Dentons Considers Closing Kuwait Office

Shortly after Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle closed their office in Kuwait, partners at SNR Denton & Co are set to vote on whether their own Kuwait office will continue, according to an article by The Lawyer.

Dentons ’ Kuwait office is an association with the Law Office of Al-Shehab & Partners, and primarily focuses on energy, infrastructure and project finance, corporate and commercial, TMT, tax and litigation matters. The office was opened in 2008, and is currently headed by energy and infrastructure partner Stuart Cavet. The office was formerly used by Bryan Cave.

Cavet is Dentons’ only partner at the Kuwait office, who oversees four associates that work on matters throughout the Middle East. Cavet replaced managing partner David Pfeiffer, who resigned in 2011, and in 2012, the managing partner of the firm’s Doha office, Leigh Hall, resigned as well.

Dentons partners are preparing to vote on the decision to close the Kuwait office for unspecified reasons, but if it closes, the firm will move the office’s attorneys to other offices, and continue to have a presence in Kuwait, and continue their work with Al-Shehab. Dentons currently has bases or associate firms in Manama, Cairo, Amman, Beirut, Muscat, Doha, Riyadh, and Dubai.

“We can confirm that we have been reviewing our office in Kuwait,” a spokesman for Dentons told The Lawyer. “However, no final decision has yet been made by the partnership.”

Two months ago, U.S.-based firm Curtis closed its Kuwait office a little more than a year after it opened. Led by Pfeiffer after he left Dentons, the office closed and Pfeiffer moved to the firms Mashora office.

Beyond the Middle East, Dentons has a staff of more than 2,500 in 79 offices in 52 countries.