In-House Salary Survey - UAE, 2008

published by Tessera Executive
Search in collaboration with the Dubai Corporate Counsel Group

Read it as PDF

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD
 

We are delighted to publish our second UAE In-House Legal Salary Survey. The compensation data was collated in June and July 2008 from 194 in-house lawyers (a 46% increase on last year) in public, private, government and semi-government organizations.

A wide range of industry sectors are represented in this Survey and in addition to the compensation data, we have also included two new sections this year that cover training and job satisfaction.    

Thank you for your time and cooperation in participating in this Survey. Throughout the year we are asked by many of you for our advice on compensation both for yourselves and in many instances, for your teams. Therefore, your participation in this annual Survey and feedback on its usefulness and relevance is vital to our improving the Survey in 2009.

Kind Regards,

Elizabeth Williams

Senior Partner & Legal Practice Head

Tessera Executive Search

September 2008

DEFINITIONS

Please note throughout this Survey:

·         “PQE” = Post Qualification Experience

·         “Head of Department” denotes the ‘top’ position in the legal department (whether sole or managing a team) and includes inter alia, General Counsel, Heads of Legal, Legal Directors

and Chief Legal Officers but is not restricted to these denotations.

·         “Salary” = Base salary + housing allowance + transport allowance. All Salaries in this Survey are quoted in average monthly AED (unless otherwise stated) and are inclusive of base, housing and transport but exclusive of bonus and other benefits.

·         “Total Compensation” = Salary + Bonus

·         “Bonus” is expressed as a percentage of base salary only (excluding housing and transport allowances)

IMPORTANT OBSERVATIONS BEFORE READING THIS SURVEY

In-house salaries have without a doubt risen significantly in the last 12 months. How much lawyers are paid is dominated by two main factors: Where you qualified and increasingly, how much an organization is prepared to pay to secure you.

Where you qualified:

·         It is still largely the case that those of you who qualified in the UK, the US, Canada, New Zealand or Australia are paid more than your peers from the MENA region or the Sub-Continent.

 ·         That said, at Head of Department level, the gap in pay between Western qualified lawyers and MENA qualified lawyers this year is less marked than it was in 2007.

·         Western qualified Arabic/English bi-lingual lawyers are the most sought after and are commanding the highest salaries. 

·         Obtaining an LL.M. from a Western institution does not count as Western qualified and seem to make little or no difference to a candidate’s market value.  

How much a company is prepared to pay to get you:

This year, we have seen senior General Counsel roles in Dubai being offered compensation packages approaching those of their counterparts at major NYSE/FTSE-listed companies.  Consider these examples:

v  AED190,000 per month (plus bonus) for a 20 PQE UK General Counsel by a major Dubai company

v  AED244,000 per month (inclusive of bonus) for a Western qualified 14+ PQE bi-lingual lawyer

v  AED106,000 per month (plus bonus) for a 11 year qualified Australian lawyer. 

Based on the above two factors, it is extremely difficult to gauge true average salaries in the way we can in the UK where virtually everyone Surveyed has qualified in England & Wales. The UAE is a melting pot of nationalities and qualifications meaning the salary of a 4 PQE non-Western qualified lawyer in ‘Company A’ is highly likely to be lower than that of a 4 PQE Western qualified lawyer in ‘Company B’. This somewhat skews the results.

Based on the above two points, this Survey is meant to be a guide to legal remuneration rather than a prescriptive document. If any reader would like specific advice relating either to themselves or their team, please contact us a free consultation by either calling Elizabeth Williams on +971 4 367 1752 or emailing her on elizabeth@tesserasearch.com  

WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE SURVEY

This year’s Survey was completed by 194 in-house lawyers from a wide range of organizations in the UAE. As with last year’s Survey, Heads of Department accounted for the largest group of respondents making up 54% of participants.

As set out in the charts below, the full gamut of companies and industry sectors are represented in the Survey. However, you made the decision as to what constitutes a multinational and what constitutes a government entity. For example, some of you working for a Dubai Holding entity defined it as a multinational whilst others defined it as a government entity.

            What type of company are you working for?

Company Type

What sector are you working in?

Industry Sector

WHEN AND WHERE DID YOU QUALIFY?

When:

·         56% of respondents fell within the 11 to 16+ PQE range (last year the majority of respondents were in the 8 to 10 PQE range).

·         This is perhaps indicative of the fact that organizations are increasingly recruiting more senior lawyers into Head of Department roles.

·         Only 9% of respondents are 0 – 4 years’ qualified, making the data somewhat limited in this PQE range.

Level of Qualification

             Where:

·         The UAE market is dominated by lawyers who qualified in the Western hemisphere (66%) with England & Wales being the most common jurisdiction of qualification (29%).

·         The MENA region had a strong representation with 23% of respondents qualifying in this large region. Only 1% of respondents qualified in the UAE and/or are UAE Nationals.

Jurisdiction of Qualification

COMPENSATION TRENDS 

Trends – Pay, Level and Industry Sectors:

·         When asked what percentage your salary had increased by when it was last reviewed, over half of you seem to be keeping up with inflation with increments of 10% or more. The increases were fairly evenly split between being promoted, changing jobs and annual reviews. 

·         20% of Heads of Department are now being paid more than AED100,000 per month. Salaries of AED130,000 to AED150,000+ per month are becoming less unusual. However, a lot of Heads of Department are paid less than this bringing down the overall average to AED77,000.

·         Last year the Real Estate sector stood out as paying some of the highest salaries at non-Head of Department level. This year has seen a shift to some of the highest salaries been paid in the Banking & Financial Services and surprisingly, the IT & Telecoms sectors.   

·         Compared to 2007, the Banking & Financial Services sector has overtaken the Real Estate and Construction sector as the top payer at Head of Department level averaging salaries of AED82,000 per month.

Trends – Pay and Jurisdiction of Qualification:

·         The results show that overall, the highest paid lawyers qualified in North America, followed closely by England & Wales. However, at Head of Department level, an England & Wales qualification puts you at the top of the pay scale as illustrated in graph below.   

·         The last 12 months have seen a marked improvement in the compensation of lawyers who qualified in the GCC and the Levant regions but yet again this year, lawyers who qualified in the Sub-Continent are still the lowest paid.

Average Head of Department Compensation / Jurisdiction Qualified

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS 0 – 4 YEARS’ QUALIFIED

The compensation data gathered in the 0 - 4PQE range is limited given the small number of lawyers in this PQE range taking part in the Survey.

However we can state that

Compensation:

0 – 2PQE

·         The average salary is AED31,000

·         The highest salary reported is a surprisingly high AED66,000 appearing in the Banking & Financial Services sector

·         The vast majority (66%) qualify for a bonus of up to 20% of base, 18% a bonus of up to 40% of base with the balance qualifying for a bonus of over 40% of base

3 – 4PQE

·         The average salary is AED 34,000.

·         The highest salary reported is AED 55,000 per month appearing in a Regional Conglomerate.

·         The vast majority (63%) qualify for a bonus of up to 20% of base, 22% a bonus of up to 40% of base with the balance qualifying for a bonus of over 40% of base.

Benefits:

·         Irrespective of whether you are 0 or 4 years’ qualified, you all receive private medical insurance.

·         School fee contributions are an exception rather than the norm. The more senior you are the more likely you are to get them.

·         A tiny percentage of you receive some form of long term incentive plan beyond the typical annual bonus. 
  87% of you receive annual tickets.    

·         About half of you receive life insurance.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS 5 – 7 YEARS’ QUALIFIED

The maximum salary in this PQE range is AED 94,000 per month which fell within the Banking & Finance sector. However, the averages are very much lower than this.

5 – 7 PQE Bonus Potential

5 – 7 PQE Benefits

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS 8 – 10 YEARS’ QUALIFIED

The maximum salary in this PQE range is shared between the Regional Conglomerate and Banking & Finance sectors at AED 115,000 per month.

8 – 10 PQE Bonus Potential

8 – 10 PQE Benefits

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS 11 – 15 YEARS’ QUALIFIED

The maximum salary in this PQE range is AED 140,000 per month which fell within the Banking & Finance sector. This was followed closely with AED 134,000 in the Real Estate and Construction Sector.

11 – 15 PQE Bonus Potential

11 – 15 PQE Benefits

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS 16+ YEARS’ QUALIFIED

The maximum salary in this PQE range is AED129,000 per month which again fell within the Banking & Finance sector.

16+ PQE Bonus Potential

16+ PQE Benefits

RECRUITMENT TRENDS

It’s certainly been a busy 12 months.

·         More than two thirds of Heads of Department have recruited over the last 12 months with 16% recruiting more than 4 lawyers. There has been a marked increase in the demand for lawyers in Abu Dhabi and more interest in candidates to go there given the slightly higher salaries on offer.

·         38% of respondents confirmed they have been in their current roles for less than one year.

·         The size of legal functions has grown significantly. Only 15% of you are the sole legal resource in your organization. However,

v  60% work in a team of up to 6 lawyers

v  19% work in a team of between 7 and 15 lawyers

v  21% work in a team of more than 15 lawyers

·         Over 90% of Heads of Department have found it “reasonably difficult” or “very difficult” to recruit lawyers (28% of offers have been declined) but maintain that this is mainly due to lack of talent, rather than compensation expectations. 

·         When asked why the offers you had made had been declined, your responses were fairly evenly split between “Unrealistic salary expectations”, “Unable to offer a competitive package” and “Candidate had a counter offer from their existing employer”.
So what does all this mean for you?

·         Firstly, the demand for Western qualified lawyers is very high (see the table below) but the availability of such talent is in short supply. It is not unusual for a lawyer to have multiple offers and so far we have not seen any marked increase in high calibre lawyers from the West looking to escape the ‘credit crunch’ by registering an interest in the Emirates. Whether or not the news of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch’s demise will change this is to be seen.

·         Secondly, with 76% of Heads of Department planning to recruit within the next 12 months (many of you in Abu Dhabi) we expect the battle for talent to continue with salaries likely to rise even further.

 

Demand for Talent

TRAINING TRENDS

Are you being trained?

When asked ‘Do you receive legal training?’ 73% of you said ‘Yes I receive legal training either in-house, externally or both. However that leaves more than a quarter receiving no training at all.

Training

JOB SATISFACTION

The majority of respondents stated they are satisfied with their roles and compensation. However, 44% of you work more than 10 hours a day which is probably why 50% find your role stressful and 30% very stressful.

Specifically:

·                 Salary satisfaction:

Salary satisfaction levels across 2007 and 2008 remained constant with 50% of the respondents satisfied with their compensation.

·                 Job satisfaction:

Job satisfaction level is high with 60% of the respondents very satisfied with their job and 35% fairly satisfied with their job.

·                 Commitment and motivation:

A significant number of you said that you were highly committed to your job with the remainder being reasonably committed. Few said that they were not committed at all.

Similarly, more than half the respondents were highly motivated.

The following graph illustrates whether you:

·         See, don’t see or don’t know if you see career growth/progress in your current role.

·         Are happy, unhappy or don’t have a view on how good the communication and management   structure in your team is.

·         Are happy, unhappy or unsure about the culture of the company you are working in.

Job Satisfaction