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Practice
About this area

The clause that creates an arbitration usually decides how it runs. The court that supervises it decides whether the award is worth anything.

Arbitration is the default dispute mechanism in the commercial contracts we draft for ADGM, DIFC and onshore UAE entities. The seat, the institution, the language, the number of arbitrators and the availability of emergency relief get the same attention as the price and the indemnity. Once a dispute lands, none of them can be renegotiated.

We also act when those clauses are triggered, whether we drafted them or someone else did. The work covers shareholder and joint-venture disputes, post-M&A claims, and commercial disagreements where an arbitration runs alongside UAE court proceedings, attachment applications and regulatory exposure.

“Much of what a client recovers is decided after the award.”

— Pillar III · Disputes

On the court side, we handle annulment applications under the Federal Arbitration Law, recognition and enforcement of awards before the Abu Dhabi and Dubai onshore courts, and supervisory proceedings in ADGM and DIFC. Much of what a client recovers is decided after the award.

The work, in detail

Four matter types we handle in arbitration.

Clauses and pre-dispute strategy.

Most of the useful work on an arbitration happens in the clause. Seat selection across ADGM, DIFC, onshore UAE and offshore, the institution and rules, the number of arbitrators, the language and the availability of emergency relief are all set against the counterparty, the asset profile and the regulatory position. We also handle pre-dispute correspondence and preservation steps, written with an eye to how a tribunal will read them later.

Commencing and responding.

The first few weeks set the trajectory of everything after them. Notice strategy, tribunal constitution and properly pleaded preliminary objections on jurisdiction, scope or admissibility often decide whether the merits are reached at all. We plead them accordingly.

Written and oral advocacy.

Submissions are written for the panel that will read them: short on facts, exacting on law. We treat the statement of claim and the statement of defence as the most important documents in the proceedings, prepare witness evidence as we would for a trial, and instruct experts early, so their evidence has been stress-tested by the time it is filed.

Awards, annulment, and enforcement.

An award has to survive challenge and then turn into money. We see arbitrations through to execution before the Abu Dhabi and Dubai onshore courts and in ADGM and DIFC, and we defend awards attacked on public policy and procedural fairness grounds. Where the assets sit elsewhere, we coordinate enforcement with foreign counsel.

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We're available to assess your position and advise on the most effective approach. Initial conversations are always without obligation.

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