Anthony Edwards, a partner at UAE firm Hadef & Partners, sounded the alarm in a practice recent briefing note, in which he also criticised the increasing reliance on court appointed experts to fill the gaps in judicial knowledge.

Complex cases

Mr Edwards -- an engineering and construction law expert with more than 35 years’ experience -- pointed out that Dubai does not have a category of judges in its courts that specialise in the complexities of issues around large-scale building projects. That lack of specialist experience often results in courts passing the management of complex cases to appointed experts, which consequently means that the ‘detailed forensic review’ required for engineering and construction cases is often not reached.
The lawyer maintains he is not criticising the ability of any particular expert, but, he says: ‘From a lawyers’ perspective … the system of judicial management and control is significantly eroded when the case leaves the court and is passed to the expert, since no clear rules apply to how the expert must manage the dispute as between the parties and it is left to the individual expert to run the matter as he sees fit.’

Poorly paid experts

The main impact of the courts’ relinquishing of power is that as experts are paid a relatively low fee, they are often keen to complete cases as swiftly as possible. This allows little time for evidence in what are frequently complex cases.
Once an expert’s hastily made findings have been presented to the court, the decision is ratified with little independent investigation, which would be necessary in jurisdictions ‘where the judge’s function is certainly one that requires full judicial process’.
Despite spectacular construction achievements in Dubai, Mr Edwards argues that the level of legal expertise needs to catch up with the speed of project development. He writes: ‘The E&C industry in Dubai has not yet had the full benefit of the level of judicial expertise that the construction industry in Common Law jurisdictions can access.’