The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Dubai / WAM
DIFC Courts, Dubai’s establis-
hed English-language commercial courts, handled cases totalling AED5.85 billion (US$1.59 billion), up 5 percent year-on-year, in 2016.
The main Court of First Instance (CFI) handled approximately the same number of cases as in 2015 but saw the average value of each increase by 17 percent to AED104.58 million. The total value of cases heard by the CFI in 2016 was AED2.71 billion, up 22 percent.
One of the factors driving this growth has been the legal sector choosing to opt-in to the DIFC Courts’ jurisdiction. A new DIFC DRA Academy of Law survey of 122 commercial legal practitioners involved with cross-border transactions in the Middle East in 2016 found that 57 percent of respondents report using the DIFC Courts opt-in clause, even if their clients are located outside of the financial free zone.