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Hi all - just some quick salary advice required.

What salary can be expected for a one year qualified lawyer (Scottish/English) in Dubai?

I've been offered 36,000AED per month plus bonus and am wondering if this is a decent salary or not?

Most concerned about what type of apartment I could live in comfortably on that wage!

Welcome all your thoughts.

Cheers.

Steve

Hi there Steve,

It's not a bad starting salary for a lawyer in the UAE; granted I'm certain the salary scale is normally a lot higher - but would be dependant on your (Middle Eastern/ Dubai) experience.

Whats sort of law? civil, commercial, contracts?

As an indicator, you may have to extrapolate here; a good company handling a labour law issue charges in the region of 1,200 Dhs per hour. This is a private rate and not a corporate rate.

Check out www.salaryexpert.com Although a "free" site and it only benchmarks positions in Abu Dhabi, I have found this to be pretty much accurate with respect to positions in Dubai (if they are listed). Look under the "International" section

Get them to be more specific on the "bonus" issue: how much, on what basis (who gets to determine this), and how often.

You'd have to brush up on your Sharia Law as well

We can always use a lawyer on the Forum

Thanks DBX

Would be working for an international firm in a commercial/projects role.

Coming from the UK, it seems like quite a good offer (mainly because tax-free!).

Just concerned that as i have no idea of the cost of living I dont really have any sort of comparison to make - 35,000AED may be rubbish or it may be great for all I know!!

Thanks again.

hi again,

that's about 432,000 AED pa. without your bonus.

your highest overheads are a) housing and b) schooling (if you are married and have kids).

the housing depending on your requirements and standard of living can set you back between 25% to 40% (110,000 - 180,000 pa); make no mistake it's expensive.

is that a total salary package? do they offer a vehicle allowance? as depending on where you live and work you will probably have to get some transport factored into your equations as well.

the standard contract term is 3 years, and the salary normally fixed for that period of time; i would possibly suggest that you ask them to look at revising your remuneration after a period of 2 years.

whatever bonus they are offering needs to be included in your legal labour contract before you start working - it needs to be specific on how it is measured and paid out (in case you have any problems at a later stage).

i would start now reading up as much as you can regarding Sharia law, as if the projects you will be working on are uae based there will definitely be instances where it is applicable.

start off with "the company law" of 1980 (or possibly 1984) used to have a copy somewhere; it deals with company establishment, types of companies, partnerships etc.. it's pretty straight forward stuff even for a non-legal person like me, but sometimes open to interpretation

possibly ask the company you will be working for to forward some literature (by email) for background reading so that you can hit the ground running.

Wow - you certainly know you're stuff!

Rent sounds absolutely extortionate - but girlfriend is coming out with me (no kids) and she'll probably be on roughly the same wages so rent will hopefully be manageable.

What areas shall we look at?

No vehicle allowance, and we are planning on buying a car when we get settled down. So that's another biggie.

Hopefully the firm I am going to will be up on its Sharia, but i think i know the basics - is it not based on the principle that there should be no returns where there is no exposure to risk?

well, seems like you'll have it pretty easy then.

vehicles are pretty cheap if you factor in they only have a 5% import duty.
not sure what the comparison is though from a uk perspective, but from my part of the world they are between 50 and 60% cheaper in dubai (factoring in the exchange rate)!. annual license and registration, maintenance is relatively cheap and petrol very cheap. on your combined salary you'd be able to afford two medium class sedans quiet comfortably. the double income will make a huge difference!

location wise, it depends entirely on the area you'll be working in. traffic is quiet heavy in some areas, particularly in the morning in areas where there are schools - pretty much the same as in the uk. the difference is having to sit in slow moving traffic in the middle of summer in 35 degrees at 7am

that’s the basic financial side, try and look into the banking and corporate finance issues as well – remember that projects are built on profit – irrespective of the legal issues!

Thz DBX

hi there philh,

i just ran across a document on islamic financing (from a legal perspective) and thought it may make some good background reading for you.

pm me your email address and i'll forward the article

s