The move fits into a broader theme of international firms creating offices and obtaining licences to operate from Dubai and other Gulf jurisdictions.

Ogier
The international legal and professional services firm, Ogier, will offer legal, corporate services and regulatory consulting from its new location in the Dubai International Finance Centre. The firm is one of a run of international groups setting up in the jurisdiction.

Ogier Regulatory Consulting’s specialists in Dubai will assist investment advisors and fund managers with obtaining financial services permissions from local regulators by handling the complete authorisation process, the firm said in a statement. 

The move comes as the offshore law firm is continuing to build its presence. For example, in August 2021 it opened an office in Singapore. 

"This is a significant milestone which means we can expand and build on our existing expertise in the region to now offer on-the-ground advice and services to clients in the Middle East. Central to our global offering is accessibility for clients and intermediaries to our specialist teams in their time zone,” Edward Mackereth, Ogier managing partner, said.

"David Welford, a Dispute Resolution partner in our legal team, who has broad experience of commercial and financial disputes with a focus on cross-border company, trusts and insolvency matters, has relocated to lead the new office,” Mackeret added. “We've also added talent to our team from the Dubai market with Daniel Pacic, who has joined us as managing director of Ogier Global, our corporate services provider. Also new to our team are Praveer Pinto, who has joined us as director in our regulatory consulting division, and Tina Asgarian has joined us as counsel in our dispute resolution team.”

A number of professional services firms continue to set up in jurisdictions in the Gulf. IQ-EQ, the investor services group that set up in Dubai’s DIFC earlier this year, announceed last week that it is establishing operations in Abu Dhabi. The move includes having to acquire a licence to offer fund administration services. In the banking world, Nomura expanded its international wealth arm in July by taking up residence in the Dubai International Financial Centre.