As no day is a typical day for me in Dubai, I thought I would share with you a flavour of what life is like as a private wealth partner in this vibrant part of the world.
7am: I live in Downtown Dubai in an area called Old Town Island. It is incredibly central but an oasis of calm and I have my morning tea after walking the dog on a roof-top looking up to the Burj Khalifa.
9am: I am in the office every day, and strongly encourage all of my colleagues to do the same. I do feel that you only start learning how to be a lawyer once you are in the office environment. I know many younger lawyers work from home and Covid was a terrible time for many reasons, certainly one of those was that, as professional services providers, we were all unable to meet and exchange ideas and knowledge. I encourage all of our young lawyers to participate in business development, legal discussions, fee agreements, and wider management discussions. Some firms put this aspect of professional development off until later in a lawyer’s career, but I think you cannot start too early.
Taylor Wessing is located on the 26th floor of the prestigious Rolex Tower. The Dubai office currently has 23 lawyers and paralegals, having nearly doubled in the last two years with more hires in the pipeline. My typical working day usually starts with either any urgent client work or, in the absence of that, some management work involved from running the office.
9:45am: Today, as is usual, my office manager Susan, pops in to catch-up on an offer letter we need to finalise and to update me on a couple of the team who have been unwell. She, like me, is Scottish so we are practical but try to find some light humour in our work. She is my eyes and ears in the office and able to filter out gossip from what I need to know!
10:30am: I am a private wealth specialist and next in my office is my four-person private wealth team. Unless we have a client meeting, we meet every morning to discuss what is pending, usually emails that I have not yet sent out, but we also do an update on business development, interesting points of law around tax and succession planning, pitches, new work, and any forthcoming trips. This sets our course for the day, and we often reconvene later on to check-up on progress. I regularly travel to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to visit clients, local lawyers, and intermediaries.
Midday: As an international firm based in Dubai, we can have enquiries from any of Taylor Wessing’s 27 other offices and today is no exception—for example, we have a new enquiry from our UK venture capital team and from our Shanghai office referring a new client making an acquisition in Dubai. Our office here focuses on corporate venture capital and early stage investment; M&A; private wealth, IP and media; real estate and hotels; and disputes and arbitration. Although not full-service, it is a good suite of services for what our clients want in this region.
2pm: After a busy morning, I head up to Jumeirah Golf Estates where one of my favourite clients, AHR, is hosting a golf day and I am invited to play with some of the senior management. They are extremely good golfers and I am not but we have a great game and I find it a fantastic way to spend four hours with clients that have become friends and to meet new people.
6:30pm: I then head (or rather, race) to the arts area of Dubai, Alserkal Avenue, as Taylor Wessing Dubai is hosting a reception for the inaugural auction in Dubai of RM Sotheby’s, a longstanding client of mine, and the world’s largest classic car auction house. We have over 100 of our own guests in attendance for drinks and canapés with a chance to see 25 of the most exclusive and desirable cars in the world and rare watches that are up for auction that evening. The client is delighted as they sell over $15 million of cars and watches on the night and the sale is well covered in the national press. I look around and smile as I see a great mix of local Emirati, European expats, and other friends and clients that have made Dubai their home. I am so glad that I too have become one of those people that thrive on life in this wonderful city and enjoy the close friendships and business circles we have here.
10pm: At this point I should really say that I went home after the party but there was a late dinner with the team that were over from London. A busy day but not untypical of my life as the managing partner of Taylor Wessing Dubai. Thank goodness tomorrow is Saturday!
Ronald Graham is the managing partner of Taylor Wessing, Dubai, and head of the firm’s private wealth practice in the UK.
