DLA Piper, which just laid off 8 associates in Dubai, has additionally placed almost 20% of the remaining Dubai-based lawyers on either a six-month “sabbatical” or a secondment.

Those taking the sabbatical are not guaranteed a job when it is over, which means it’s not really a sabbatical, is it?

The firm has relocated an undisclosed number of lawyers from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, and announced reduced working hours and pay for other staff.

  

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DLA Piper, which has 97 lawyers in Dubai following the job losses, blamed the cuts on reduced client demand. Recent news reports have suggested that after years of giddy expansion, Dubai is falling apart in the global economic meltdown, with those foreigners who are permitted by the state’s dictatorship to leave the country doing so in droves.

DLA Piper is one of the largest law firms in the world, with more than 3,700 lawyers in North America and Europe.