CMS launched its second Middle East branch today, opening in Muscat.
The UK outfit’s new base in the Omani capital strengthens the firms regional presence, which, until today, was limited to Dubai. The firm opened in the Emirates in September 2012.
The Oman office will focus on energy, projects and financial services, the firm’s head of energy, projects and construction, Stephen Millar, revealed in a statement. “They [the sectors] are strategically important areas for our clients and priority sectors for CMS,” he explained.
CMS’s Muscat and Dubai bases will function as one team, with Millar, Dubai managing partner Matthew Culver and consultants Ben Ewing and Amur Al Rashdi combining to supervise it.
Ewing, who was previously with Akin Gump and Al Rashdi, who joined from local outfit Khalifa Al Hinai, will be the only two lawyers permanently based in Muscat.
Oman has become an attractive market for international firms, with a spate of foreigners launching in Muscat in 2013. Firstly, Addleshaw Goddard recruited two former Trowers & Hamlin’s partners in January and entered into an association with local lawyer Nasser Al Habs.
Later in the year, Duane Morris established its first Middle East base in Muscat though a similar arrangement with an Omani firm, Al Mashaikhi Law Firm. More recently, regional outfit Al Tamimi & Company moved into the same city after recruiting Dentons associate, Ahmed Saleh.