Thursday 12 December 2013

British lawyers in Dubai: Money for old laws | The Economist

British lawyers in Dubai: Money for old laws | The Economist:

"WHEN the United Arab Emirates gained its independence from Britain in 1971, little did it expect a second wave of colonialists: British lawyers. Clifford Chance, a London-based legal giant, opened a small office in Dubai in 1975 as it began to emerge as a commercial centre. Allen & Overy followed in 1978. As Dubai boomed, lawyers from Britain and other countries flooded in, soon crowding its legal market. A new type of court may yet give British legal minds an advantage over both local lawyers and foreign rivals.

Hoping to become the Middle East’s legal hub, in 2011 Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) threw open its courts to disputes from any country, provided both parties agree to be bound by its decisions. The attraction is that the courts use the English language and operate in public under English-style common law (Scotland has a different legal system). This makes the legal process more transparent and much less risky for Western firms, which are put off by the reputation of Dubai’s local civil-law courts for favouring Emiratis over foreigners, according to Will Buckby at Beale & Company, a law firm."

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