Bird & Bird is set to open an office in Riyadh, joining the procession of international law firms looking to Saudi Arabia amid its rise as an economic powerhouse. 

The launch marks the firm’s second international expansion as part of the five-year strategy it unveiled in February 2024, which included the goal of reaching €1bn in revenue within five years. 

Last year Bird & Bird opened an office in Tokyo to support Japanese clients with outbound cross-border work in core sectors for the firm, including renewable energy, life sciences, technology and media.

The Riyadh office will be the firm’s 34th globally and third in the region after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Initially, it will focus on technology and IP law, as well as providing transactional and general corporate advice. 

It will be led by Abu Dhabi-based partner Anders Nilsson as head of region for the Middle East and will have three resident partners – Raya Alkhatib, Nick O’Connell and Simon Shooter – supported by a team of Saudi associate lawyers. 

Bird & Bird’s CEO, Christian Bartsch, said the new office “continues on the momentum the firm has built following the launch of our new five-year strategy”.

He added: “We have a strong presence across Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. Our Middle East team has gained a well-deserved reputation across the region, and this new base will allow us to expand our support to clients.”

Alkhatib is a corporate lawyer with a practice covering company formations, M&A, IPO transactions, rights issue and real estate investment funds. She joined Bird & Bird in Dubai in 2023 having been GC for American Express Saudi Arabia and before that practised at Latham & Watkins in Riyadh. 

Meanwhile, O’Connell joined the firm last September from leading Middle East firm Al Tamimi & Company, where he headed the TMT practice for Saudi Arabia. A tech and data specialist, he advises on matters ranging from transactional contracting work through to regulatory advisory on technology, cloud, data, media and telecoms issues.

Shooter has been a partner with Bird & Bird for more than 17 years and is a commercial and technology partner and founder of the firm’s cybersecurity practice. Before joining the Riyadh office he worked in the firm’s London and Dubai offices; his experience of the kingdom stretches back to the 1990s when he was an external lawyer to the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in London. 

Bird & Bird would have to raise turnover nearly 60% over the next four years to hit its €1bn target. The firm houses more than 1,400 lawyers globally and grew revenue 10% to €632m in FY24, the firm’s 32nd consecutive year of growth. Meanwhile, net profit edged up 5.4% and profit per equity partner also increased 8% to €837k.

The firm’s upcoming Saudi launch follows the kingdom changing its code of law practice in 2023 to enable foreign firms to set up their own practices without the constraints of a local partner. The change came with a number of conditions, including that 70% of a firm’s lawyers must be Saudi nationals.

Dozens of leading US and UK law firms have opened offices in the kingdom or applied to do so since the rule changes, as the kingdom becomes increasingly important for clients. The Saudi government’s Vision 2030 project to diversify its economy away from dependency on oil has seen it launch $1.3trn in real estate and infrastructure projects alone over the past eight years, Bloomberg reported.

Many law firms, including Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Latham & Watkins, had previously operated through associations with local outfits, while others, including Addleshaw Goddard, Greenberg Traurig and CMS, have entered the market for the first time.  

In March, Pinsent Masons launched an office in Riyadh, while in February BCLP announced plans to open bases in Riyadh and the coastal city of Al-Khobar and Reed Smith said it had secured its licence from the kingdom’s Ministry of Justice.