Bell Gully M&A partner Andrew Abernethy is leaving the firm and will join Norton Rose’s Dubai office later this month.

 

“Obviously it’s sad to leave Bell Gully, because it is a great firm, it has good work and good people, but the bottom line is that for an international M&A lawyer, you need to be where the international M&A work is,” said Abernethy in an interview with ALB.

 

Abernethy specialises in corporate and M&A legal advice, especially for clients in the energy sector. He was named as a leading lawyer in the ALB Guide to Energy & Resources 2007. Abernethy says the activity in outbound M&A in the region means that, in the next 10 years, the Middle East is where all the big deals are likely to take place.

 

“The Gulf countries have one of the largest aggregations of sovereign wealth funds in the world; they have hundreds of billions of dollars of assets under management. It’s effectively a large pool of capital that’s looking for a home and for an opportunity,” he said.

 

Dubai is also an attractive destination for Australasian lawyers, because expatriates don’t have to pay taxation in the emirate. Abernethy admitted this has played a role in his decision: “It’s pretty vulgar to talk about money, but if you think about how few years you have to work to reach whatever your magical figure is…,” he said. “Financially, it’s a complete slam dunk.”

 

But a higher pay is not enough to go overseas, he said. “You have to move there for the work; you can’t move to a place like Dubai, or the Middle East generally, for the money. You got to get up in the morning and have fire in your belly and do deals, because if that doesn’t get you going, you’re in the wrong place.”

 

UK firm Norton Rose has been in the Middle East for 30 years, opening an office in Bahrain in 1979. Apart from Bahrain, the firm has offices in Dubai and Riyadh, and is in the process of opening up a branch in Abu Dhabi. It has approximately 50 lawyers across the region.

 

The firm has aggressive, but realistic, growth targets, says Abernethy. “Given the resources we need on the ground there, the [Middle East] offices will probably double in size within three years,” he said, “and I think other firms will do the same.”

 

Abernethy, who finishes up with Bell Gully on Friday 13 June, plans to spend at least five years in the emirate.