Trowers & Hamlins has shut down its five-lawyer Cairo office.

The firm confirmed last week that it had made the "strategic" (as opposed to "haphazard") decision to leave Egypt, fourteen years after opening there. Senior Partner Jenny Gubbins said that there was on-going unrest in the country and the longer term outlook remained uncertain. In other words, Egypt is still trouser-soilingly dangerous and the firm can't make any money there anyway.

Jenny Gubbins yesterday - an artist's impression

Sara Hinton, the office's Managing Partner, is made of sterner stuff. She's moving to local firm Ibrachy & Partners, taking an unspecified number of lawyers with her and leaving behind a firm which has had a shocking year of it. Profits have fallen by a third, in part due to a move to new City offices. But also because despite Trowers' huge investment in the Middle East (with offices in Dubai, Oman, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi), London still accounts for around 80% of the firm's turnover.

The firm said that its other offices in the region "are unaffected and continue to thrive". Hmm.