GAR Live Abu Dhabi 

Chaired by

Michael E. Schneider, LALIVE and Nadia Darwazeh, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle

Speakers 

Ghanem Al Hajeri, International Consultant Law Office (ICLO)

Florian Amereller, Amereller Legal Consultants

Professor Adnan Amkhan Bayno, MENA Chambers

Alexander Bevan, Shearman & Sterling

Phillip Capper, White & Case

Lara Hammoud, Arbitration and Litigation Department, Legal Division, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)

Jean-Pierre Harb, Jones Day

Dan Harris, The Brattle Group

Sami Houerbi, Director, Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa, ICC International Court of Arbitration

Amani Khalifa, Khalifa Arbitration and Construction Legal Consultants

Richard Kreindler, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Jean-François Le Gal, Brown Rudnick

Dyfan Owen, Ashurst

Mireille Rached, Mireille Rached Law Firm

Sami Tannous, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Peter Wolrich, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle

Further speakers to be announced

Programme

8.30: Welcome coffee and registration

9.00: Chairs’ welcome

Nadia Darwazeh, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle 
Michael E. Schneider, LALIVE

9.10: Session one: Arbitrators and specialised knowledge (energy, construction, finance, technology)

Arbitration is often feted as better suited to disputes with a large technical or commercial component than generalist courts. But is that reputation deserved? Most arbitrators are lawyers, and lawyers as a rule haven’t spent much time acquiring other skills.

So, how well do arbitrators cope when confronted with highly technical matters? Do they do a good job of grappling with the intricacies, and write an award that is satisfying to the commercial or technical folk in a case? Or do they retreat to a point of law, and find a lawyerly solution that is less satisfying?

Drawing on years of experience, a panel of leading names will discuss the conundrum of arbitration and technical/commercial knowledge.

Is arbitration in its current state able to play the function being asked of them by science and technology-heavy industries such as IT, construction, mining and oil and gas?

Questions the panel is expected to consider include:

• What level of literacy is expected of arbitrators (and counsel) when it comes to technical and commercial expertise?
• How do arbitrators acquire said specialised knowledge, and can they properly make use of it in their decisions?
• Is it true arbitrators are intimidated by the technical?
• Are non-lawyers a solution? What are the pros and cons?
• When lawyers assert relevant non-legal experience should/can that be vetted?
• Are there new ways of using experts that can ensure that arbitrators get it right in the technical and commercial aspects of the case?

Moderator: 
Michael E. Schneider, LALIVE

Panel: 
Dan Harris, The Brattle Group 
Jean-Pierre Harb, Jones Day 
Sami Tannous, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Dyfan Owen, Ashurst

10.30: Coffee break

11.00: Session two: Repeat players - can you learn to be a better client?

Users of arbitration have complained, in recent times, about the time and cost of arbitration. This panel turns the tables slightly and puts the client in the spotlight. Are users, in the eyes of lawyers and arbitrators, doing a good job of being the client? Or are some, at times, shooting themselves in the metaphorical foot.

In this panel, leading arbitration counsel and arbitrators will explain what they like to see from clients, and how it helps them to make arbitration work the way everyone wants it to.

Meanwhile, some senior in-house counsel will share their lessons about how to manage arbitration satisfyingly.

Throughout, it will be borne in mind that not all clients are the same, and that the capacity/desire to micro manage varies. Still, are there some general principles that can make you a more effective client?

Topics the panel will delve into are expected to include:

• In-house counsel involvement - how little is too little and how much is too much?
• The Do’s and Don’ts
• “I like it when my client ….”
• “I dislike it when my client …”
• “I like it/dislike it when my outside counsel …”​

Moderator: 
Nadia Darwazeh, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle

Panel: 
Richard Kreindler, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton 
Peter Wolrich, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle 
Lara Hammoud, Arbitration and Litigation Department, Legal Division, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) 
Ghanem Al Hajeri, International Consultant Law Office (ICLO)

12.30: Networking lunch sponsored by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

14.00: Session three: The unique problem of blending civil and common law in the Middle East

Disputes in the Middle East can be like a game of Chinese whispers. Contracts are written by common lawyers or with boiler plate from the common law world. But they're then given a choice of law clause selecting somewhere civil law, with, say, a touch of Shari’a thrown in for good luck.

If things go wrong, the contract goes to arbitration. There, the common law tradition again tends to hold sway. But if one side isn't happy, they'll probably take the matter (or award) to a local (civil law) court.

So, how well does this back and forth work?

Is the reality two parallel legal systems, or is a legal 'Esperanto' emerging that blends the two? Is it coherent or contradictory?

In a session that will go beyond the usual “civil law common law divide” discussion, a panel of leading names will delve into the pitfalls that occur when lawyers work outside their own tradition; and what it takes to work as a lawyer, counsel and arbitrator in such a minefield of contradictions.

If the UK’s Supreme Court in Dallah can (arguably) mangle French law, what hope for practitioners in the Middle East on a daily basis?

Questions they’re expected to discuss include:

• What law do arbitrators and courts really apply?
• Is this an example of legal colonialism or legal fusion?
• How wise are institutional transplants – such as Dubai’s DIFC, the Qatar Free-zone and Abu Dhabi Global Markets?

Moderator: 
Michael E. Schneider, LALIVE

Panel: 
Alexander Bevan, Shearman & Sterling 
Phillip Capper, White & Case 
Amani Khalifa, Khalifa Arbitration and Construction Legal Consultants 
Mireille Rached, Mireille Rached Law Firm 
Jean-François Le Gal, Brown Rudnick

15.30: Coffee break

16.00: Session four: Disputes amid anarchy and sanctions

All too often in recent times, business in the Middle East has taken place against a backdrop of regime change, or uncertainty verging on anarchy.

How does this change the job of the counsel, arbitrator and institution administering an arbitration, if a dispute arises?

In our final panel, leading names will discuss whether there are lessons emerging on what to do/not to do when the political landscape starts to shift beneath your feet.

Scenarios that will be discussed are expected to include:

• One state, two or more governments
• Countries covered by sanctions
• Strategies for obtaining interim relief
• Are there lessons for States?

Moderator: 
Nadia Darwazeh, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle

Panel: 
Sami Houerbi, Director, Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa, ICC International Court of Arbitration 
Florian Amereller, Amereller Legal Consultants

17.30: Chairs' closing remarks

Nadia Darwazeh, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle 
Michael E. Schneider, LALIVE

17.40 onwards: All delegates are invited to attend a cocktail reception hosted by The Brattle Group

Sponsors