Lawyers on Demand (LOD) has made its Middle East debut with the launch of a base in Dubai.

The flexible lawyering service has opened in the city with a team of seven lawyers, after receiving a licence from the Dubai International Finance Centre.

The base will be led by Middle East managing director Brett Menadue, who joined LOD in May. He was formerly chief legal officer at Mara Global Technology, before which he was also a director of legal and compliance at Nokia in Dubai.

The official launch comes after LOD announced plans to open in Dubai in July this year.

LOD was launched in 2007 by former Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) partner Simon Harper and Jonathan Brenner, BLP’s then head of recruitment, and five years ago became independent of BLP.

The business has grown to over 600 lawyers and consultants in ten years. It expanded into the Asia-Pacific region last year via a merger with AdventBalance, and now has bases in London, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney alongside the new Dubai hub.

The model of employment for LOD lawyers varies depending on the office. In London, lawyers are self-employed and set up their own company through which they operate as freelancers, while in Australia, lawyers are retained on a contract.