FASHION IN DUBAI

Bennett Jones LLP is the first Canadian law firm to hang out its shingle among the gleaming, futuristic spires of Dubai.
The firm’s new permanent office in the United Arab Emirates, announced Tuesday, is the first for a Canadian law firm, and a natural move for an outfit with western roots and strengths in the oil and gas sector.
The firm recently announced a new satellite branch in Beijing, but the Dubai office – in the works for two years – is a much larger undertaking, said Bennett Jones chairman and chief executive officer Hugh MacKinnon.
Bennett Jones says it will be the only Canadian law firm fully licensed to practice law in the UAE, with three lawyers moving to Dubai and plans to hire local talent.
Despite its debt crisis and real estate crash, the opulent Persian Gulf city remains the region’s business hub, Mr. MacKinnon said, and is still booming. Recent tension between the UAE and the Canadian government – which has forced the closing of a key Canadian military base near Dubai – has had no real impact, he said.
The firm’s plans include not only working for Canadian companies investing in the UAE and local investors looking to invest in Canada’s energy sector, but also challenging the British and U.S. firms that do much of the international work in the region, Mr. MacKinnon said.
“I always worked on the premise that Canadian firms are as good as any. None of us has the former imperial reach, or the huge domestic market to lever into places ... so it’s harder for us,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean we should concede the entire international legal world.”
The managing partner in the new office is Dany Assaf, who has been working in the region for almost a decade and plans to divide his time between Toronto and Dubai. Mr. Assaf said that while other Canadian firms do work in the region, and Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP has a new office in Bahrain, no Canadian firm will be on the ground in Dubai the way he will be.
“No one has an office, no one has a real presence,” Mr. Assaf said. “It has all been one-off stuff.”