the ceasefire memorandum landed, which suggests firms see this as a market worth the long-term investment, not a short-term land grab.
Get in touch
We’re seeing this shift directly in the mandates coming through our desk, with fewer generalist searches and more requests for named specialists in disputes, corporate and finance, often at partner level, and almost always with a requirement for regional or major market experience alongside common law qualification. If you’re a lawyer weighing whether now is the right time to move to the Gulf, or a firm working out where your Dubai or Abu Dhabi practice needs strengthening, get in touch with Jack at jack.douglas-smith@wearebuchanan.com to talk it through.