DIFC Courts, Microsoft to create commercial court of future

DUBAI / WAM

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts announced its partnership with Microsoft to drive digital transformation of the commercial courts’ systems in region and beyond. Building on a successful digital courts projects such as DIFC Courts’ Smart Small Claims Tribunal (SCT), DIFC Dispute Resolution Authority (DRA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft during the International Association of Court Administrators (IACA) in Washington DC.
The English language, common-law DIFC Courts offers businesses in the Middle East, Asia and Africa access to one of the world’s most advanced and innovative commercial courts. Utilising leading-edge technologies, the Smart SCT has already proven the promise of digital courts, enabling parties to attend a virtual court from anywhere in the world and to benefit from globally enforceable judgements. In 2017, this service was named one of the world’s Top 10 Court Technology Solutions by the US-based National Association for Court Management (NACM).
As a first step, the agreement is aimed at enhancing connectivity and virtual solutions to advance more traditional court areas such as registrations, filings, case management, and even trials. For the courts of the future, DRA’s unique partnership with Microsoft formalises a joint ambition to advance technological innovation by leveraging their combined skill sets of court management, judicial excellence and digital transformation to create new standards of digital excellence – in line with achieving DIFC Courts’ 2021 vision of establishing and maintaining a world-class courts system that is reliable, accessible, efficient and fair.