Charles Russell Speechlys set to offer one-stop shop with new office in Dubai

Patrick Gearon

In July 2017, Charles Russell Speechlys bolstered its presence in the Middle East with a new office in Dubai. With existing offices in Bahrain and Qatar, the firm has been advising clients in the Middle East for more than a decade, with a particular focus on dispute resolution, private wealth and real estate. Though the firm has a 126-year legacy, opening international offices became a priority only two decades ago. As the two main pillars of the firm are litigation (20 per cent of turnover) and private wealth (25 per cent turnover), the policy has been to expand its presence in centres that have a focus in these two practice areas. The strategy led to offices in Bahrain, Geneva, Qatar and Luxembourg, Zurich and Paris (through the merger with Speechlys). At the macro-level, the decision to open offices in Hong Kong and Dubai were led by the fact that these centres have a strong focus on both wealth management and arbitration and litigation. Patrick Gearon, partner and head of Middle East and Ghassan El-Daye, partner and head of litigation, spoke to the Oath on the expansion. “As part of the planning process, we considered the possibility of opening a one-stop shop office in Dubai that covers international arbitration, local litigation and cross-border disputes work within the GCC. Our existing practice along with the new hires to the Dubai office makes it possible. It’s exciting to elevate our offerings to clients,” shared Gearon. Simon Green will continue to lead the real estate practice, with Gearon on banking/finance and IP disputes. New partner Jonathan Brown has a primary focus on international litigation and arbitration particularly in the international logistics sector. The firm enhanced its bi-lingual capability by appointing Ghassan El-Daye along with a team of four bi-lingual lawyers, who will lead the local and regional litigation practice.

Gearon elaborated on the key drivers behind the firm’s move to Dubai, “Litigation has been the principle driver to open here as we already have a strong reputation in the region. The growth and concentration of family offices in Dubai is another factor. Further, on the real estate side, we have noticed a dramatic increase in the investment into commercial property in the UK and France.”

Gearon and El-Daye discussed the recent trends in dispute resolution. In choice of seat for arbitration, they shared Dubai, Paris and London come up regularly. Gearon has seen a distinct shift towards international arbitration in the region in the last five years, he added, “Businesses are appreciating the fact that an arbitration process is confidential, arbitral awards are difficult to appeal and easier to enforce in other jurisdictions. I just did a series of seminars with a large regional bank as they are seriously considering the option of shifting their entire defaulting customer base to arbitration, away from the courts.”

Ghassan El-Daye

El-Daye has a different view having based his practice purely on local, regional and cross-border litigation before the local courts. “In Dubai, I have seen a shift towards the local courts. As I feel businesses are realising that arbitration can be more time-consuming. It may take around 12 to 18 months to get an arbitral award and then there have been cases where arbitral awards have not been enforced for more than five years. There is also a question of the expertise of the appointed arbitrators when it comes to specific cases. It’s commonly perceived that arbitration is the easiest way to solve an international, complex matter. The local courts have had a different vision. There have been cases where the Dubai and Abu Dhabi Courts have interfered in certain contracts that have been drafted in common law jurisdictions and they have interpreted and issued judgments as per local law be it against or for. I think it’s a mix of arbitration and litigation here. The approach varies on a case-by case-basis.”

So what makes Charles Russell Speechlys stand apart from the bevy of law firms in Dubai offering similar services? Gearon was forthright, “With 30 per cent of the business made-up of private clients, our emphasis has always been on building long-term relationships. We are completely partner-led in every case or transaction, from the beginning to the end. Further, we have a very tenacious litigation practice. To illustrate, the litigation team in the Middle East has grown tremendously in terms of turnover by over 7 times since 2013. We have achieved some of the largest judgments in the Middle East and we recently received the ‘Highly Commended’ Award for Arbitration Team of the Year at The Middle East Legal Awards 2017. These achievements are testament to what makes us different and successful.”