Pillsbury to Open Riyadh Post by Partnering With Past Associate

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman plans to open an office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia through a partnership with one of its former associates.

Pillsbury AlArfaj, as the firm will be known, will operate after its license is approved, Pillsbury said in a statement. Khalid AlArfaj, managing partner at Saudi firm AlArfaj & Partners, will join the new firm after the approval, according to Pillsbury.

“Saudi Arabia’s economy continues its rapid ascent,” Nadia Barazi, a London-based Pillsbury partner who leads the Middle East practice, said in the statement. “The opportunities available to companies and investors there are multiplying just as quickly.”

Dozens of multinational law firms have opened branches in Saudi Arabia in the past two years, or have applied for the right to do so, to benefit from work in the oil-rich kingdom. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan said last April it secured a license to practice law in Saudi Arabia, following firms including Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, and Linklaters.

After the country began to permit outside legal work, global firms have have shifted away from affiliations held with Saudi-based operations since the early 2000s to run their own practices without the constraints of a local partner. Forming an independent office is challenging however because newly opening firms are required to have Saudi national lawyers make up at least 70% of their staff.

Pillsbury said its work in the Middle East includes energy and infrastructure projects, commercial transactions, compliance and regulatory, and disputes and arbitration. The firm overall has 19 offices, including 13 in the US, London, Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.