Arbitration and ADR
Arbitration and Dispute Resolution
Before you file anything, read the dispute resolution clause in your contract. If it sends disputes to arbitration, filing in court will usually get you sent back, and you will have lost months.
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Proceedings in Arabic, explained to you in plain terms.
The short answer
This page explains when arbitration applies instead of court, what a clause has to say to be usable, which seats and institutions are used here, how an arbitration runs, what happens when an award has to be enforced or set aside, and where mediation fits.
On this page
Ten free minutes
Enough to say whether this needs a lawyer at all.
When arbitration applies instead of court
The contract decides
Arbitration applies because both sides signed something that says it applies, usually a clause in a supply agreement, a construction contract or a shareholders agreement. Either side can then rely on it, including the side that would now prefer a judge.
What it gives you, and what it does not
The proceedings are private, you can appoint people who understand the sector, and the case can run in English. An award made here is also enforceable in many other countries under the New York Convention. Against that, the parties pay the tribunal and the institution, there is no appeal on the merits, and a tribunal binds only those who signed the clause.
Disputes that stay with the courts
Urgent protective steps such as an attachment over assets usually come from a court even where the substance goes to arbitration. Criminal complaints, labour claims through MOHRE and rental disputes at the Rental Dispute Centre follow their own routes, and a plain civil claim belongs with our civil litigation work.
The arbitration clause in your contract
What a usable clause says
Name the institution and its rules, or state clearly that the arbitration is ad hoc. State the seat, which decides which courts supervise. State the language. State how many arbitrators there will be and how they are chosen. State the governing law, which is a separate question.
What makes a clause defective
Clauses fail for ordinary reasons. They name a body that does not exist. They give jurisdiction to the courts and to a tribunal in the same breath. They say nothing about the seat. Or the contract says one thing and a later annex says another. That does not always kill the arbitration, but it invites a jurisdiction fight before anyone reaches the merits.
Clauses naming an institution that no longer exists
A 2021 Dubai decree restructured the Dubai International Arbitration Centre and abolished the institution behind the former DIFC-LCIA, and contracts signed before that change still circulate with the old wording. Transitional arrangements exist, but the position has been argued over since and is not settled. If your clause names a body that has been wound up, have it read before you serve anything.
Who had authority to sign it
Agreeing to arbitration is treated as a more serious step than signing an ordinary commercial term, and there are rules about who can bind a company to it. If your signatory was a manager without that authority, expect to hear about it.
Seats and institutions used in the UAE
Arbitration lawyers in the UAE spend a lot of time separating three things clients treat as one: the seat, the legal home of the arbitration; the institution, which administers it; and the venue, which is only where a hearing takes place.
Onshore Dubai
An arbitration seated onshore is governed by the Federal Arbitration Law and supervised by the UAE courts.
DIFC and ADGM
The Dubai International Financial Centre and Abu Dhabi Global Market are separate jurisdictions with their own arbitration legislation and courts. An award seated in one of them still has to travel a recognised route to reach assets held onshore.
DIAC and the other centres
The Dubai International Arbitration Centre is the institution most often named in Dubai contracts. It issued new rules after the 2021 restructuring, so check which edition your clause picks up: the answer can differ with the date the contract was signed and the date the case was started. Other centres operate under chamber of commerce structures elsewhere in the country, and several have changed name or rules.
Arbitration under foreign rules
Nothing stops parties here choosing the rules of an institution based abroad, and this is common in larger contracts. International arbitration law firms in Dubai run cases under those rules from this city. Choosing foreign rules does not by itself move the seat abroad, so decide both deliberately.
What the forum costs
We publish no fee scale for any institution or tribunal. They depend on the amount in dispute and the number of arbitrators, and they are revised. Ask for the current schedule before you commit to a forum. Our own basis of charging is on the legal fees page.
How an arbitration runs
Starting the case
One side files a request or notice of arbitration naming the parties, the clause relied on, the dispute and the relief claimed. The other side answers and can counterclaim. Deadlines run from service, so how and when it was served matters.
Constituting the tribunal
A sole arbitrator or a panel of three, depending on the clause. Candidates disclose anything that might affect their independence, and either side can object on defined grounds. Choosing the arbitrator is one of the few real advantages arbitration has, and it deserves the thought.
Timetable and evidence
The tribunal holds a first meeting and fixes a timetable for written submissions, document production, witness statements and expert reports. This stage decides how long the whole thing takes. Arbitration is document heavy, and where the documents and the proceedings are in different languages, translation costs time as well as money.
The hearing and the award
A hearing is held where the tribunal needs to hear witnesses tested, and some cases are decided on documents alone. It can sit here, abroad or remotely without changing the seat. The tribunal then issues a written, reasoned award dealing with the claims and the costs. An award is binding, not a recommendation.
Enforcing or challenging an award
Getting an award recognised
A winning party that is not paid has to turn the award into something enforceable against assets. Onshore that means an application to the competent court, which is a procedural step rather than a rehearing. Recognition is still not payment: you then have to find and attach assets, and where the debtor is a company that runs alongside our corporate and commercial work.
Challenging an award
The grounds for setting an award aside are narrow and are about the process rather than the result: no valid agreement, a defect in the appointment, a tribunal that decided more than it was asked, a party prevented from presenting its case, or a conflict with public policy. Being unhappy with the outcome is not a ground, and the window is short.
Foreign awards
An award made outside the UAE is recognised through the route the country’s treaty commitments provide, principally the New York Convention, to which the UAE is a party. The court checks defined conditions rather than reopening the dispute.
Mediation and conciliation
Not every dispute needs a tribunal. Mediation in Dubai is now a normal part of commercial practice, and some claims pass through a conciliation stage before they reach a judge. Talking does not weaken your position provided the discussions are held on a without prejudice basis.
Mediation
A mediator decides nothing. They run a structured conversation, test each side privately and look for terms both can live with. It works well where the parties have to keep dealing with each other, or where the obstacle is a payment schedule, not a point of law.
Conciliation before the courts
Certain civil disputes in Dubai go through an amicable settlement stage before they proceed further, and it disposes of a fair share of straightforward claims.
How we work on arbitration and ADR matters
What an arbitration lawyer in Dubai does changes with the stage the matter has reached.
Reading the clause first
Before anything is filed we read the clause, the contract chain and the correspondence. A mistake here is expensive to undo, which is the reason to bring in an arbitration law firm in Dubai before you serve rather than after.
Running the case and what follows it
Drafting the request or the answer, arbitrator selection, the written case, document production, witness and expert evidence, the hearing, and then the ratification, annulment or attachment work that follows. Where the underlying disagreement is between shareholders, see our page on shareholder disputes.
What to send us
The signed contract with every annex, amendment and side letter. The dispute resolution clause and any earlier version of it. The correspondence, including any notice already served. A short timeline with dates and amounts. Documents showing who signed what. If the arbitration has started, everything the institution has sent you.
Questions people ask us
My contract has an arbitration clause. Can I still go to court?
Generally not for the substance. If you file in court and the other side relies on the clause in time, the claim is likely to be sent to arbitration. Court is still the right place for an urgent protective step.
Is arbitration confidential?
The proceedings are normally private, which is one reason parties choose it. Confidentiality is not absolute, and it can be affected once an award reaches a court.
Can an arbitration be run in English?
Yes, where the parties agreed to it or the tribunal directs it. Court proceedings connected to the arbitration are still in Arabic, and documents going into them need legal translation.
How long does an arbitration take?
It depends on the number of arbitrators, the volume of documents, whether there is a counterclaim and how many extensions the timetable absorbs. We would rather give you a range after reading the file than publish a figure that fits nobody.
Do you act for parties outside the UAE?
Yes, including where the dispute is here and the client is not.
Speak to an arbitration lawyer in Dubai
Send us the contract and the clause before you take a position. Whether you are starting a case, answering one or holding an unpaid award, the first step is the same: establish which forum you are in.
Call us on +971 50 747 9570 or email help@lawyerindubai.ae. Our office is at Empire Height Towers, Marasi Drive, Business Bay, Dubai. You can also reach us through our contact page.
Related pages: corporate and commercial lawyers, shareholder disputes, civil litigation, legal fees.
What this costs
The first ten minutes are free. After that a standard fee applies and you are told what it is, in writing, before any work starts. Court and government fees are set by the court and are separate from ours.
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