<p>Marcus Wallman, partner in the firm's Corporate Advisory group, attended the inaugural meeting of the ESOP Forum on the 28 September 2011. &nbsp;The ESOP Forum is an initiative of the Dubai office of the Hay Group, a global management consulting firm that, among other services, advises on various employee reward strategies to maximise a company's performance. &nbsp;Attendees at the first meeting included representatives of a number of locally based plan administrators and trustee service providers, plan designers and other advisors. &nbsp;The aim of the ESOP Forum is to promote the awareness of employee share option and other long term incentive plans throughout the region. &nbsp;Such plans are widely used and well received in other jurisdictions and many believe they can be a powerful motivating tool for business' going forward.&nbsp; Marcus has been advising a number of local companies with regard to structuring such plans as well as advising international companies on regulatory and other UAE law issues to be considered when extending participation in such plans to employees based in the UAE (and similar advice is provided through the firm's other offices for employees based elsewhere in the region)."</p>