Legally On the Move: Careers, Tech & Insights from Dubai – Special Panel Episode – E19

You can hear our panel discussing:

– Dubai as the Legal Hub for International Professionals

– A Large New Influx of Career Opportunities

– The Value of Positivity, Community Mindset and Abundance Mentality

– Reinventing Modern Legal Careers

– Cultural Intelligence Being the Key to Success

Follow the entire miniseries here now – https://legallyspeakingpodcast.com/legally-on-the-move-careers-tech-insights-from-dubai/

Transcript

00:00

Welcome to legally on the move careers tech and insights from Dubai in this exclusive mini-series of the legally speaking podcast we’re taking you to the heart of Dubai a global hub for legal innovation cutting-edge technology and transformative career opportunities here’s what you’ll gain career inspiration unlock the secrets to thriving in Dubai’s dynamic legal market tech trends dive into how AI blockchain and legal tech are reshaping the industry diversity and leadership here from trailblazersis driving inclusivity and innovation in the UAE and Global Perspectives explore how Dubai’s unique blend of tradition and ambition is creating a thriving legal ecosystem.

00:40

Recorded in iconic locations, these episodes bring you the energy and insights of one of the world’s most exciting legal hubs.

00:48

Don’t just listen, experience the future of law.

00:50

Ready to move forward with us?

00:52

Let’s go.

00:53

So, welcome to the Legally Speaking Podcast, starting at the top, name, title and organisation.

00:59

Thanks Rob, I am Sarah Murphy and I’m the EMEA GM at Clio.

01:03

Absolutely.

01:04

Rob, you know me by now.

01:06

How many people are we going to do this?

01:09

I’m sorry, Barrison and Transformation Officer.

01:12

There we go.

01:13

Paul, partner at Nexa, founder of LAB Consultancy.

01:17

Absolutely.

01:18

And I wanted to get you all together, because we’ve been out here in Dubai, and I think we’ve all had different experiences.

01:24

We’ve been to lots of different events.

01:26

So sticking with you, Chrissie, what are some of the key things you have taken away from speaking at events, attending events, in terms of the Dubai legal scene generally at the moment?

01:36

I think one of the things that strikes me about the Dubai legal scene and just the Dubai scene in general is how focused on the future Dubai is and all aspects of that.

01:47

So technology, sustainability, all of those things which really go towards the future of not just Dubai but also the rest of the world.

01:56

So they’re really, really forward thinking and that obviously permeates through the legal scene as well.

02:01

Yeah, really well said and down to you Sahar, what’s your sort of reflections on the Dubai legal scene from the time you’ve beenOkay.

02:07

It echoes what Chrissie has said, but this whole market, this whole region of the world is necessarily positioning itself for the future.

02:19

Having spent part of history in relative isolation, they are now leading the world.

02:27

And so it’s unsurprising that everybody is wanting to turn up here.

02:33

When you look at, not just within legal, but what’s happening across various industries, what’s happening with sport, how everybody’s turning up here, there is so much potential and the level of encouragement and investment from a state level for what’s happening here makes everything exciting.

02:55

And that is one of the biggest reasons why even the international playersare no longer simply seeing the UAE as a pin in the mouth.

03:05

They’re seeing it as genuinely part of their strategy.

03:08

Yeah, really well said.

03:09

I’ve seen that from all the talks that I’ve been having over the last few days as well.

03:13

And Sarah, what’s your sort of take on the Dubai Legal team for the time you spent over here?

03:17

I think I echo everything that both Chrissie and Sahar said, but I think to add on to that, what I’m hearing is the need for connection and people.

03:25

So I think it’s a market that’s really hungry for innovation, hungry forbut with that it’s hunger for a sense of community, togetherness, the chance to innovate and ideate together and you know coming away I really feel KEO to be a big part of that.

03:40

I’m really looking forward to doing more events here and getting out into the market face-to-face and just meeting people in person.

03:46

Yeah absolutely well said.

03:47

I want to come back to you Chrissie and talk about more from a lifestyle perspective.

03:51

We’ve spent a lot of this series obviously talking about legal tech, legal careers but you’ve obviously spent time in the UK and now you’re spending more time in Dubai.

03:59

style as someone who’s been living here generally who people might be coming to think about it.

04:03

Is it all as good as everyone says?

04:05

Just give us your overview.

04:06

So I moved to Dubai, actually I thought it was very temporarily during COVID and I just wanted to escape the UK and Dubai looked like a really good option for a short period of time and I stayed for a few months and then I just fell in love with it to the point where I quit my job back in the UK so that I could spend more time here having set up my own business.

04:29

I think a lot of people talk about the fact that there’s eternal sunshine, and there’s obviously very favorable tax positions over here, and there’s lots of great kind of objective things like that, but I think there’s something that you can’t necessarily piss down.

04:45

It’s something about the energy of the people in Dubai.

04:48

There’s a real positive energy, there’s an attitude of abundance, everybody wants to help each other succeed, there’s an attitude ofeverybody is going to achieve success and everybody is going to achieve their goals.

05:03

It’s just a matter of how rather than whether.

05:07

I think it’s very hard to describe, it’s very hard to find a word to describe what that is, but it’s just the energy of Dubai.

05:13

It’s so forward-thinking, it’s so progressive, it’s so positive, and I think it’s something that you only kind of really notice when you’ve spent quite a bit of time between the two places, but coming here, you just kind of feel like you just feel this endless positivity aboutSomething good is going to happen if you spend time here.

05:31

It’s hard to describe that in a word, but the energy I think is how I would describe the difference.

05:36

Yeah, I think the whole time I’ve been here, I’ve just had nothing but positive, people are really friendly, people want to help collaborate.

05:44

Yeah, I feel there is a real positive energy attached to this.

05:47

So Sahar, obviously, you’ve been coming out, you’ve been involved in transformations.

05:51

What are you, from a lifestyle perspective, could you see yourself out here permanently?

05:56

What’s your reflections on that asyou know, someone may be thinking about the future?

06:01

I absolutely could and I am thinking about that and I’m not alone in thinking about that.

06:08

The picture, I think it’s part of what Chrissie was saying, that the picture in the UK is sometimes bleak and it’s presented as maybe even more bleak than it is.

06:18

There is genuinely a can-do attitude here and a willingness to response to that.

06:24

And if you look at even from the perspective of funders and people involved in building projects, they’re more likely to come out to geographically somewhere where there is a lot happening anyway around it.

06:37

And that willingness to invest inevitably breeds opportunity.

06:42

I think you have to be careful though because not everything is going to succeed andthe notion that it is kind of paved with gold is probably maybe taking it a little bit too far.

06:55

You’ve got to temper everything that’s happening with a sense of realism.

06:59

But even within that, you can still look at it and recognize that there is so much happening here, there’s so much opportunity.

07:05

And in the context of tech, and what Clio is doing in this space, for example,the opportunity right now, this exact moment is pretty unique.

07:16

Yeah, I guess that leads nicely on Sarah then from your perspective from Clio, you know, obviously huge year last year with your Series F raise, you know, how attractive is Dubai for Clio and again thinking from a talent recruitment perspective, lifestyle perspective, is this something you think you’re going to be really focusing on?

07:35

I think there’s huge opportunity for us here in the Middle East.

07:37

We already have a really sizable customer base here and with that, youI’ve never felt more confident after spending time on the ground here.

07:45

That is a big opportunity for us going forward.

07:48

I think we need to continue to improve.

07:50

invest deeply in our product but also as you said invest deeply in people and I think there’s a hugely talented diverse workforce here in the UAE but also all across the Middle East so there’s definitely opportunity for us.

08:02

What lies ahead for Clio in the Middle East is PBC but we’ll definitely be investing a lot more in this region for sure.

08:08

Yeah absolutely and I guess just a final question Sarah, for you looking at some potentially moving into the region with Clio or doing interesting things, what’s the number one thing you need to think about as a legal tech business to getright because you see so many organizations that maybe think about setting up an office or I’ve seen law firms.

08:24

I remember when I first started my legal recruiting business, we did a partner hire and that office went well and then it folded after a certain number of months.

08:31

So what are the things that you’ll be really thinking about deeply to ensure that if you did put an office here, boots on the ground, it was really right for you?

08:38

I think you need to think about, number one, what type of roles are you actually going to put into an office?

08:43

So we have our EMEA headquarters based out of Dublin, but we’ve teams in other locations regionally.

08:49

I think there’s huge benefits to having teams that need to drive in-person connection on the ground, but it’s making sure that you don’t have one individual isolated in a region, that you have a team there to support them, you have a team there to build a culture, and also I think there’s huge benefits to having a team on the ground, and the Middle East is an amazing place to be, I think with time zoneas well.

09:09

It just makes sense to invest here.

09:11

Yeah, absolutely.

09:12

Well, and jump in.

09:14

Yeah, can I ask a question just before you round this up, because I know that’s where you’re going.

09:18

Yesterday, at the event that we all attended, I heard that you had done, I think, over 350 podcast recordings now.

09:27

Yeah, correct.

09:28

I’m not sure how often people ask you questions, but I have one very important question.

09:33

Who is your favorite guest of all time?

09:39

I love all my guests all equally but I must say this has actually been a special series doing this today with all of you and I think the most novel which gets a lot of people interested in the show is when we had Carol Baskin from Tiger King I think that was quite an interesting during the time of yeah when it was the most watched show on the planet Netflix we managed to get Carol to come on and she was a completely differentpersonality, what obviously Netflix has presented the show in a way and hadn’t she killed her husband, go and listen to the episode to find out the answer to that and all these great things.

10:18

So I think that one is probably the most striking in terms of what a lot of people would want to, never heard of League Speaking podcast, probably want to go and hear that story.

10:25

But generally what I love aboutthe world of legal and community is, like we’re all friends here, so long here.

10:30

We interact, we do business, we collaborate with one another, and I’m just glad we’ve been able to create a platform where we can do fun stuff like this.

10:37

So I guess to flip the question to a final one to you, you’re very gracious in giving me the bit of mic time there, but you obviously know your onions when it comes to all things transformation.

10:46

You know, what is the opportunity when it comes to your zone of genius in Dubai for law firms?

10:50

And you know, is that something you’re really going to be looking to double down on moving forward?

10:54

It comes back to the fact thatRight now, law firms in particular are recognizing that this is no longer a satellite operation.

11:04

This is no longer simply part of their business.

11:08

It is going to be a significant part, if not actually a defining part.

11:15

And with that comes investment, with that comes the movement of knowledge services, of operations, of functions that previously were all headquartered back in Europe.

11:27

Europe or in the Americas, we’re now going to put those here because they feed the next part of the business and that’s where the transformation element comes in because it’s totally changing the way in which these law firms, these businesses work in this jurisdiction.

11:41

Yeah, and I’m excited for that.

11:43

And I guess a final question for you, Chrissie.

11:46

Obviously you’re growing your practice out here and we’re speaking off areas going super well with what you’re doing.

11:51

Can you see yourself building a team out here or what are your thoughts on the future and what does that look like?

11:57

would really like to.

11:59

You know, I think I enjoy spending time here so much.

12:01

I’m really invested in bringing on the next generation.

12:04

There’s been so much interest from my community in moving over here that I would really like to grow the business over here, definitely.

12:13

So anyone listening who’s interested, let me know.

12:17

But I mean it’s been such a wonderful place for me to kind of develop my skill set and really expandmy knowledge base and my skill set over here.

12:26

So I think anyone who’s thinking whatever level of their legal journey that they’re at, I think Dubai is a really good place to really broaden out your horizons, learn new things, learn a new mindset around innovation.

12:39

It’s just a place that’s full of learning opportunities.

12:42

So certainly I hope to expand the team over here at some point soon.

12:45

And I’m sure you will, and I’ll have a final, final question for all of you, but it’s a quick one word.

12:49

When I say Dubai, what’s the first word that comes to your head?

12:52

Progress.

12:53

Sahar.

12:55

Opportunity.

12:56

And Sarah, when I say Dubai, what’s the first word that comes to your head?

12:59

Innovation.

13:00

There we go, folks.

13:00

Well, thank you so much for joining me on the Legally Speaking Podcast, our first ever ammo interview on a yacht in Dubai.

13:07

I think it’s gonna take us to beat that.

13:10

But yeah, it’s been an absolute blast spending time with all of you and all the people we’ve met over the last few days.

13:14

But from now, from all of us, over and out.

13:18

What a journey.

13:19

As we wrap up our legally on the move Dubai miniseries One Word Comes to Mind.

13:24

Wow.

13:25

Over the past few weeks, we’ve had the privilege sharing conversations with some of the world’s most bold, inspiring and forward-thinking legal minds, right from the heart of one of the world’s most ambitious legal hubs, Dubai.

13:37

And this wasn’t your average podcast shoot.

13:39

We filmed at the DIFC.

13:41

We captured the energy of Palm Jumeirah, and yes, we recorded from a yacht circling Dubai Marina with the skylinein full view.

13:48

Here’s what we explored.

13:50

Legal innovation from AI to blockchain, Dubai isn’t waiting to adopt the future, it’s building it.

13:57

Career reinvention, lawyers breaking the mold, launching firms and rewriting the rules.

14:02

Cultural intelligence, thriving in a diverse, fast-moving ecosystem takes more than just credentials.

14:08

Entrepreneurship, compliance, legal operations, inclusion, VC deals, this city is doing it all.

14:15

We spoke with GCs, startup advisors,technologists, founders, managing partners and rising stars.

14:22

Each offering real stories, actionable insights and honest reflections on the legal transformation taking place in the UAE.

14:30

If you haven’t tuned in yet, this is your sign.

14:32

This isn’t just a mini-series, it’s a blueprint for where legal is heading next.

14:37

To our incredible guests, thank you.

14:39

To our brilliant sponsor, Clio, the cloud-based tech powering this series and the future of law, a huge thank you.

14:46

But we’re not done yet.

14:48

Next stop, Ibiza.

14:50

Yes, the Legally Speaking Podcast is proud to be the official media partner for the first ever edition of the Lawyers Retreat, taking place from the 13th to the 16th of May in Ibiza.

15:01

This is how we’re 10Xing the show in 2025.

15:05

Bold conversations, unforgettable locations,and real impact.

15:09

The Lawyers Retreat isn’t just another legal event it’s about strategy, scaling, sunshine and succession with legal leaders building differently.

15:17

As Dan Sullivan, founder of Strategic Coach and co-author of the best-selling book Ten Times Is Easier Than Two Times and the headline sponsor of the Lawyers Retreat says ten times is not the outcome it is the process and this, this is our process.

15:31

Thank You Dubai, we’ll see you in Ibiza.

15:34

For now, over and out.