Mishcon de Reya wholly owned business Mayfair Private has launched its first office outside London, opening in Dubai to provide support to Middle East clients.
The office will not provide local or international legal advice but will offer a family advisory and support service to its own, and Mishcon’s, high net worth clients.
Mayfair Private CEO Alistair Morgan said its work will “fall into two camps”: family advisory, which includes succession and estate planning, asset protection and tax support, and support services during family disputes.
He added the Dubai office is “not a back door through which Mishcon can provide legal services in the Middle East”.
“If a client needs local legal or accounting advice we will engage a local firm, and if it needs international advice, they can be referred to Mishcon de Reya LLP or another law firm,” Morgan continued.
Mayfair Private was launched in 2014 as a family-office services unit and a point of contact for the firm’s high net worth clients.
Mishcon set up the unit alongside Opus Private to offer services including family governance, family office advisory, wealth protection, asset protection and bespoke concierge services. Opus Private withdrew from the arrangement earlier this year, transferring 100 per cent of its shares to Mishcon de Reya.
Mayfair Private was incorporated in Dubai in August and is licensed to provide management consulting services. Morgan added the business has taken local law advice to enable it to provide family office services in Dubai.
The business is run as a separate legal entity to Mishcon and has separate IT systems and a separate board, however it is headquartered in Mishcon’s Africa House offices in Holborn.
Its Dubai office is currently a team of three “and growing”, Morgan said, headed up by former Barclays wealth and investment management managing director Deepak Malhotra.
Malhotra, a chartered accountant and tax adviser, left Barclays in August to join Mayfair Private DMCC as its chief executive. Prior to joining Barclays in 2012 he was a director and tax manager at Grant Thornton and Deloitte.
Morgan joined Mayfair Private in December 2014 from J Rothchild Services Ltd, where he was head of Lord Rothschild’s family office.
Mishcon de Reya has been working to build up its book of Middle East clients, most recently hiring Clyde & Co private client partner Martin Davies, who brought over a number of clients including various members of the Saudi royal family.
Mishcon reviewed its strategy this year and outlined its commitment to remain a “London-centric firm”. It has one office outside of London in New York, which is run as a separate entity to the UK LLP. The New York office shrunk considerably this year and now focuses solely on patent and IP work, as well as some international arbitration.
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