XXIV’s annual Dubai conference attracts a record audience

The response to XXIV Old Buildings’ annual Dubai conference was both appreciative and positive.

Chaired by Michael Black QC, the conference examined the topical issue of the problems arising where a joint venture goes wrong. The conference was based on a case study and the main questions were:

• Did an international oil company conspire with a corrupt ex-President to launder money through a web of offshore companies?
• Did a DIFC arbitral tribunal have jurisdiction and what were its powers?

There were three short presentations from Steven Thompson & Tom Montagu Smith on the various substantive, jurisdictional and procedural issues which arose in the case study.

These were followed by a mock application before a tribunal comprising of Michael Black QC, Arshad Ghaffar & Steven Thompson. Counsel for the Respondent were Elizabeth Weaver and Sarah Bayliss who applied for orders that the DIFC-LCIA arbitral tribunal has no jurisdiction, that it should apply Lebanese rather than DIFC law and for a stay of the proceedings. Those applications were resisted by Counsel for the Claimant, Philip Shepherd QC and Daniel Warents, who in turn applied for the preservation of assets.