Gateley has significantly bolstered its bench in Dubai with the hire of a six-lawyer corporate team from Clyde & Co that includes PwC Legal’s former Middle East managing partner.  

Partners Darren Harris and Nora Al Muhamad have joined Gateley alongside three legal directors and an associate. Just under two years ago they had been part of a 13-lawyer group that moved to Clydes from PwC Legal Middle East, where Harris led the legal function and was head of corporate and Al Muhamad headed the family business and corporate restructuring practice. 

Gateley’s CEO, Rod Waldie, hailed the team’s hire as a “coup” for the firm that was supported by its planned relocation of its Dubai office to the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). 

“The recruitment of best-in-class lawyers underscores our commitment to establish a Middle East hub that will provide clients with unrivalled integrated legal and non-legal business services,” he said. 

“We’ve had a presence in Dubai since 2007 and we see these hires and the move to the DIFC as a game changer, providing our people and clients with a first-class workspace and helping us to attract and retain the best talent we can in one of the most vibrant business precincts in the Middle East.”

At Gateley, Harris will serve as Dubai managing partner and head of corporate. He has spent the past 12 years in the Middle East, originally as a partner at Addleshaw Goddard before joining PwC in 2018. He advises corporates, private equity houses, venture capital investors and entrepreneurs, founders and owner-managers of Middle East businesses on M&A, joint ventures, corporate restructuring and general corporate law. 

In the past, he has advised on Rentokil’s acquisitions in the Middle East and Africa and the management buyout of Gymnation, the largest chain of fitness centres in the UAE, to UK business JD Gyms in 2023. 

Meantime, Al Muhamad advises family-owned businesses on succession and legacy planning, family office structuring and investments, governance, private client and corporate restructuring. She is accredited by the DIFC for governance and succession planning. 

The incoming team represents a significant expansion of Gateley’s bench in Dubai – its sole office in the Middle East. The office has three existing partners working across corporate, employment and construction alongside a senior counsel focused on commercial dispute resolution. 

Harris pointed to Gateley’s aim to grow its Middle East offering with a focus on attracting top talent and investing in long-term relationships with clients. 

“The outlook in the Middle East remains very positive and our focus on regional and international M&A, reorganisations and working with family businesses, investors and entrepreneurs aligns with the Middle East market,” he added. 

News of the team’s hire follows Gateley – one of the few remaining listed law firms – reporting positive results for the six months ending 31 October. Underlying profit before tax grew 6% to £10.6m, while group revenue rose by 5.3% to £86.3m. The firm’s profit before tax fell by nearly 55% to £3.3m, largely due to the £3.9m the firm spent acquiring chartered quantity surveyor RJA.

Clydes bills itself as the largest international law firm in the Middle East, with more than 50 partners working across six offices in the region. Last October the firm’s Dubai office also saw the head of its Middle East arbitration group, Nassif BouMalhab, exit for Greenberg Traurig after 15 years, though going the other way the same month it picked up Pinsent Masons’ Middle East financial services head, Tom Bicknell, in the city. 

A Clydes spokesperson commented: “We can confirm that Darren Harris, a partner at Clyde & Co since 2023, has left the firm. We wish him well.”