Remember when Dubai was the newest, richest, most fabulous city in the world? Indoor skiing mountains, rotating skyscrapers, etc? That’s so last year. (Okay, the Burj Dubai, the word’s tallest building, is still there. Plenty of cheap office space for rent inside if you want some). Have a look at Chip Cummins’ article in the WSJ for the full lowdown: "the United Arab Emirates said Sunday it will spend $10 billion to bail out the once-highflying emirate of Dubai, whose huge construction and financial-sector expansion plans became a symbol of boom times, and now of a world-wide downturn."

So, as the previously booming Gulf legal market starts to look like a bit of a mirage, the first job cuts to hit a British firm in the Middle East have now emerged. Trowers & Hamlins has cut five lawyers in Dubai, while the firm’s Saudi Arabia and Oman offices are also affected, with one lawyer cut in each of Trowers’ bases in Riyadh and Muscat. The cuts mainly affect the firm’s banking and project finance practices. Tough though it is, this might seem like small fry in the light of the WSJ’s assessment: "foreign workers — from professionals to laborers — are leaving in droves."

However, it is not all bad news in the big wide world…

As we noted last week , DLA’s Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asian businesses reported a 16.2 per cent revenue hike for the 2008 financial year. The firm increased revenue from £490m in 2007 up to £584.9m in 2008.

Pinsent Masons ’ Chinese practice has been appointed as part of a consortium of Chinese firms to advise on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge project. This will see the construction of a 30km bridge between mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau giving plenty of material for Richard Hammond to bolster his new engineering-based TV series.

A further positive for British firms abroad is the revelation in Legal Week that Ashurst is set to seal its first major move into the US market with the City firm in advanced talks to recruit a US structured finance practice . According to Legal Week the City law firm is in talks to recruit at least 10 finance partners from US practice McKee Nelson which, if finalised, would give Ashurst a practice in both New York and Washington DC.

Like sunshine on a cloudy day.