DIFC COURTS WORK PLAN - 2020-2021

Work Plan 2020-2021

Table of Contents Executive Introduction

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Judicial Excellence

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Service Excellence

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Innovation

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Connectivity

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Welcome to the DIFC Courts’ Work Plan 2020-2021 Executive Introduction I welcome you to the DIFC Courts’ 2020 - 2021 edition of the Work Plan.

Located in a civil jurisdiction, Dubai made an admirably daring move over a decade ago when setting up the DIFC free zone with common law structures and governance. Dubai has a ‘20/20’ vision of its big picture, i.e. progress, provision of excellent services and an exceptionally high quality of life for its residents.

Dubai, in fact, is the very face of lessons in adaptability and agility, leading impressive development. As such, Dubai is most apt to drive excellence of court services and the importance of courts’ adaptability to the future.

The UAE’s commitment to providing a highly competitive business environment is crucial to its long-term vision of economic diversification. The ability of the UAE’s judicial systems to support and protect the businesses that operate here will prove crucial to the nations’ long-term objective to attract and retain foreign investment.

Because of their relative youth, and thus agility, courts in the region have been able to successfully integrate advanced technology — this would prove much more difficult in well-established commercial courts in other regions. And in the UAE, in particular, it is investment in technology that has been the catalyst that enabled the nation’s commercial courts to develop into some of the leading English-language commercial courts in the world. Innovation allows for greater fairness in the system while increasing efficiency: The ability to conduct hearings via video-link from anywhere in the world, the introduction of e-bundling “paperless” systems and “courts of blockchain” initiatives are all examples of how Arab courts are at the forefront of the technology drive to usher in a new era of commercial justice.

Rather than work in direct competition, it is important that courts in the UAE and the wider Arab world, understand their roles in supporting the region’s transformation into a growing business hub, of global significance. Previously companies operating in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) area may have looked

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overseas to settle their disputes, but by working together the region’s commercial courts can retain a greater number of cases and successfully demonstrate that predictability and certainty can be guaranteed — and most importantly, decisions can be enforced.

The commercial courts in the UAE are already working together in a collaborative and symbiotic nature through a number of initiatives and memoranda of understanding. These will provide the necessary climate of certainty that will support the nations’ overarching visions to diversify and grow their economies. By continuing to strengthen the relationships between commercial courts across the GCC, the legal frameworks in each country will undoubtedly benefit, and so too will the communities in which they serve.

At the DIFC Courts we have had a bustling couple of years and the Court has transitioned through some tremendous changes. We look forward to an even busier and more successful next chapter. This Work Plan will roadmap the Courts’ direction and strategy for the next two years and we are extremely excited for what is to come.

By way of reminder, the Courts rely on four cardinal pillars as it works to achieve its mission in the administration of justice. First is judicial excellence; second, we seek to be the world’s most well-connected commercial court; third, we strive for service excellence; and finally, we always bear in mind that; to achieve service excellence, we need to rely very heavily on innovation.

We stick to these major overarching pillars for a simple reason - they work.

Since the previous Work Plan in 2018 the DIFC Courts has gone from strength-to-strength in maintaining its position as a leading international commercial court. Our reputation for judicial excellence has only been further extended by the addition of two acclaimed judges from Australia to our judicial repertoire; The Honourable Justice Wayne Martin AC QC and The Honourable Robert Shenton French. We are also pleased to announce the reappointment of Justice Roger Giles to our bench.

We will be introducing initiatives to increase and support the number of Emiratis playing a role within the DIFC Courts; the most notable of these will be our mentoring programme, which we expect to launch in early 2020, wherein we will call on ex-patriate lawyers to partner up with Emirati lawyers to provide mentoring and guidance on appearing in the DIFC Courts and conducting proceedings. This will also be an opportunity for ex-patriate lawyers to learn more about the key differences between civil procedure and common law procedure.

The DIFC Courts remain one of the world leaders in the implementation and innovation of technology in legal proceedings. To further encourage the use of technology and to become more user friendly, we have committed to going paperless by December 2020. Further in line with the Dubai Government initiative, we are also aiming to cease in undertaking paper transactions over the next 24 months. To facilitate this, we have made a number of updates to our case management system, developing a purpose built eRegistry with new forms and illustrated guidance and have increased automation within our systems.

We are happy to announce the ongoing success and development of our Pro Bono programme, which has necessitated additional clinics and continue to operate on a weekly basis. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our volunteer lawyers, who’s commitment and shrewd legal knowledge have made our clinics a resounding success.

To sum up, the past two years at the DIFC Courts have set the path for our future success in the coming years.

We remain committed to upholding the highest of standards and providing the best quality service for our court users. We are proud that our reputation for excellence remains our key alluring feature for future litigants. We have been successful in our aim to lead the way in technical advances and are consciously looking at ways in which to improve and progress. Finally, we will continue to regularly review our performance and strategies to ensure that our high standards are maintained.

Zaki Azmi Chief Justice, DIFC Courts 5

Judicial Excellence 1.

First and possibly the most important pillar is judicial excellence. Our success as a court is above all due to the high quality of our bench over these last twelve years. We have an independent, learned, and experienced bench that has earned trust and confidence, both locally and globally. We intend to maintain and improve on the quality of justice, not only through our senior judges, but also through the work of our registrars, judicial officers and small claims tribunal judges.

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Our courts must dispense justice in a manner that will conform with our KPIs and give our users a service that will leave all users satisfied with the manner and efficiency in which the case has been handled, even if one or more of them may be unhappy about its outcome.

New Judges

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3.

We have recruited two new judges this year and we look forward to officially welcoming them on board through a formal swearing in ceremony before the end of the year. Our two new judges are both Australian and both former Chief Justices. We take great pleasure in introducing The Honourable Justice Wayne Martin AC QC, the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (WA) and the Honourable Justice Robert French AC, the former Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia.

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The Honourable Wayne Stewart Martin served as the Chief Justice of Western Australia and as a Judge of the Court of Appeal and General Division of the Supreme Court of Western Australia between 2006 - 2018. The Hon. Wayne Martin completed a Master of Laws from the University of London in 1975 and was admitted to practice in Western Australia in 1977. After being a solicitor and counsel with Keall Brinsden & Co, Perth, from 1980 - 1988, he joined the Independent Bar in 1988 and was appointed as Queens Counsel 1993. From 2001 - 2003, he was Senior Counsel assisting the HIH Royal Commission in Sydney. He served as President of the Western Australian Bar Association from 1996 - 1999, Chairman of the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia from 1996 to 2001, President of the Law Society in 2006 and Director of the Law Council of Australia in 2006. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2012.

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The Honourable Robert Shenton French was appointed Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia in September 2008. At the time of his appointment he was a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia, having been appointed to that office in November 1986.

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He graduated from the University of Western Australia in Science and Law. He was admitted in 1972 and practiced as a barrister and solicitor in Western Australia until 1983 when he went to the Western Australian Bar. From 1994 - 1998 he was President of the National Native Title Tribunal. At the time of his appointment he was an additional member of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory and a member of the Supreme Court of Fiji. He was also a Deputy President of the Australian Competition Tribunal and a part-time member of the Australian Law Reform Commission. From 2001 - 2005 he was president of the Australian Association of Constitutional Law. Chief Justice French was appointed a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia in 2010. He is also an International Justice of the Singapore International Commercial Court and a Non-Permanent Justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.

Re-appointment of the Hon. Judge Roger Giles QC

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We are very pleased to announce that in June 2019, we re-appointed Justice Roger Giles to our bench. Roger David Giles was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1988 and sat in the Commercial Division becoming Chief Judge of that Division in 1994. In 1998, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal, from which he retired in December 2011.

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Justice Giles is a graduate in Arts (1961) and Law (1965, Hons 1) from Sydney University, and holds a Bachelor of Civil Law (1968, Hons 1) from Oxford University. He served articles of clerkship and was a solicitor at a Sydney firm before going to the New South Wales Bar in 1971. During the earlier years of his career, he lectured and tutored at Sydney University. He joined the DIFC Courts in December 2013.

Emiratisation

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In line with the UAE Government Emiratisation project and a key performance indicator for the 2021 vision, DIFC Courts aims to: (i) increase the number of Emiratis within the organisation, (ii) develop and retain the talent we have; and (iii) incubate new talent through graduate programmes.

In implementing the above, the DIFC Courts will prepare for the launch of the Emiratisation Development for Judicial Excellence (‘EDJE’) in January 2020.

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The EDJE has been designed specifically to incorporate the above strategy objectives and more importantly follows the below route to success whereby we focus on tapping into the potential of our Emirati employees. We aim to execute this by: a. Managing talent and retention by identifying top talent and future leaders and creating clear succession plans; b. Identifying learning and progression outcomes and objectives in line with the Judicial and Registry Criteria; c. Accessing internal and external expertise for learning and development for our Emirati employees with a focus on law; d. Introducing a mentorship programme designed to ensure a transfer of knowledge and skills takes place; e. Reinforcing merit-based recruitment by ensuring our system of selecting and appointing employees is based on skills, knowledge, competencies and assessments; f. Enhance our induction by extending the induction period to six (6) weeks (previously two (2) weeks), include secondments, technical training and a mentor; g. Evaluating effectiveness through professional development plans; h. Continual improvement by evaluating our Emiratisation plan every three (3) years; i. Increasing Emiratisation by another 6.5% by 2023. The DIFC Courts currently has 38.4 % UAE Nationals as part of our workforce.

2015

29%

2017

25%

2019

38.4%

2021

40%

2023

45%

Introduction of Masters’ Chambers

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We are currently exploring the idea of introducing an ‘open court’ sitting, or ‘Masters’ Chambers’ (as the term is more often described in some common law jurisdictions), one day a week to help expediate the determination of simple and interlocutory applications.

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Our Registrars will be spending time shadowing other registrars, or ‘Masters’, in other jurisdictions to help gain an understanding of the logistics of open court sittings. We will conduct a feasibility study before going ahead with the implementation of this project.

The Small Claims Tribunal (SCT)

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The Small Claims Tribunal is seeing a steady increase of approximately 30% in the number of registered cases year-on-year.

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Due to the high demand of cases registered in the Small Claims Tribunal, we have recruited several additional members to our panel of mediators and judges on the SCT. The current team consists of these members: a. Nassir Al Nasser, Mediator & SCT Judge b. Maha Al Mehairi, Mediator & SCT Judge c. Nour Hineidi, Mediator & SCT Judge d. Ayesha Bin Kalban, Mediator & SCT Judge e. Hayley Norton, Mediator f. Delvin Sumo, Mediator

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The Small Claims Tribunal continues to be a popular option for litigants because of the quick case disposal time (which as of September 2019, is approximately four (4) to six (6) weeks, from the date the Acknowledgment of Service was filed to the date the judgment was issued). The Small Claims Tribunal has also seen, in 2019, 80% of cases resolved at the mediation stage (without having the need to progress to hearing).

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Over the course of the following two years, we plan to: a. focus on increasing outreach and awareness through sustained communications; b. recruit new talent to conduct consultations/hearings; c. develop the SCT electronic and smart services; d. update the Court Rules to improve swift and efficient case resolution in the SCT (particularly in the context of appeals); and e. introduce a specialist tribunal dedicated to resolve leasing disputes, as a sub-division of the SCT.

Consolidated Guidance Notes (CGN)

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We are currently working on a CGN which is intended, alongside the ‘Rules Book Project’, discussed below under the Service Excellence category, to replace all Practice Directions and Registrar Directions already issued by the DIFC Courts. We will endeavour to launch the CGN by May 2020.

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We have been working on this project with the Rules Committee and Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) and thank everyone involved for their continued and dedicated service to the Courts.

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The CGN will be a consolidated practical guide to practitioners, in respect of the implementation and practical application of the DIFC Court Rules and Court practices, from the Registrar, addressing topics which include: a. e-bundling; b. the process following a referral of a case to the JJC; c. liquidator coming on the Court record; d. requirements for effecting service under the Riyadh convention; and e. requirements for service under the GCC convention.

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The CGN will replace those directions previously referred to as ‘Registrar Directions’. The terms ‘Registrar Directions’ and ‘Practice Directions’ will be redundant as of 2020. We are currently undergoing a process where we are categorising all of the DIFC Courts enacted Practice Directions and Registrar Directions, in one of two categories: either the direction should form part of the Rules, in which case it will be incorporated into the Rules, or, the direction will form a part of the CGN, in the sense that it will not form a part of the Rules, but is rather more of a practical guide, encompassing ‘tips and tricks’ from the Registrar to practitioners.

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Service Excellence 1

And now we move into service excellence, which is second third pillar. We can only continue to maintain and enhance our reputation as one of the world’s leading commercial courts by achieving the highest standards of service.

Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts (SIFoCC) – Working Group on Best Practices in Case Management

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In September 2018, we attended a very successful meeting of the SIFoCC in New York City.

The meeting was attended by approximately 150 Chief Justices, Justices and Registrars from commercial courts in over 35 jurisdictions, including the High Court of England and Wales; the High Court of the Republic of Ireland; the Paris Court of Appeal and the Paris Commercial Court; the Supreme Court of New South Wales; the Supreme Court of Victoria; the Federal Court of Australia; the High Court of New Zealand; the Supreme Court of Singapore; the Federal Court of Malaysia and the Appeal Court of Malaysia; the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong; the Court of First Instance of Hong Kong; the Ontario Supreme Court of Justice; the United States Districts Courts – Southern District of New York; the New York State Supreme Courts; and many more.

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The SIFoCC has three mandates and exists for these reasons: a. users – that is, business and markets, will be better served if best practice is shared between courts. Furthermore, courts work together to keep pace with rapid commercial change; b. together, courts can make a stronger contribution to the rule of law than they can separately, and through that contribute to stability and prosperity worldwide; and c. as a means of supporting developing countries long encouraged by agencies such as the World Bank to enhance their attractiveness to investors by offering effective means for resolving commercial disputes.

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We have recently been selected to join the Best Practice in Case Management working group by the SIFoCC. Our Deputy Registrar, Nour Hineidi, was nominated to work alongside Chief Justice Allsop (Federal Court of Australia) and Lord Justice Gross (Court of Appeal of England & Wales) to help prepare a clear and concise document on distilling the principles of effective case management. This will be a centralised document and accessible to jurisdictions across the world.

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The DIFC Courts will be sending a delegation of Justices and Registrars to the upcoming March 2020 meeting of the SIFoCC, which will be held in Singapore.

Rules Book Project and the Consolidated Guidance Notes

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The DIFC Courts is working alongside a number of senior barristers and a publisher to refresh the Rules book. The project will include the following: a. publishing a new and indexed user-friendly DIFC Courts’ Rules book; b. incorporating all Rules changes (by virtue of previously drafted Practice Directions or Registrar Directions), into the Rules; c. introducing a detailed commentary to the Rules, prepared by two senior barristers; d. inserting an indexed Consolidated Practice Note (CPN, as above), at the back of the Rules book for court user practical guidance; and e. introducing an index of terms at the back of the book for easy reference.

Service Excellence Initiatives

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Service excellence initiatives will continue throughout the year in an effort to make the DIFC Courts more user-centric and efficient. As part of our customer service improvement plan, we measure and analyse the performance of our Courts team through annual client satisfaction surveys, bi-annual mystery shopper surveys and client feedback through instant ‘smiley’ terminals.

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During the 2019 mid-year evaluation, our team received an average score of 88% from the Mystery Shopping Survey and 95% from the ‘smiley’ terminals located throughout the Courts.

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As always, we also want to ensure that no phone call goes unanswered and every email received is responded to promptly and properly. As such, our emergency lines are now monitored by our Registrars so that in the event that Registry team members are unable to answer the phones, the line is then immediately diverted to the on-duty Registrar.

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In addition to being able to contact the Registry by telephone, we would like to emphasise that customers are able to have their queries answered by also emailing the Registry, visiting the Courts, and, through a newly installed instant chat platform on the DIFC Courts website.

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Rules Committee, the Court Users’ Committee and the In-House Counsel Committee

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We have introduced changes to our Court Committees in 2019. We will maintain three main committees, which we rely on for feedback and consultation in terms of proposed improvements within the Courts (from a procedures and rules perspective).

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While the structure, role and objective of the Court Users’ Committee has not changed, the Rules Committee, previously the Rules Sub-Committee, is now a stand-alone committee in its own right (and no longer a sub-committee). The function and objective of the Rules Committee has now been bestowed a broader scope, enabling Members of the Committee to provide input on various DIFC Courts Rules changes, enabling more involvement with the drafting of proposed Rules amendments.

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We are pleased to also confirm the introduction of a new category of membership to the Rules Committee: barristers who have practiced in the DIFC for at least five years can now be nominated for membership on the Committee.

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Further, the In-House Counsel Committee (previously, the General Counsel Forum), has also been restructured, with the introduction of new members (in addition to the name change). The InHouse Counsel Forum’s objective is to: a. Act as liaison between the DIFC Courts and in-house counsel, who may wish to use the DIFC Courts; b. Assist the DIFC Courts in providing an efficient, accessible, transparent and professional service to its users; c. Advise the Courts about: • the current performance and reputation of the Courts as perceived by Committee members and their representatives; • the strategic direction required for the Courts to maintain and improve their performance and reputation; and • developments and trends in the arena of international dispute resolution which may have an impact on the DIFC Courts and its operations, and which, if adopted, might benefit the DIFC Courts and its users; d. Suggest ways of improving the efficiency of the Courts’ procedures so that cases can be heard and determined efficiently, cost effectively and without undue delay, all without compromising the quality of the service and the Courts’ aim of dealing fairly and justly with all users.

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Each committee aims to meet once a quarter. The minutes of each meeting will be uploaded to the DIFC Courts website.

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We are extremely grateful to all our committee members, across each of the three committees, for their efforts, continued dedication and support to the DIFC Courts.

Wills Service Centre

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In line with the DIFC Courts key pillar of service excellence, the Wills service has aimed to achieve the highest possible client satisfaction results. This year the Wills Service has maintained one hundred percent positive results for both the ‘Happy or Not Terminal’ and from mystery shoppers.

Consequently, we have now turned our focus to the aspect of increasing engagement with the registered Will Draftsmen in order to achieve service excellence across all users of the service.

Our goal is to provide registered lawyers with a forum to give feedback on the Wills Service and enforcement process at the Courts. In order to do this, we created a committee of ten lawyers who are involved in the area of Wills and probate and who have been part of the Register of Wills Draftsmen list for some time. Since the inception of the committee we have held the first meeting, which took place in May 2019, with the second meeting scheduled for the last quarter of 2019.

Our plan is to hold regular meetings throughout each quarter and to continue working with the committee over the coming years to maintain and improve upon the current service offerings, and the enforcement process at the DIFC Courts.

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The most noteworthy development in the Wills Service in 2019 was the issuance of the amended DIFC Wills and Probate Registry Rules. After extensive discussions between our internal management and our registered legal practitioners, we issued the amended DIFC Wills and Probate Registry Rules on June 30, 2019. The purpose of amending the Rules was to remove the geographical limitation on the Wills. This allows registrants and lawyers to have full control over deciding what assets, in the UAE and abroad, to include in the wills. This amendment is expected to bring about an uptake in the number of registrations we receive at the end of 2019 through to 2020. The effect of the change can already be seen in the number of modifications we had to existing wills in less than two months that followed the announcement of the change in the Rules, with over 100 individuals modifying their existing wills to include assets within the UAE and elsewhere.

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As an ancillary service of the DIFC Courts, the primary focus of the Wills service continues to be the customer journey for registering a Will, ensuring a simplistic and user-friendly process. In order to improve upon service offerings to the public, we are currently working on launching a Full Will template in 2020, which will also include registration capability through our virtual registry, from anywhere in the world.

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Probate Registry

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Over the past 12 months, our probate registry has recorded increased activity, with over 25 probate applications lodged and effectively enforced since the establishment of the Registry.

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We now see seamless enforcement of DIFC Courts probate orders in the Dubai Courts. We are also pleased to announce that the first probate order from the DIFC Courts was also deputised in the Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Courts in 2019.

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We also anticipate the first enforcement of a DIFC Courts probate order being enforced into the Sharjah Courts in the coming months. We will keep our court users informed in respect of how that process progresses.

Enforcement

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In addition, enforcement processes between the DIFC Courts and the courts of several other Emirates are becoming more streamlined, particularly with the introduction of the online Enabat system. Enabat is an online judicial deputation system used by the Dubai Courts, Ajman Courts and the RAK Courts.

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This new system allows letters, subject of deputation or enforcement proceedings, to be sent online directly to the relevant court, rather than through traditional hard copy methods. Such requests can often involve information relating to trade licenses or property of a DIFC registered company and sharing same with onshore courts across the UAE. We look forward to reporting further developments with Enabat in 2020.

Renovations and Arbitration Suite Rental

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We have scheduled renovation work to the Courts premises in 2020, with planned changes to our front of house and reception area, expanding our offices and exploring the option of adding in another Court room.

Registration of Legal Practitioners

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Following Resolution No. 1 of 2019 in Respect of the DIFC Dispute Resolution Authority Academy, the Registration of Legal Practitioners, the Pro Bono Programme and the Code of Conduct were transferred to (and now operated by) the DIFC Courts. This transfer was effective as of March 5, 2019.

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The DIFC Courts Register of Legal Practitioners (the Register) is made up of two Parts: Part I – for Law firms to conduct proceedings in the DIFC Courts, and Part II – for individual legal practitioners to obtain Rights of Audience before the DIFC Court. The Register is operated pursuant to DIFC Courts Order No. 1 of 2019 in Respect of Issuing and Conducting Proceedings, Rights of Audience and Registration in Part I and Part II of the DIFC Courts’ Register of Legal Practitioners and the Guidelines for Registration of Legal Practitioner which maybe be found here on our website: https://www.difccourts.ae/guidelines-registration-practitioners/.

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Currently, over 135 law firms with more than 550 lawyers designated to conduct proceedings on behalf of the firm are registered and more than 250 individual lawyers have obtained Rights of Audience before the DIFC Courts.

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The DIFC Courts is currently focused on several items in the Register that may require amendments in 2020. Requirements for obtaining Rights of Audience, specifically for Masters’ Chambers (in the event this initiative is confirmed), and for the Court of Appeal, will be reviewed.

Furthermore, in order to protect the obligations conferred upon a practitioner to act in the best interest of their clients, we will also inspect the option of introducing new criteria for representation by litigants-in-person and by in-house counsel. These reviews will be carried out in order to maintain the integrity of the litigation process and the fair administration of justice in accordance with the overriding objectives as set out in Part 1.6 of the Rules of the DIFC Courts.

Mandatory Code of Conduct for Legal Practitioners in the DIFC Courts

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It is common knowledge that practitioners registered with the DIFC Courts are subject to the DIFC Courts Mandatory and Supplementary Code of Conduct (“Code”). Each Code has recently been revised to consolidate both the Mandatory and Supplementary Code of Conduct, which now read as one document and may be found in the DIFC Courts’ Order No. 4 of 2019 - Mandatory Code of Conduct for Legal Practitioners in the DIFC Courts. The sanctions which may be imposed in case of a breach of the Code have also been revised. The DIFC Courts shall continue to enhance the Code in 2020 so that it meets the highest standards of international principles on conduct for the legal profession.

DIFC Courts’ Pro Bono Programme

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The DIFC Courts Pro Bono Programme (the Programme) was the first of its kind in the Middle East. Established in 2009, the Programme provides access to justice to those who are unable to afford legal representation. The DIFC Courts has implemented several innovative changes to the programme, including increasing consultation sessions and timings to once per week from 8:30 am – 12:30 pm and expanding the volunteer lawyer base to include in-house corporate counsel, as well as private practitioners.

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Providing legal services to people in need of financial support is an important way to broaden access to justice. By providing a framework for delivering free legal services, the DIFC Courts are able to accommodate law firms and individual lawyers who wish to make meaningful professional contributions to this segment of society.

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The Programme has also sponsored (and will continue to sponsor) numerous CSR and community legal education programmes throughout the years (e.g., employment law seminars and FAQs distribution at different organisations across the UAE). Further, the Programme assists with the development of the next generation of legal professionals by offering scholarships to Emirati and expatriate law students. These Scholarship Awards recognise students who demonstrate academic excellence, financial need, and a commitment to global legal system development. Moreover, we will continue to offer internships and shadowing programmes at the DIFC Courts, which provide students with practical legal experience and networking opportunities.

Emirati Advocates Mentorship Programme

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In 2020, we will endeavour to introduce the Emirati Advocates Mentorship Programme. Following extensive feedback from practitioners and stakeholders, the Programme will underscore the DIFC Courts’ commitment to develop the UAE’s next generation of legal professionals. Over the years we have devised various programmes for filling gaps in traditional legal education by encouraging undergraduates to pursue jurisdictional knowledge in both civil and common law, using these scholarships as a platform to help broaden and hone their skills within these systems. In addition, this Programme will aim to nurture the transition of more female Emirati women into the legal sector, the Courts and the judicial bench.

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In line with HH Sheikh Mohammed’s vision, the Programme will also serve to develop the UAE national workforce and enhance the competitiveness of Emirati advocates. The Programme will also serve to develop the UAE national workforce and enhance the competitiveness of Emirati advocates.

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The DIFC Courts will also spearhead the development of a network (or ecosystem) between Emirati advocates who are interested in becoming DIFC registered practitioners, with experienced common law trained DIFC registered advocates. Acting as a facilitator, this process will facilitate initial contact between mentors and mentees.

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Innovation 37

We can only remain among the world’s leading commercial courts by being among the most innovative. We intend to remain at the forefront and, because we are small and nimble, we can adopt innovative measures more quickly, subject to budget constraints.

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Our goals for the next two years across the technology space is to align our strategy with that of Dubai Government’s innovation mission to make Dubai a smart city (by making use of sophisticated technology to provide better public services) and to be fully paperless by December 2020. We continue to work with law firms and practitioners to assist them with adopting such initiatives.

Case Management System (CMS) Initiatives

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Over the last two years, we built on our existing e-Registry capabilities. The new system enables users to access case management information from their mobile phones, tablets and other electronic devices in real time.

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The DIFC Courts’ case management system was built with state-of-the-art technology enabling all litigants to access and upload information from their computer, and in any place at any time.

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In 2020 and 2021, we will further improve our case management system by introducing new forms and new customisations (making it easier for litigants to populate information), as well making it easier for our Registry to collect all of the required information (ensuring, in the interests of saving time, that no case is filed without the basic information required under the DIFC Court Rules). Our focus is also on providing illustrated guidance and assistance with form-filling, helping litigants populate form information with a step-by-step guide.

Paperless Strategy and Automation

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The Dubai Government has announced a plan to cease paper transactions by 2021. In line with this vision, we have removed paper-based transactions by up to 86% by implementing a paperless strategy and automation plan.

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This paperless strategy extends to the production of policies, guides, booklets and other informational reports distributed by the DIFC Courts; all such publications are now available primarily in digital format only in order to reduce our carbon footprint.

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Over the next 24 months, we intend to remove the remaining 14% of paper-based transactions across all divisions and covering all processes, without exception.

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Dubai Government has announced its aim to issue its last paper transaction by 2021, and in line with that vision, in 2020 and 2021 the Wills Service will aim to be become paperless. This will be achieved through development of the existing Wills and Probate Registry System, which is currently used to book appointments and record all wills and supporting documents, after their execution. By leveraging our current virtual registry, we plan to develop the platform by including the capability for wills to be executed completely on the system.

eBundling

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As announced in March 2018, the DIFC Courts partnered up with CaseLines introducing the region’s first e-bundling ‘paperless’ system. A secure cloud-based technology, the e-bundling service allows court documents to be uploaded from anywhere in the world, enabling judges, lawyers and courts staff to access case information in various formats, across multiple locations and share with numerous users. In an era of digital disruption, innovative technological approaches like this are creating clear advantages for businesses with greater legal certainty and faster and more connected ways to access case information.

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The system is a collaborative virtual structure that allows lawyers to build the evidence bundle for a hearing online, either from scratch, or by importing a draft bundle created in an existing Case Management System (CMS). It does not require software to be installed, and has world class security, to FIPS 199, FIPS 200 and ISO27001 standards.

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From January 2020, e-bundling will become mandatory for all video and telephone-based hearings, and for all urgent hearings and interlocutory applications.

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This new innovative e-service will ensure DIFC Courts continues to create legal certainty for businesses in an era of technological disruption, with a faster and more connected way to access case information.

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Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

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In relation to the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) functionality, we are currently building a customer database alongside a social media and website integration.

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The new system will enable unified real-time omni-channel communications and collaboration with our customers.

Courts of the Blockchain

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In 2018, the DIFC Courts partnered with Smart Dubai to create the world’s first Court of the Blockchain. The partnership is the first step in creating a blockchain-powered future for the judiciary which will have far-reaching benefits, including streamlining the judicial process, removing document duplications, and driving greater efficiencies across the entire legal ecosystem.

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Since the announcement, a combined taskforce has explored and had discussions with various blockchain providers on the feasibility of developing a solution which can be integrated with a blockchain network or incorporated into smart contracts in the event a dispute arises. At present, we are also further exploring the prospect of a solution which will act as a blockchain oracle, whereby the final and binding decision can be handled by the DIFC Courts, or another suitable dispute resolution body, by directly collaborating with the blockchain network.

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Another area for research and development which the taskforce is investigating, concerns how to aid verification or authentication of court judgments in the context of cross-border enforcement.

Through consultation with Courts in other jurisdictions across our global network, it has been agreed that a unified approach is required in order to avoid prolonged and drawn out execution processes, which have the potential to effectively render the judgment from the originating court, somewhat redundant, if allowed to become ‘legally lethargic’ through out-dated certification protocols.

Courts of the Future Initiative

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The Courts of the Future initiative was launched by the DIFC Courts in 2017 with a mandate to explore diverse LegalTech topic areas. Going into a fast-paced future of technological revolutions, what novel types of disputes will courts around the world receive – and how do courts need to prepare to handle those disputes – be it by adapting their procedures, training their judges, or changing their technology.

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In exploring how judicial systems can be strengthened through technology, the mission of the Courts of the Future initiative is to provide research and thought leadership on promoting and encouraging contemporary methods of greater accessibility and efficiency to court users across the globe.

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While this think tank concept was launched in 2017, our goal for the next two years is to streamline our major legal tech projects under the Court of the Future Initiative, pooling talent and resources from our global partners, members and experts in law, technology, IT and business, assembled to help lawmakers and legal systems accommodate the accelerating growth of technology.

Court Tech Lab

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In 2019 we also launched, under the Courts of the Future initiative, the Court Tech Lab, in partnership with Dubai Future Foundation. This programme will unite individuals and companies helping to prototype and launch the advancement of legal technology, such as Blockchain powered initiatives, AI enabled programmes and cloud-based solutions. The Tech Lab will be mandated to help cultivate those ideas by running a yearly competition cycle, helping to raise support and capital for companies demonstrating promising breakthroughs in the arena of court tech.

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Finally, we move on to our last pillar, connectivity. This has been an integral part of our strategy in seeking to be recognised as one of the world’s leading commercial courts.

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Connectivity 60

In 2019 we have worked to promote the DIFC Courts as the jurisdiction of choice and increase business opt-ins by engaging the UAE’s freezones, government and semi-government entities, as well as large-scale infrastructure initiatives, such as the EXPO 2020.

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We will continue to engage all existing local, regional and international partners of the next two years, as well as seek out new relationships in order to bring fresh awareness regarding the unique value proposition of the DIFC Courts to individuals and businesses.

Relations with National Courts

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Over the past two years, we have continued to reinforce national partnerships within the UAE. In the previous Work Plan, we outlined our MoUs with other courts across the Emirates. We foster the current relationships by continuing dialogue with these courts on how to better improve and streamline enforcement processes from one court to another.

Relations with Regional Courts

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For 2020 and beyond, we will strengthen relationships and raise awareness about the services provided by the DIFC Courts with Ministries of Justice, the Supreme Councils of the Judiciary, commercial courts, judicial institutes, lawyers training agencies and arbitration centres across the GCC.

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In particular, we will further cooperation discussions with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Justice, the Board of Grievances and the Saudi Centre for Commercial Arbitration, to enhance further inter-regional collaboration, as well as increase relations with the Supreme Judicial Council of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the judicial authorities of the Sultanate of Oman.

Relations with International Courts

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Court judgments are worth little to the business community if decisions can’t be enforced.

Through a series of memoranda with leading international jurisdictions, the DIFC Courts has now established one of the world’s strongest enforcement regimes. Our judgments can be enforced locally, regionally, and internationally, through treaties such as the GCC Convention and Riyadh Convention, conventions with China, India and France, and reciprocal arrangements with many of the leading commercial courts located in the world’s top financial hubs, such as New York, Singapore, London and Hong Kong.

Partnerships

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For 2020 – 2021, we will strengthen new relationships forged in 2019 with several Dubai and UAE entities. In 2019 the DIFC Courts signed a number of cooperation agreements with UAE and Dubai entities in order to further communicate and expand the DIFC Courts services. The Dubai Land Department (DLD) and the DIFC Courts signed a cooperation agreement that will focus on ensuring that the Courts’ public service offerings through the Wills Service Centre can complement and reinforce the overall service with the DLD to property purchasers.

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In addition, a cooperation agreement was forged with Dubai SME, the agency of Dubai Economy mandated to develop the small and medium enterprise sector. The terms of the memorandum state that the two entities will collaborate to provide Dubai SME member companies with information and access to the DIFC Courts services, including the Small Claims Tribunal (SCT).

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This cooperation agreement demonstrates unity of mission by two Dubai entities, working in tandem to support the growing small and medium enterprise sector. By utilising extensive mediation expertise here at the DIFC Courts, the SCT services are becoming an increasingly popular option for individuals and businesses in Dubai, UAE and beyond.

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We are very excited about the prospect of collaborating with Dubai SME to educate the community about our user-friendly form of dispute resolution, as well as affording a more robust and innovative consultation service to efficiently resolve matters.

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In 2019 we have also signed new cooperation agreements with freezones such as Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ) and renewed existing cooperation agreements with freezones such as Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) and Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (JAFZA) in order to continue to focus on exchanging knowledge, ideas, studies, and research, as well as jointly shared projects.

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Work Plan 2020-2021

T: +971 4 427 3333 F: +971 4 427 3330 E: contactus@difccourts.ae www.difccourts.ae DIFC, Precinct Building 5, Level 3 South, P.O. Box 507048, Dubai, U.A.E.

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