Lawyer Recruitment

Finding the right lawyer for your team in the Middle East is not a straightforward exercise. The candidate pool is targeted and highly specialised, the expectations are high and the best candidates are rarely sitting on a job board waiting to be found. They are practising, building their careers and, in many cases, not actively looking at all. Reaching them takes relationships, market knowledge and a recruiter who genuinely understands the legal landscape they are operating in.

Barratt Galvin has been placing lawyers into international law firms across the Middle East for more than a decade. We have built strong relationships with international law firms across the region and we understand what firms are looking for at every level of seniority, what the talent market looks like right now and how to find the right person even when they are not looking to be found.

We maintain an active network of qualified lawyers across the Middle East and internationally, spanning the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. After nearly two decades in this market, that network runs deep. Many of the lawyers we place are not actively on the market when we find them. They are known to us, they trust us and when the right conversation comes along, they are open to it. That access to passive candidates is one of the most valuable things we bring to a lawyer search.

Our knowledge of the market goes beyond CVs and job titles. We understand the culture and reputation of the firms we work with, the style and expectations of the partners our candidates will report to and the particular demands of each practice area in the Middle East context. When we present a candidate to you, we have already considered all of that.

Every candidate we present is accompanied by a thorough brief covering their background, their experience in your practice area, the calibre of the matters they have worked on and our honest assessment of how well they fit your team. We do not send high-volume CVs and leave you to sort through them. We do the work, take the screening load off your desk and stand behind every recommendation we make.

That approach delivers results that a standard recruitment process simply cannot. An Energy Associate based in Abu Dhabi came to our attention through our network. She was not on the open market and there was no active brief at the time. But we knew the practice well at one of our client firms and we believed she was exactly the kind of candidate their leading Energy partner would want to meet. We made the introduction. The client agreed, interviews were arranged and she was hired. She subsequently went on secondment to one of the firm's most high-profile clients, a testament to the quality of that placement.



Reaching passive candidates is one of the most challenging aspects of lawyer recruitment, and it is where our approach sets us apart. We identified a Construction Associate in Dubai whose profile was an excellent match for a client brief. She was not looking to move and, having had a difficult experience with a recruitment agency earlier in her career, she was understandably cautious. We took the time to build that relationship properly. Once she could see how we worked and what our service actually looked like, she agreed to explore the opportunity. She was offered the role, accepted it and went on to spend more than six years at that firm, being promoted to Senior Associate and working across several of the firm's Gulf offices. That is what the right placement looks like.

Associate

Senior Associate

Of Counsel

Corporate Advisory

Banking and Finance

Commercial Litigation

Construction

International Arbitration

Dispute Resolution

Projects and Energy

Real Estate

The Middle East legal market has matured considerably and international law firms across the region now have access to a strong pool of locally based lawyers. For most mandates, we look to that local talent pool first. Locally based candidates offer speed, certainty and the significant advantage of already understanding the culture and pace of working in an international law firm in the Gulf.

Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 is reshaping the legal landscape and the demand for qualified lawyers across corporate, energy, infrastructure and real estate work continues to grow. Saudization is an important part of how firms in the Kingdom build their teams. Our candidate network in Saudi Arabia includes both Saudi national lawyers and internationally qualified lawyers with the experience and credentials that complex, cross-border work requires. Whether you are looking to grow your local talent base or bring in specialist international expertise, we will give you an honest picture of who is available and what a search in this market realistically involves.

When the right candidate is not available locally, we look internationally. We have strong networks across the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore and we conduct targeted searches rather than broad ones. We are looking for lawyers with the right practice area credentials, the right firm background and a genuine commitment to building their career in the region. We will always give you an honest picture of the international candidate market and what a relocation search realistically involves.



For candidates relocating to the region, we provide practical settlement support that goes beyond the placement itself. We share accommodation advice, make introductions to people in our network and help candidates connect with communities that will make the move feel less daunting. A lawyer who arrives well-supported settles into their role faster and performs better from the outset.