By IANS,
Abu Dhabi : Global legal services giant DLA Piper, the largest law firm in the US, has opened its second office in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
DLA Piper has over 3,700 lawyers in 65 offices spread across 25 countries.
The new office, located at the Al Bateen locality here, will initially comprise four partners and eight lawyers but this number is likely to more than double, according to a DLA Piper statement. The firm has a 100-strong lawyer team at its Dubai office. Its other offices in the Gulf are at Doha in Qatar and Muscat in Oman.
In Saudi Arabia, it has a dedicated practice that works with a local law firm in Riyadh.
Commenting on the new office in Abu Dhabi, DLA Piper’s joint chief executive Nigel Knowles said that the office was of strategic importance to the firm’s global operations.
“Our intention is to continue to invest significantly in Abu Dhabi and build a real presence there to serve the needs of this very important emirate, which is of strategic importance to our business globally,” Knowles said in the statement.
“We are helping new and existing clients across the Middle East and it is essential that we expand in Abu Dhabi in order to continue to do this well. There is a huge demand for quality legal services in the Gulf and countries across the surrounding region and this will result in further expansion in Abu Dhabi in the coming months,” he added.
The current team of partners and lawyers in the Abu Dhabi office is likely to be joined by at least three more partners because of the growing demand for inbound and outbound legal services.