Litigation

The firm's Litigation department maintains rights of audience before all courts in the United Arab Emirates and represents clients across every stage of contentious proceedings — from pre-action advisory and demand correspondence through to trial, appeal, cassation, and execution.

Courts & Tribunals: The department appears regularly before the Dubai Courts, Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, and courts across the Northern Emirates including Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, and Fujairah. The team has deep experience before the Rental Disputes Centre, which holds exclusive jurisdiction over tenancy disputes in Dubai, as well as other specialised tribunals, committees, and dispute resolution bodies across the Emirates — including the Insurance Disputes Resolution Committee, the Labour Court, and the Commercial Court divisions.

The department also handles matters before the Rulers' Courts and Diwan offices — forums that carry particular weight in disputes involving government interests or matters that have been escalated beyond the ordinary judicial system. The team is well-versed in the protocols, procedural sensitivities, and expectations that engagement with these bodies requires.

For clients operating within the financial free zones, the firm appears before the DIFC Courts — including the Small Claims Tribunal — and the ADGM Courts, both of which operate under common law principles with English as the language of proceedings. A significant portion of the department's free zone work intersects with the firm's arbitration practice, particularly in relation to award enforcement and setting-aside applications.

International Reach: Where matters involve cross-border elements, the firm coordinates with its established network of legal consultants in Egypt, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and India to ensure seamless execution across jurisdictions. The department has experience managing multi-jurisdictional litigation strategies, including parallel proceedings, service of process abroad, and the enforcement of foreign judgments within the UAE.

Scope: The Litigation department handles civil and commercial claims, construction disputes, real estate and tenancy proceedings, employment matters, insurance recovery, family and personal status cases, and criminal defence. The team regularly obtains and defends against urgent relief — including arrest warrants, travel bans, attachment orders, precautionary seizures, and injunctive measures — across both onshore and free zone jurisdictions.

The department also manages the appointment and coordination of expert witnesses and court-appointed experts across technical, financial, and forensic disciplines, and regularly engages with expert reports and technical evidence in construction, valuation, accounting, and other specialist areas. The team handles all aspects of high-level litigation strategy — including multi-party proceedings, joinder and intervention applications, counterclaims, set-off defences, third-party notices, and complex enforcement and execution proceedings.