More than half of GCC lawyers received a pay rise last year and almost 80 per cent expect a bonus paid out this quarter, a survey of in-house legal professionals has found.
With 60 per cent of respondents also feeling optimistic about the year ahead, the results suggest the profession is shrugging off any worries about an uncertain global economy.
“The executive search industry is a bellwether for the wider economy and the survey results confirm what we have been observing since 2010 and that is that optimism is returning to the market,” said Elizabeth Williams, managing director of Elizabeth Williams Search, a legal headhunter which conducted the research.
Sixty per cent reported of lawyers surveyed said they received a pay rise last year. The average salary for a head of legal at a firm is almost US$21,000 (Dh77,000) a month, excluding bonuses. But the pay is higher if the lawyer is fluent in written and spoken Arabic and qualified in Western common law.
Abu Dhabi and Qatar offer the highest average salaries, the results showed.
A total of 79 per cent of respondents said they expected to receive a bonus for last year’s performance.
