15 Jan 2026 legal market snapshot: Middle East
As 2026 begins, the Middle East legal market enters the year from a position of strength following a highly active 2025. Activity remains concentrated in the three markets where international firms are most deeply invested—Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh—all of which are expected to see sustained demand over the coming year.
What differentiates this cycle is the durability of its drivers. Government-led investment, regulatory reform, and long-term economic diversification across the UAE and Saudi Arabia continue to underpin legal activity, providing firms with greater visibility and confidence than in previous growth phases.
Dubai remains the region’s primary commercial and transactional hub, anchoring cross-border deal flow and international mandates. Abu Dhabi, however, has seen a marked increase in strategic investment over the past twelve months, including office launches, re-openings, and deliberate platform builds. This reflects a shift away from symbolic presence towards long-term commitment and depth-building.
Riyadh continues to grow in strategic importance as firms align their Middle East footprint with Saudi Arabia’s expanding legal and regulatory landscape. Increasingly, firms are treating the region as a multi-centred market, with each jurisdiction playing a distinct and complementary role rather than competing for the same work.
Financial services, regulatory, and transactional work continue to underpin activity
- Developments within Abu Dhabi Global Market have further strengthened Abu Dhabi’s position as a centre for funds, asset management, and complex financial structures. At the same time, Dubai International Financial Centre and onshore UAE practices remain central to banking, capital markets, and structured finance. In Saudi Arabia, an increasingly sophisticated regulatory environment is driving demand for lawyers who can operate to international standards while navigating evolving local frameworks.
- Firms are hiring selectively across funds, finance, and financial regulation, often alongside broader corporate and projects-led growth strategies.
Projects, energy, and infrastructure remain demand drivers across the region
- Geopolitical uncertainty has sharpened the focus on energy security, infrastructure resilience, and long-term capital deployment, reinforcing the strategic importance of the region.
- Major energy, utilities, and transition-related projects continue to generate demand across development, financing, regulatory, and disputes Many mandates are inherently cross-border, placing a premium on lawyers with regional experience and the ability to operate seamlessly across jurisdictions.
Technology as a growth catalyst
- Technology-related work continues to gain momentum, increasingly intersecting with projects, energy, and real estate. Data centre developments have become a particularly important driver of legal activity, cutting across infrastructure, power supply, real estate, and data regulation.
- Firms are seeking lawyers who can advise across regulatory, commercial, and projects considerations, particularly in data, fintech, digital assets, and emerging technologies. This activity is evident across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh, reinforcing the need for genuinely cross-disciplinary capability.
Real Estate returns with a strategic focus
- Real estate has re-emerged as a priority on hiring agendas, particularly where it intersects with institutional investment, infrastructure, and mixed-use development. Opportunities span transactional, finance, and projects-adjacent practices.
- Mandates are increasingly linked to long-term development strategies and sovereign or quasi-sovereign capital, reinforcing demand for lawyers with sophisticated structuring, financing, and regulatory expertise across the region.
Lateral partner hiring remains a defining feature
- More than 75 partner moves were recorded across the GCC during 2025, representing a material increase on both 2024 and 2023.
- Dubai remained the most active jurisdiction by volume, but there was a clear uptick in both Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. In Abu Dhabi, office launches and platform builds drove targeted senior hires, while Riyadh has become an increasingly important strategic focus for firms reassessing their Middle East footprint. Looking ahead, a key challenge for 2026 will be whether supply can keep pace with demand in Saudi Arabia, given regulatory requirements and a limited pool of experienced, locally licensed lawyers.
US firms are reshaping the competitive landscape
- Another notable shift has been the growing influence of US firms in the regional lateral market. Historically, UK firms have led partner hiring, reflecting their scale, longer-standing regional presence, and flexibility around vertical partner appointments.
- In 2025, however, US firms overtook their UK counterparts for the first time and now account for the majority of partner hiring activity. This trend has been driven in part by the expansion strategies of a small number of firms, including Greenberg Traurig and Paul Hastings, reflecting closer commercial alignment with the region.
Associate hiring: specialisation over volume
- At associate level, demand remains focused on funds, financial regulation, projects, energy, and related finance practices, with corporate hiring picking up selectively following partner moves. Firms continue to prioritise lawyers with regional experience, common law training, and specialist expertise, alongside Arabic language capability where relevant.
- Demand remains strongest at mid-level, with competition particularly pronounced in specialist areas.
Looking ahead, demand for high-quality regional talent is expected to remain strong as firms become increasingly selective. Partner hiring is likely to continue, with a focus on strategic practice development and portable books of business rather than opportunistic growth.
For associates, technical depth, regional experience, and adaptability will remain key differentiators. Across the region, firms are moving towards a more balanced, multi-centred approach to growth, with Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh each playing distinct—and increasingly complementary—roles within Middle East strategies.
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This article was written by Sonia Patel, head of our Middle East private practice team.