Preface

The twenty-first century has, thus far, witnessed unprecedented recourse to international arbitration. To meet the needs of this arbitral gold rush, regions outside the citadels of old legal and financial power have risen to the occasion, attracting transnational parties, counsel, and arbitrators, many of whom as new entrants into a new professionalized world of arbitral services. Arbitral institutions have acted as centrifugal forces in managing these different stakeholder relationships. The Dubai International Arbitration Centre (‘DIAC’) and, by extension, the city state of Dubai, represent a stunning example of this trend. Much has been made of arbitration as a driver for foreign investment and economic growth, and thereby, implicitly, a vehicle for ‘legal development’. Arbitration in Dubai, the UAE, and the Middle East long predates these premonitions. Over the past two decades, the volume of case referrals and diversity of parties, counsel, and arbitrators it has attracted have established the DIAC as a leading international arbitral institution. A draft of its new rules was first released for public consultation in August 2016, geared towards transparent and user-focused efficacy. The new state-of-the-art DIAC arbitration rules, which came into effect in March 2022, cement the Centre’s position as the busiest arbitral institution in the Middle East.