The office will concentrate on banking and finance and corporate finance work, and already has clients in the jurisdiction including Chase, the National Bank of Bahrain and Gulf International Bank. John Xefos, managing partner in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, says: When you're in Bahrain it gives you a broader-based perspective on the Gulf. There is a lot of activity which we have found interesting, and the Bahrain government is very receptive. Xefos also points out that in Bahrain the firm is able to hire a female lawyer, Rasha Sabker, which it cannot do in Riyadh. He continues: Here in Riyadh we're so focused on Saudi that we haven't had a chance to look at what is going on in the rest of the Gulf. Things will also become interesting, says Xefos, when WTO rules are implemented in the Gulf states.
Three full time lawyers will work from Bahrain: locally qualified Rasha Sabker and US lawyer Matt Hansen have been recruited specifically for the office. They are joined by Ian Siddell, an English solicitor who moves from the Riyadh office and is overseeing the integration of the Bahrain office into the existing banking and finance practice. Baker & McKenzie lawyers in Riyadh will also help out.
The firm has had a Riyadh office for 19 years. It is staffed by seven lawyers and a new recruit will join in August. Xefos says that the Riyadh office is flourishing, and can only be helped by the addition of the new office. Baker & McKenzie is the first US law firm to set up in the jurisdiction. UK firm Trowers & Hamlins opened an office in Bahrain just over a year ago and Norton Rose celebrates its twentieth anniversary in the jurisdiction this year.