DISPUTE RESOLUTION

The Firm’s Dispute Resolution practice encompasses litigation (and appeals) and arbitration (including a niche in Islamic dispute resolution), mediation, expert hearings, pre-litigation analysis and strategy development, and dispute avoidance strategies. Our multinational and multicultural expert team of dispute resolution lawyers offer technical expertise, sound legal advice, sector knowledge and expertise in each of civil, common and, in particular, Shari’ah law.

We believe that successful navigation of a dispute in the UAE requires an understanding of Shari’ah, a combination of global experience and in-depth local knowledge. As an example, in light of our Shari’ah expertise, we have developed innovative solutions for Islamic financiers in the UAE in relation to disputes involving ijara and musharaka financing documentation and have had success in such cases at courts.

By way of example, the Firm’s lawyers have extensive experience and have worked on a range of dispute resolution matters as follows:

• Advising various prominent UAE-based Islamic financiers in relation to financing disputes, including ijara and musharaka facilities, foreclosure matters, and legal and Shari’ah bases to share construction risks with customers
• Advising a leading Islamic mortgage financier on its documentation, identifying Shari’ah and legal issues and proposing legal and Shari’ah fixes for the same
• Advising a leading Islamic mortgage financier on developing a strategy for its numerous Abu Dhabi ijara financings with customers and developers
• Advising a leading Islamic mortgage financier in a dispute with a customer in relation to a murabaha financing dispute relating to a land financing contract
• Advising a Norwegian conglomerate on a multi-faceted US$ 260 million dispute in the Dubai Courts involving complex share pledge, construction and procurement contracts and shareholder and pledge agreements
• Serving as an expert witness on Islamic finance matters for arbitration in the UAE
• Serving as litigation counsel for a major Islamic ijara finance matter in Abu Dhabi for approximately AED 50 million
• Implementing varying strategies to enforce (and defend against claims based on) ijara facilities on behalf of Islamic financiers in the local courts in the UAE
• Serving as lead counsel on various multi-million dirham disputes in the UAE, including before ADCCAC
• Advising the International Finance Corporation (“IFC”), private lending and investment advisory arm of the World Bank as lead International Counsel to a consortium of multilateral and Japanese lenders in connection with the re-structuring, documenting and negotiating of the consortium’s convertible bond investments in the US$ 3 billion reorganisation of a South Korean leasing company
• Advising IFC in the structuring, documenting and negotiating of the re-structuring of the obligations of an Indonesian cement production facility (Semen Andalas)
• Lead International Counsel to a multilateral lender in structuring, documenting and negotiating the settlement of the obligations of a Vietnamese deep-water port project company to that multilateral lender
• Representation of client against a Fortune Global 500 corporation in a highly complex multi-million dollar technology and licensing dispute (involving importation of the Toyota Prius) at New York-based arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce
• Representation of United States subsidiary of large Japanese corporation at arbitration before the International Trade Commission
• Representation of corporate real property developer before a Boston-based US government panel, and successfully arguing for relief for client before twelve-member appellate board from government mandate to physically reconstruct and modify a completed US$ 25 million project
• Defending nationally-renowned U.S. construction industry expert against federal Lanham Act/commercial disparagement claims