News from the Courts – June 2023

• The Qatar International Court and Dispute Resolution Centre (QICDRC) has signed a Memorandum of Guidance (MOG) with the Commercial Court of England and Wales, relating to the enforcement of money judgments. The signing took place on June 14, 2023, at the City Court House, Rolls Building, in London. The MOG was signed in the presence of the head of the judiciary of England and Wales in the United Kingdom, the current lord chief justice of England and Wales, lord Burnett of Maldon, as well as three former lords chief justice of England and Wales: lord Woolf of Barnes, lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, and Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, who also serves as president of QICDRC. CEO of QICDRC Faisal Rashid Al-Sahouti signed the MOG with the honorable Justice Foxton, judge in charge of the Commercial Court, King’s Bench Division, England and Wales. The purpose of this MOG is to set out guidelines of the procedures for the enforcement of money judgments, that is to say judgments that require one person to pay a sum of money to another person. The cooperation defined by this MOG is expected to provide a mutual guidance on the two parties’ respective laws and judicial processes, in order to improve public perception and guidelines.
• QICDRC has also appointed two new international commercial law experts to the Judges’ panel of the Civil and Commercial Court. The Court has appointment judge Yongjian Zhang, an expert in international commercial dispute resolution with over 40 years of experience in the Chinese Judiciary, and Professor Georges Affaki C.Arb, a qualified Avocat before the Court of Appeal of Paris, and a Professor of Law at the University of Paris. One of the most senior, experienced, and respected judges in China, judge Zhang has a PhD in Civil and Commercial law and has held various positions in the Chinese courts, where he played an active role in leading judicial reform. After 40 years in the Chinese Judiciary, he retired as senior judge of First Ranking in the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China in January 2020. An expert in international commercial dispute resolution, judge Zhang helped establish the China International Commercial Court serving as a judge and director. Professor Georges Affaki C.Arb, has served as chairman, panel member, and sole arbitrator in a significant number of renowned commercial and investment disputes across five continents. He has been a Professor of Law at University Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) since 2002 and is a member of the board of directors of the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration. He has served as a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration panel for two terms. His extensive experience spans 25 years of corporate and private practice in crisis management in global corporations, and the strategy-setting and coordination of cross-border litigation and internal investigations. The appointment of the two esteemed judges is in line with QICDRC’s position as an international, world-class civil and commercial court.