Robert here. I am writing to you from the Emirates Towers in Dubai, in between meetings with law firm clients (today those firms happen to be Baker Botts, Curtis Mallet and Vinson & Elkins). Last week, we did not venture past the Burj Al, the most famous and symbolic building in Dubai, but a place that you would likely go to only rarely, if at all, if you lateral to Dubai. Today, I am going to give a very basic and broad overview of life in Dubai for a US associate at a major law firm. I am writing off the cuff here, so to speak, being a bit swamped. I will just focus on information and save you this time from my attempts at humor and entertainment. As always, please feel free in the comments area to ask for further information or clarification on any subject. In the near future we will deliver a post that is more focused on life inside the Dubai firms, including practice area focuses and general office culture.

Housing – Expect to spend about $3,500 US per month (if single). This will be a nice and spacious luxury 2br apartment. All of the residential buildings fall into the category of new to brand new and there are plenty of nice amenities and views. A negative is all the construction going on. For example, earlier this year my wife and I spent a week at an apartment in Marina (a new high rise residential development in swanky spot, close to the beach and on a waterway similar to the intracoastal in South Florida, with a large marina, but with 50 to 100+ story buildings all about). It was a very nice building and close to shops and restaurants and the marina walk, but there was construction going on 24 / 7, and it really kicked in at 7am, so sleeping in was not an option (neither was relaxing on the spacious balcony with ocean and marina views, unless you enjoy watching high rise cranes move about and the soothing sounds of a jack hammer). The other residents of the building were seemingly 95% young professionals, from Europe, Australia and USA (this is probably the case at just about any new reasonably priced Marina or Old Town building). Many major law firm associates seem to live in Old Town (which is ironically very new), near the base of the Burj Dubai (tallest building in the world (near completion).

Housing allowances – If you come to Dubai expecting the wonderfully large housing allowances of Hong Kong or Tokyo, for example, you are going to be mighty disappointed. You can expect no more than $30,000 US per year and most firms figure out the housing / expat / cola allowance on case by case basis for each lateral hire or internal transfer (in other words, firms will make sure you come out ahead of your take home pay from whichever market you are being hired from). At most firms, you will need to negotiate your cola. Keep in mind though that there is 0% tax in Dubai and thus US persons will pay no income taxes on the first $87,500 earned each year (number will go up slightly each year). Further, US persons can spend up to approx. $42,000 on housing each year tax free. Thus there is, in effect, a 0% tax liability on the first approx. $130,000 earned annually. However, it is the 0% income tax in Dubai that drives down the cola / expat / housing packages for associates. This is because firms can and routinely do bring in associates from England, Canada, Australia and China, among other nationalities (many of these have US JDs as well) who are obviously thrilled with 0% income tax (who wouldn’t be?) and don’t have any need for any cola adjustment.

Night life / Restaurants – I have spent about 3 months in ’08 in Dubai thus far and have sampled the nightlife / restaurant scene enough to have an opinion I suppose. I find the restaurants to be excellent on the high-end, especially for seafood (especially my favorite, Pierchic, an end of the pier spot that I am on the way to in above photo) but in the mid-range grab a bite to eat in between meetings category, there is room for improvement. There are world-class lounges and clubs with top DJs in the world routinely flying in. Almost all of the hotspots, with a notable exception or two, are in the top hotel resorts, as that is where most of the liquor licenses are. Thus nights on the town are usually at a beach resort. Everything shuts down at 2am and during Ramadan month most places are closed. In general, Dubai is a great place to be a single young professional.

Misc. Lifestyle basics – On the plus side, beautiful beaches, sunny weather, close proximity to great diving / snorkeling spots, lots of family entertainment attractions, extremely low crime rate, busy airport with lots of quick, cheap and fun getaways in the Middle East and Europe available, about 90% expat population, very friendly people, beautiful buildings, interesting tourists passing through all the time, and excitement of being in cutting edge and truly unique environment. On the negative side, the sunny weather is way too sunny in the summer (with it being so hot that it is difficult to simply walk down the street); taxi lines at shopping malls, office buildings and other crowded places are very long; they keep building more beautiful buildings 24 / 7 and construction noise and dust can be ever present in some parts of town.

Transportation – A car is a must, although they will eventually finish the world’s biggest raised metro system (but still will need a car). Cars seem to be cheaper here for some reason. Most firms have a couple (or more if big office) BMW 7 type cars with drivers on hand to take associates to meetings (and for partners’ meetings and personal use). There is no car service like in NYC, but parking spots are paid for by firms.

Hours – I am sure I will get comments suggesting that the hours are very high for particular persons, but it is my take, based on my knowledge of the hours of many different major law firm attorneys in the market, that the hours are significantly lower than a normal NYC market (when 100+ year old leading investment banks are not dissolving). At the newer US firms here, the hours for associates can be as low as 1300 hours (while remaining in great standing at their firms), but that will be changing as more business is brought in. Associates in Dubai are expected to be part of the marketing / client development effort much more so than in US markets. It is very much an entrepreneurial atmosphere and those that get in on the ground floor now will have a lot of benefits, including being a part of building of a new office, developing major client relationships and usually less hours for a year or two (although some associates I understand would rather work more). Keep in mind though that in small overseas offices if an associate or two leaves unexpectedly, just as heavy deal flow is coming in, their former colleagues could be understaffed and overworked for a while (it can take months to replace associates).