Legal Business Development & Client Relations Manager

The opportunity

Chronicle is hiring a senior, commercially driven legal professional for a specialist legal and regulatory advisory firm in Dubai. This is an external, client-facing role focused on business development, client engagement, matter intake and relationship management rather than conventional internal paralegal work.

Key responsibilities

• Develop new legal mandates through proactive business development, referrals, professional networks and market engagement.
• Lead initial client meetings, discovery discussions and structured matter-intake conversations.
• Understand client objectives, legal exposure, commercial context, urgency and required outcomes.
• Collect and organise relevant documents and prepare clear matter summaries for the internal legal team.
• Manage opportunity follow-up, proposals, engagement documentation and client onboarding in coordination with firm leadership.
• Build trusted relationships with business owners, corporate decision-makers, family enterprises, investors and other stakeholders.
• Maintain an active opportunity pipeline while protecting confidentiality and professional standards.

What we are looking for

• Bachelor’s degree in Law; postgraduate legal qualifications or admission in a recognised jurisdiction are advantageous.
• Approximately 8–15 years of relevant experience within a strong, established law firm or comparable legal-services environment.
• Demonstrated experience in external client engagement, legal consultation, matter intake, relationship management or law-firm business development.
• Strong sales, presentation, negotiation and stakeholder-management skills.
• Excellent English; professional Arabic capability is strongly preferred.
• UAE or GCC legal-market experience and a credible professional network are highly desirable.

Client identity will be shared with shortlisted candidates at the appropriate stage.