Engineering and Construction.
Construction work in this market is usually run in English, through arbitration. A great deal of it is decided in Arabic, in the onshore courts. We practice in both.
Construction is contracted on international forms and governed by UAE law. The two are read together, or they are not read properly at all.
The Civil Code sets out a complete scheme for contracting works, and on several questions it is more definite than the forms. Liability for structural defects runs for ten years from handover and cannot be excluded by agreement. Good faith is a substantive obligation, and a tribunal can apply it to a notice provision. None of this is obscure. It is the law the contract is performed under, and it is better understood at drafting than at the claim.
Most construction disputes here are run in English through arbitration, and we do that work. A great many are decided somewhere else. Before the onshore courts the proceedings are in Arabic, the case is filed rather than argued, and it is usually settled in substance by a court-appointed expert long before a judgment is written. Persuading that expert is a different exercise from cross-examining a witness, and it is the exercise that decides the outcome.
Which is why we do not treat the drafting and the dispute as separate practices. The clause that decides a case is written years before anyone reads it closely. We would rather read it then.
“A construction case here is negotiated in English and decided in Arabic, by an expert the court appointed. We work in both registers.”
Where this sector meets our practice.
§ Practice register · Sector 02Disputes & Arbitration.
- LitigationConstruction proceedings before the Abu Dhabi and Dubai courts, in Arabic.
- ArbitrationDIAC and other institutional construction arbitration in English.
- Dispute ResolutionClaim strategy and the court-appointed expert stage that decides most cases.
Engineering and Construction.
Construction work in this market is usually run in English, through arbitration. A great deal of it is decided in Arabic, in the onshore courts. We practice in both.
Construction is contracted on international forms and governed by UAE law. The two are read together, or they are not read properly at all.
The Civil Code sets out a complete scheme for contracting works, and on several questions it is more definite than the forms. Liability for structural defects runs for ten years from handover and cannot be excluded by agreement. Good faith is a substantive obligation, and a tribunal can apply it to a notice provision. None of this is obscure. It is the law the contract is performed under, and it is better understood at drafting than at the claim.
Most construction disputes here are run in English through arbitration, and we do that work. A great many are decided somewhere else. Before the onshore courts the proceedings are in Arabic, the case is filed rather than argued, and it is usually settled in substance by a court-appointed expert long before a judgment is written. Persuading that expert is a different exercise from cross-examining a witness, and it is the exercise that decides the outcome.
Which is why we do not treat the drafting and the dispute as separate practices. The clause that decides a case is written years before anyone reads it closely. We would rather read it then.
“A construction case here is negotiated in English and decided in Arabic, by an expert the court appointed. We work in both registers.”
Where this sector meets our practice.
§ Practice register · Sector 02Disputes & Arbitration.
- LitigationConstruction proceedings before the Abu Dhabi and Dubai courts, in Arabic.
- ArbitrationDIAC and other institutional construction arbitration in English.
- Dispute ResolutionClaim strategy and the court-appointed expert stage that decides most cases.
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