Starting a law firm in Dubai involves a legal-consultancy activity licence through DET, alongside professional registration requirements for practising lawyers that go well beyond a standard business licence.
Licensing and professional registration
The firm itself needs a legal-consultancy trade licence, while every practising lawyer at the firm must hold their own individual professional licence recognised by the relevant UAE legal authority, separate from the firm's business registration. Lawyers advising on UAE law specifically, versus international or home-jurisdiction law, may face different registration and qualification requirements.
Onshore vs offshore-jurisdiction firms
A firm advising on UAE onshore law generally needs mainland licensing and registration recognised by UAE courts, while a firm specifically structured around DIFC common-law practice, covered elsewhere in this series, would instead register through that jurisdiction's own legal framework — a materially different regulatory path.
Costs and timeline
Costs include the base trade licence plus lawyer registration and any professional indemnity insurance requirements specific to legal practice. Model your base licensing cost with this site's Business Setup Cost Calculator, and confirm lawyer-registration-specific requirements directly with the relevant legal authority.