[Music] When anybody hears the word lawyer the first thing that comes to mind is courts conflicts problems in general and in order for us to explain and unlock this words we invite today Mohamed Ibrahim Abdelrehiem head of disputes of imp good morning Muhammad and thank you for coming Ahmed thank you very much for having me in the famous Monday legal I was very excited to come here it's our pleasure uh first of all and I repeat this question hoping that one day we will get a sponsor for coffee what's your coffee well how do you start your day well uh I usually have breakfast first okay I'm a very morning person so I like to have breakfast and then I usually drink coffee with milk I don't like uh Americano and espressos it's very hard for me nice yeah so it's like French coffee French coffee yeah yes so nice any type of coffee of milk is uh one of my favorites very good uh I would like that you tell us a little bit about your your your your start in the legal field how did you become a lawyer and why and where did you start and tell us a little bit about your legal Journey well I uh I had a quite of a long run to be honest so I started back in Egypt in 2009 when I graduated uh I worked for almost uh couple of months at Baker McKenzie Egypt and then I moved to shalako firm shalak in Egypt is like the Tamimi in here basically if not uh uh bigger and older in terms of uh of uh number of years uh I stayed in Egypt almost for 5 years before the uh the Egyptian revolution and then uh when I decided to move to the to the UAE I came uh I had an offer from altamimi and partners uh here in Dubai uh I was attending the I can remember this quite well I was attending the IBA in Dubai in 2011 when I met one of their uh Deputy managing partner and we got into a debate regarding enforcement of arbitral awards and then two weeks after I came back from the seminar to Egypt I I found his his email inviting me back to Dubai and with an offer letter for the to join the firm so I came in uh Dubai if I remember correctly 2013 uh to alimi uh disputes I've always been a dispute lawyer to be very honest I didn't like well you you got your first job in the UAE after an argument so I understand yeah so I've always liked the dispute world I tried the corporate world corporate commercial for like 6 months of my career but I didn't uh it's not my cup of tea I didn't fit in with all due respect to corporate lawyers of course not taking not taken nothing personal but uh uh I found myself more in in litigation in arguments in disputes in in general so I joined alimi for almost 3 years again in the litigation team I did the during my uh my period with altimimi I was a kind of a joker so uh I used to jump in between departments so I worked in in litigation I worked in financial crimes I worked sometime with the arbitration team as well so uh I kept Jumping Ship internally and it was a very very good opportunity for me because uh you know how big is altimimi in here and it's like a kitchen so uh it's very good very good stop for you when you come to the UAE is to enter this kitchen to see this kind of diversity of these cases get uh this exposure to different kind of disputes different kind of clients different kind of peers as well laws you know the the the legal community in the UE is developing very fast so uh it was a very very good opportunity for me then I moved to uh to Da Piper for another almost three years as well uh I stayed there they call it the Len ARB Department litigation arbitration it's it's it's a mix of both everyone do both and being uh uh being an bilingual fully bilingual in this country I think it's a it's a blessing uh so it's a blessing and a curse at the same time you know you get to handle more work exactly so you get to handle more work you get exposed to more questions clients because you know Arabic by heart it's your mother tongue and you know English Drafting and writing so it's easier for you for lot of people to come like uh One Stop Shop to your desk ask for some stuff some uh what does this say how do we handle this uh can you talk to that can you go do this meeting with this person with this court with this uh Authority it's easier when you're uh when you're talking the native language of the country of course so uh it was quite an experience for me it was my first International firm as well so the culture shock between coming from uh local firms into International firms yeah not only local firms so local Egyptian firm to local imarati firm and then to an international giant like d it uh it was quite an experience for me and and uh I have to say at some point of time it was it was a culture shock so thank God I I I handled it quite well uh my direct line manager at that time as well who was the managing partner of Da he was a very very good Mentor uh he helped me a lot to go through this transition between local firms and the local world and international firms International clients how to handle clients marketing how to be part of the uh marketing legal team while you're still performing your daily duties as a lawyer uh different kind of disputes crossborder litigation crossborder arbitration a lot of elements inv involved in one case working with a bigger team a lot of peers it's a whole different kind of metaverse yes I agree so it wasn't uh it wasn't easy then I again that's why I'm telling you I had a I had a quite good run again I moved to EDS uh they wanted to uh establish this local litigation team with uh bilingual councils and at the same time with an international or British flavor so uh I had an experience in this department being established by da as one of the first uh International firms in the UAE so they wanted to acquire this internal experience again from inside the kitchen how did we do this how do we uh manage clients in these situations how we establish this department at the same time uh how do we make like an exclusive collaboration with emirati Council or where we have an advocacy uh license to appear before the courts so uh I moved in there to establish this department it was quite a good experience for me as well I stayed in everetts for two years where we did this project and then uh I moved with imp where I am now uh as a partner and head of disputes in the in the disputes Department who uh we do a lot of mix of litigation and arbitration I've always been as I told you a joker within the disputes field so I'm not uh like I don't have like a niche where I only do this kind of disputes you know some some some a lot maybe a lot of colleagues actually in the disputes area they tell you I'm a banking dispute lawyer construction I'm a employment I'm an IP disputes right uh I'd say that I'm a I'm I'm a generalist I feel this is a blessing as well because absolutely you know something about everything not not actually everything but at least the main sectors when it comes to disputes so I've did a lot of construction disputes being here in the UAE for 11 years real estate rental employment banking civil and Commercial partnership disputes of course it's full of partnership disputes the so uh Mak a match you can say so nice one of the things you mentioned that you hand type of disputes and conflicts between landlords and tenants this is one of the I guess one of the most common conflicts that happen here in the UAE and you have experience in that yes can you tell us an example of a of a of a case that you handled and um where it's very common to happen as a conflict uh when it come to rental disputes it's it's one of the one of the major if not one of the most important sectors in the legal field in here because you have the the whole real estate is based on rent whether it's commercial or residential or civil what we call it a civil rent and uh for most of the people who doesn't know there is no separate laws that govern the commercial rent and a separate law that govern the residential rent yes which is which is good and bad you know at the same time so uh uh if if if I remember correctly one of the recent cases that we have been working on and actually we wrote an article about this and we publish it is due to the rise in the rent in the last maybe 12 to 18 months in the UAE you find a lot of uh disputes between landlord and tenant due to the increase of rent of course the landlord seeing the market is booming so they want to increase the rent and they have their tenants who are inside their property they are renewing based on maximum of 5 10% increase per year yes which is not the actual increase in the UA okay so the the actual statistics it says 19 to 24% while it's actually reached to 70 and 75% exactly yes can you tell us a little bit about this what's applicable what can what's the maximum that the landlords can can increase and what's the criteria for such increase just to make it here for the audience well to to be to be very clear with you uh the the normal in Dubai of course everyone tells you go to the Rara calculator yes and the Rara calculator at some times to be very honest it it wasn't fair to the landlords and it wasn't fair as well to the tenants this is the Dilemma but uh uh and as an as an information that's public now for for everyone the r calculator have been amended to reflect some kind of actual increase or practical in the market to this RAR calculator so now when you go into rare calculator it give you to some extent an accurate percentage of how much your Villa or your property or your apartment at this area at this building should be evaluated in terms of rent but the issue is that that happens in dispute between landlords and tenants is that the tenant they go and they don't use the the landlord I'm sorry the landlords they don't don't use the layer calculator either they ask for a figure okay because most of them are greedy of course or they go and apply for a certificate of an example they call it okay this example where they come and tell you oh I asked for this certificate from the uh Dubai land Department by the way and they are saying that my villa in this area it's rented for 200k well okay the Dubai land department is telling you this information and it's true by the way but this is for a new a new tenant not for an existing tenant if there's an existing tenant renting for 110 of course he will not jump from 110 to 200k it doesn't make any sense yes okay so they use this certificate H in a way to try to persuade the tenant if he doesn't know his legal rights right that the Villa you're renting it worth 200 and you're paying no it doesn't work like this it works where you have to have actual scenario you have to have a com real comparison like what they say compare Apple to Apple so maybe the the the the the Villa that the same community that worth 200k is upgraded Villa for example have a different view so this certificate does not take all these factors into consideration so they use it wrong so whenever this kind of disputes uh uh escalate and reach to court and you have a lawyer that understand this complexities they explain this to the judge then the situation now changed from in favor of the landlord to in favor of the of the tenant of the tenant so instead of increasing from 110 to 190 they increase like maybe 12025 The Logical normal increase that the r calculator will evaluate from from the beginning it should exactly and and what my view on this is is exactly as you said the situation where EV valuator or the land Department with with real estate regulatory agency uh evaluate the rental in this area they are just giving an example as you said but that's not applicable to to rental increase which is regulated by a specific uh percentages when the market goes up to here and so on and based on that they are doing the calculator and they are updating it from time to time so so renewal is regulated by the calculator and the index but rental uh valuation as the certificate of example is for the properties that are vacant exactly you have seen a lot of these cases a lot of these cases but recently we have seen a different type of cases as well the landlord stopped asking for an increase because they know they are not they're not going to get it get the numbers they're not logical okay they're not reasonable okay there no sense about about asking for an increase of 70% all of a sudden doesn't make any sense okay and even if if I can't pay it I will not pay it okay I'll just move out yeah they don't even ask for for an increase they just sent you notice of eviction they use one of the reasons 12 month one of the exclusive reasons in the law and they say we want to sell the apartment we want to BU sell the Villa uh we want to use it for a personal use whatever one of the six or seven reasons they list it and they send it the most common one is personal use or selling the vill okay the issue in this is that if the landlord is bluffing and the Tenant actually call his bluff and then he discovers he will get compensated for this the tenant so the the the article that I was telling you about that we won this case uh up to the final judgment is that and that's one of my neighbors by the way ah nice okay that's the irony about it so okay what happened is that he served him in and he said I'm I'm selling the villa okay so the guy tried to increase the rent with him and he actually offered him up to 40% increase the tenant and the landlord didn't accept and he insisted that he's selling the villa and you have to evocate the Villa EV The Villa within 12 months by the time the 12 months laps the guy moved out but he moved out in the same Community like two streets after this Villa and after he moved out two months later he found out a moving in truck in the same Villa that he was renting putting in the the the furniture so he went to the security guys he investigated about it and he discovered that the the landlord actually didn't sell the Villa he rented the Villa to a new uh tenant based on the new price all right okay so based on the new price he increased The Villa around 70 or 80% all right in price okay so he came to me and he said this is what happened this guy screwed me I what can I do what's my legal rights and the first thing that came with my mind of course that if we can prove this we will get your compensation the law is very clear okay the reasons for eviction it wasn't real reason it didn't happen so the reason for eviction is invalid went to court we take him to court and we made him pay almost one year and a half of rent of this tenant of compensation so he paid everything he paid compensation for eviction he paid compensation for the rent difference between this Villa and the new Villa my client had to rent based on the new prices he paid the difference extra Furniture curtains and stuff in the new Villa that he had to go to and the moving the moving in the permits everything he paid for that's great that's why I advise everyone to keep receipts and invoices when you're moving out because if this happens you can go back you can your yeah you can redeem your all your damages you know one of the things that I always wonder because I see it happening in this market such disputes happen because of the market and the landlords getting wrongly advised by reate Brokers let's say one of the reasons is that they are not very well educated about the market when it comes to rental laws they don't know the Precedence when it comes to courts actual courts happening in let's say it's good for us so we more absolutely I wouldn't mind of course keep them coming that one of the reasons but the the main reason is that they they don't keep track of what's happening in the market uh when it comes to actual life situation when this happen what will happen when this happen what the court will say when this dispute arise what the end of this of this uh how people in this kind of situation they settle and to be true this is this is more of a of a lawyer job this is not their job at at the time of the transaction itself all what they care about is that to close this transaction whether about sale whether about rent the most profit to get their commission to get their uh salaries to get people in people out to do the job on a daily basis so it's it's more of a lawyer job but it will definitely add to them if they educate theel if they update themsel if they ask for trainings maybe the dld will ask for specialized lawyers to come and do these trainings rather than just other ex real estate brokers coming in delivering a training for 45 minutes for another one who's having the license uh they don't go into these intrix of these legal cases and these different type of situations so they get a they give their clients the wrong advice and sometimes it's genuine wrong advice is there any way to hold the re estate brokers or the brokerage firms liable to wrong advice because in many occasions I see even written advises by email or by letters coming out of real estate agencies or brokers who are sending in their emails you can get this done that's the normal this is okay please do this and it it's in writing so sometimes it surpris me can can they be liable to such conf well well we we don't want to intimidate anyone today I'm just but of course under exploring under the law anyone can be liable to anything as long as you can prove what we call a causal link between his action and your damages he can be liable whether based on contractual relationship if there is a contract that ties in these parties uh in for example in your in your example you're saying that it's it's it's written advises so I guess there is some kind of a sort of underlying agreement between those or based on tort of course so liability exists in the UAE and it's very famous so they need to understand that they are liable because this is a licensed profession real estate brokers yeah and uh not because no one is suing them that they are not liable they are liable and actually they get sued in a lot of real estate disputes rather than rental disputes yes okay so I handle real estate disputes as well and we involved rale Brokers whether he's an individual whether he's a company and we involve them in the litigation of of course they stand tight and they say we have nothing to do this is between the seller and the buyer we're only re estate broker this is our rights we only have a guarantee check we work as an escro they all they do all of these tricks and they they they they claim whatever they want to claim but when it comes to Legal liability they do have a legal liability so I'm going to I'm going to take the same example and bring you back this landlord who paid in in in your example who paid such a hefty amount which is one and a half year of of compensation if he was wrongly advised by the reip broker can he go back and and Sue the real estate broker who gave him the wrong advice course he can take this judgment and based on that he can establish a case against Real Estate this real estate Brook and by the way I guess that this guy had the wrong advice because I just remembered the case was not just about this we discovered during the case that the landlord submitted the defense it was a very solid defense and he said I actually sold the villa and he got the new title deed and we found out that the new title deed is not in his name okay however because of the the the family name of the new owner she was a lady of the new lady was similar to his family name we knew that there is a connection so we asked the judge to inquire from the identity Department that that issues ID in the U and we discovered that it's the the the lady she's his daughter so he knew about it and he no no no I'm coming she discovered that she's his daughter and he didn't sell the Villa he gifted The Villa to her to avoid the po% registration from the dld so again the reason for eviction is invalid because the reason for eviction is selling the villa and getting a benefit Financial benefit from selling the Villa you didn't do this you gifted The Villa to her so you could have gifted The Villa to your daughter and me as a tenant I stay inside the Villa why did you kick me out doesn't make any sense so to this extent you see that the landlord they go they not not not the full way actually they goond 100 mile more to cover themselves so to certain extent they are taking legal advice before they do this eviction so someone advised him actually to sell the Villa because you're not actually selling it to give the Villa to your daughter to change the name so it looks like you You' sold the villa but guess what Muhammad IIM was on the other side that's what happened we were waiting for him on the other side yes we had a very interesting discussion about the rental disputes committee and the cases and conflicts related to uh landlords and tenants but I would like that you shed some light on what type of clients and what type of um of cases you handle as well and how does the process from the conflict coming into your desk until it goes to court really how does that happen uh well you know Dubai is very uh Metropolitan country so you see a lot of type of uh of of clients of companies of businesses but uh based on my experience not not not all companies actually have this kind of uh uh education or let's say culture that they easily resort to disputes especially recently due to multiple factors so I've been working in Dubai for almost 11 years now the time I started is very different than now in terms of companies and individual taking the decision to litigate or not to litigate to go to court to finance their cases not to finance their Cas people don't like courts in general they're afraid of it this is what you this is what you think they are is is changing not not not afraid I will not say that they are afraid but it always when it comes to a dispute the clients come to you and from the time he's meeting you he frustrated before even the case starts that's the issue so he comes he sits with you he thinks that you are a burden to him so he's coming with an with an issue and this issue becomes your issue it's his issue becomes your issue and it's your role to guide him to take him I I always tell this to my associates it's like a kindergarten it's the first day he comes in he's afraid he doesn't know anything he doesn't understand what's happening uh he doesn't know how much he will spend how long it will take what's the result it's like a black box for him so this this is the issue that we face as as dispute lawyers is that you have to guide the client to manage his expectations at every step of the way okay but what we have been seeing recently in the past especially especially from the time of Corona until today is that people are more and companies they are more reluctant to finance litigation that's the issue they are they try to as much as they can and on different level whether it's a civil case commercial case small employment case big employment case they try to solve it as much as they can before they reach to the litigation outside of Court yes I confirm and and and that's where you you as a desp lawyer you need to change your mentality as well so most of the desperate lawyers and I'm sorry to say to say this were Bulldogs okay so let fight we need we have to fight it's it's in our DNA you know you see the issue you're happy okay you start thinking about Solutions you start thinking of what you will do to your opponent how you will tackle this how you will do this uh arguments no we need to change this kind of mentality so you can you can reach to the same Solutions and you can do the same amount of fees and money but through settlements through different means totally agree so the the the the Dynamics of the market itself and how you practice as a desp lawyer it needs to change a little bit in a lot of firms and in the mind of a lot of Des spute lawyers especially Egyptians yeah I see this a lot and sometimes I because again I'm not a dispute lawyer I try as much as I can to avoid it and try as much as I can not to reach the level that the client would have to go to court and I always think of a ways to to find settlement and sometimes even if there is no way to find the settlement I try to understand the economics of the case what am I winning in the end yes am I chasing a million Duram but I'm going to have to spend 900 exactly exct if that's the case then there's no point of filing the case or spending the the time or the effort or the energy or the money and I always look at the economics of it would would it make sense or not yeah actually to be true with you I based on experience I retain clients and I keep them with me by being more honest to them and in their best interest rather than the firm's interest of course financially so sometimes actually client is pushing me to go to court and I'm still giving them hope for settlement and sometimes they come to you with a with with with an end of in mind it's like we're definitely going to we're coming here to fight there's no room we tried everything before we come to you but when I when I but the mindset change when they know the ca exactly of course the m is not cheap at all when it comes to litigation whether and this is thing we we should we should shed shed the some light on as well whether whether the court fees whether the legal fees whether the process the whole process fees when when they come to know how much it will cost they think oh I think I'm spending good money over bad money but in in in some situation it's unavoidable you have to and sometimes you're the defendant so it's not up to you someone already financing the case and you're facing a case so it has a lot of different scenarios but all what I'm saying is that the Dynamics in the market has changed and the clients uh they are looking for different type of lawyers that it's more business oriented than only legally focused you know the uh the the horse tunnel view this what we used to to to adopt in our cases now you need to lift up this and you see the wide angle you see what's happening here what's happening here and you clearly advise your client is that going down this route it would reach to X here y here Zed and let's choose it's it's it's not a must that you litigate you know what I mean I'm not promoting against of course litigation it's my bread and butter but you have to be it has to make sense exactly it has to financially business-wise legal wise sometimes people come to me and I tell them you know what you have slam done case I'll win this case in 6 months but you will get nothing out of it that's it this is this is the truth because the circumstances of the opponent his financial circumstances his existence at the company or whatever it's not there anymore so you I'll get you a judgment what you will do with this judgment nothing yeah you will come back and and and and and fight with me of course so you try to avoid this and try to gain your client I I have another question for you um here in the UAE we have adjm courts we have DFC courts we have the local courts whether in the federal and or or on the local level we have arbitration centers we have mediation can you tell us would you of course you be a little bit biased towards the Civil courts because that's where where you mainly practice what is the advantages of having Dubai or Abu Dhabi courts as a civil uh civil courts over DFC or adjm in your opinion well it's the U is a very unique Market when it comes to disputes because as you said we have at least four jurisdictions within the same country yes and and and it's a small country it's not like content it's an optional every businessman can actually opt for exactly one of them in the beginning it wasn't opt in opt out close so the DFC when when it's initially started it was only limited to the DFC establishments okay and the DFC jurisdiction now it's like arbitration it's opt in opt out okay uh adgm came later on and it's it's the same uh you have arbitration whether within Dubai outside of the Dubai or within or outside of depend on the seat uh and then you have the the the local courts and you have mediation which it's it's a pre-litigation or pre- dispute uh uh procedures so it's it's like a full menu that's what I say it's a full menu for everyone it's only you don't pick a choose like a menu like really menu of what you like no what suits your situation okay so we always tell our corporate colleagues who draft contracts is that the desperate resolution Clause it's not your Clause okay it's a desperate lawyer clause because I always consider the dispute lawyers coming from the future so he have seen this dispute resolution Clause before in a Construction contract in an employment contract in a civil contract in a partnership dispute he have seen the Court's application to this Clause the arbitration application to this Clause how do they tackle this Clause okay how it's managed how it's being uh uh uh uh held in valid valid so I'll give you an example recently and it's it's very famous now in the UAE okay recently there was some kind of like uh a precedent where a company in Abu Dhabi getting into contract with company in Ras for example delivery of whatever Goods okay and they choose the court of jurisdiction as Dubai courts three jurisdic involved I don't understand for no reason it was a draft temp it was a template and we you know the destion Clause it's always at the end of the contract we don't need to review it two companies in two different jurisdiction or two different Emirates and the desperate resolution Clause refers to a court that it doesn't exist here or there has nothing to do the the the matter got escalated in in different cases to the Supreme Court of cation whether in Dubai or in Abu Dhabi and sometimes in R because R has it cation level as well independently so there have been conflicted judgments between the three Emirates and everyone is stepping over the jurisdiction of the other okay so when the matter matter got escalated that much it went to the higher Supreme committee where it unify the Precedence between the Supreme Courts in different them and they had to rely to the uh to the UAE uh Constitution articles of the U constitutions saying that no one can step on the jurisdiction of the other so you cannot do this anymore so that's actually sends very clear message is that when you're drafting your contract know your jurisdiction you cannot just opt especially when you're when you're referring jurisdiction to local courts if it's DFC or adgm of arbitration I'll tell you this is an extreme ex measure of dispute resolution you can always refer to regardless of where your company exists in which direction which country okay but when it comes to local Court you have to be aware of these elements so it's always good to go to a lawyer that's that's what people avoid yes but that's what you pay later on so yeah it can be very expensive if they don't get the advice on time they can get the rights so imagine you have your you have your damages you have the contract is terminated or whatever is happening and you don't know where to go it's not like you cannot Finance your case or the damages are not that much you will let it go or no no you have everything but your your jurisdiction Clause is invalid it's very very big problem people need to take care of these small parts before they get into any contract and that's where we come in but yeah sometimes we come in very late yes and there's not much you can do um one of the new things and and and the issues that happened in in the UAE uh the last few days uh I would like to ask you about have you already seen any compensation cases regarding the flooding or the storm that that happened few days ago in in the UAE um about the damages and the liabilities of the uh parties or the insurance have you have you seen any cases already uh that that started or are you foreseeing some cases to happen in the next few days well it it's it's too early to the to tell you to be true is that uh there is cases already started but Rumors in the market says that the insurance committee within the central bank it's facing a lot of complaints against in insurance companies to be honest so whether they are not picking up whether they they are taking your complaint but they are not proceeding with it so you don't have any feedback about your complaint or they just rejecting your complaint for different type of reasons so it's inevitable insurance complaints will start very soon it will it will start it's the question is the reaction of the insurance committee within the central bank uh the amount of complaints would they be able to handle this uh all of a sudden it's like you you remember what happened at the beginning of the corona where they started to say we want to flatten the curve yeah rather than everything comes in within two weeks we want to make it comes in within two months months longer it will be like this so you'll have a lot of complaints all of a sudden going to the insurance committee because as you said it's in inevitable and as a process as a legal process you have have to go through the committee before you go to court you cannot jump this and go to court your case will be dismissed and this is also a very important part to to understand is that there is a process for starting up such complaints and and cases and there is there is always a process you need to stand in the queue you need to know the process you need to do it by heart otherwise you're jeopardizing your case before it starts and that's the issue it happens in employment as well employment one of the uh very very famous uh and hot legal topics in here a lot of people jump the process uh because they think they don't need a lawyer okay they go to authorities for example without mentioning names they go to free zones where do they work and they get legal advice again wrongly wrong legal advice so they jump the process and it's too late by the time they know that they need to restart everything that's the issue Muhammad what one of the most uh common uh questions that we get about employment uh is what happens if uh an employer offers an employee an offer letter or a job and the employee accept that offer make measures take a holiday or take their uh make their notice for resigning and few days before they get hired the employer actually withdraw this offer letter we have we have uh we've worked on a very interesting case for for an an employee uh against a tech company here in the UAE where they did actually offered him and based on his offer uh he resigned from his position uh his notice period was almost three months and uh by the end of the three months Maybe two to three weeks I can't remember correctly uh before he joins actually they retracted the offer and they said this position is not available anymore within our organization and they left him up high dry in the sky of course uh we got in touch with this guy and uh we actually filed a case against the company uh and we managed to get him compensation of 6 months which is the legal probation period in the UAE the maximum probation period uh of his and this 6 months the basis of compensation was his uh salary offered to him in their offer letter in this company offer letter to cover him for 6 months that he kept without a job looking for a new job so there is legal repercussions for companies that do this it's only as we said it's the the appetite of people whether they will pursue their rights to ask for this or or some people just think that there's nothing we can do right there is always something you can do you can get compensated for this period it's just a matter of how you do it what's the cause of action in your case you have a good lawyer you will get your judgment I I've seen even more examples the other way around more examples of employees uh going for interview interviews uh getting the job offer uh signing them and then after two three weeks they get another offer so they withdraw and they join another company do you think there's a chance or have you seen any employer filing a case against an employee for to be honest I haven't seen this in in action let's say yeah uh I I haven't even heard about the case that filed with this kind of circumstances but uh if you're talking legally speaking purely legal yeah if it it goes both ways as long as the company can prove damages as a result of this employees action and retracting his acceptance for no valid reason then especially if there's damages in this like a recruitment cost or um I don't know missed opportunity to hire someone else of the same caliber spending more time with an empty seat for a 100% critical role that that all cause damages to the company so do if they can prove these damages if you have someone who is let's say creative enough like you challenging all of this getting more uh ways to find damages for them or examples like what you have just said and it's not only examples they need to prove it of course of course uh so it's the damages uh concept under the UAE civil code it's very wellknown code as long as you can prove it you can prove the elements for damages then definitely they can claim it but in in practice to be honest I haven't seen it we spoke about the taking the opinion of a conflicts lawyer or a disputes lawyer before we draft a contract would you advise more because you worked in both you worked with arbitration and you worked with litigation which one would you prefer or which one do you like personally more that I'll be a little bit biased you have the right to do that in the beginning of my career I've always preferred prepared uh preferred arbitration to be honest it's uh the dynamic of the arbitration it's more uh let's say dispute friendly you can control the process uh communication it's more clear especially with tribunals uh you appoint your uh your own uh Co arbitrator of course that does not mean that he will take your side in someone can trust exactly you appoint someone who you can trust you appoint someone who you know for fact that he has an experience in this field he has an experience in this type of disputes he understand the language that you're talking yeah especially in technical uh disputes like when we say construction when we say uh Investment Banking medical whatever insurance this type of Niche areas you can control who's sitting and who's taking the decision so this concept it's always tested to be uh easier clearer better for Council for arbitrators for clients for everyone in addition to that it's one step so arbitration is one shot it's unlike courts where you have to go from first instance to appeal to Supreme yeah so it it was faster easier uh more fees of course ah exactly but this is one of the most important points because I think clients right now think courts are too efficient and they're working very well they're also technology they they endorsing technology very well and and it's easy to handle Court conflicts as as close to as opposed to litigation sorry arbitration which it cost a lot of money it does it does so that's why I've always preferred arbitration but in the past let's say 5 years I've changed my mind a little bit due to these factors as you said the litigation in the UA it's it's more now uh similar to arbitration it's easier it's faster uh technology has been amazing right now uh it's everywhere everything is uh is done via uh websites cloud-based system with the court hearings uh uh minutes of meeting submissions uploading registering cases receiving Court judgments correspondence with the judges it's it's it's amazing it's uh it reached to a certain extent that it's it's equal to a very very reputable arbitral centers uh so nowadays I'm I'm more Pro litigation it's cost effective as well yes maybe it's little bit longer but arbitration again people thinks it because it's one shot it's it's faster no it takes time and then then you have to go through execution again which take another time it's another level so at the end of the day they are pretty much similar it uh it depends on uh which one you feel Case by case basis and what case bases type of disputes etc etc okay but uh if you compare it to other jurisdiction I'll definitely go for uh for arbitration okay yeah how do you feel about the the the the legal Tech and the revolution in the legal market and the use of technology in general we see a lot of AI Solutions helping lawyers and acting as paral legals and so on how how do you see this changing the the legal profession in general and uh I will need some advice from you to the young lawyers how how do they what skills they need to get to cope with the with the new uh uh Trends in the legal Market legal it's very niche profession okay so you there there is still liability on you as a lawyer even if you're using technology so clients will not leave you alone okay so at the end of the day if if they believe that the money they are paying or the fees they are paying and the service they are getting it's just an AI generated or some kind of a of a of a program that you invested in as a lawyer they won't feel the that their level of service is what they are looking for okay because this is something they can do by themselves so we have to be very careful of how we're using this technology because we will be replacing ourself you know what I mean so we don't want to lawyers should be very careful before using this we should use it to as as a type of support like for example back in the day days lawyers used to draft memos By Hand by hand right like handwritten memos when they introduce their computer and the word not every lawyer was using this and some people were challenging this yes okay but at the end of the day it's a tool that can help you produce the same work so we have to use technology AI this way so instead for example of uh reading hundreds of pages to get to a conclusion of couple of paragraphs we can use Ai and there are programs now that do this that uh review documents uh uh uh check legal issues in the contract W with with a specific keywords like find me X find me why where this is drafted in which clause you know it's it's more of a leg work that we say rather than giving a contract to an AI program to draft it or to we have problem in relation to Clause X please find us a legal solution for this or what do you recommend based on law number y x y and that it never works like this yes it will never work for the client it will never work for you as a lawyer and you still going to have to review the AI yes this is this is this is basically my my point of view about how you use technology and how you use especially AI nowadays this this can work as well for the some sectors in law and it doesn't work for other sectors so if you ask AI uh uh program a very Advanced one to draft you let's say management agreement rent agreement employment agreement 99 of these stuff it's online and it has been drafted million of times so it's easy for for for the for the AI to give you a temp one template two template 100 templates about this and you pick and choose but if you give a case with a bunch of documents that's not organized not all of them in the same language without highlighting what are the legal issues okay uh you need to sit with the client all of this AI will not do it for you you not come up with a legal memo drafted with the arguments this need to be done this need to be said said what's the strategy would you submit these documents now or later would you do this or you not do this this I cannot foresee that this can be done by an AI That's brain work I don't think AI would ever be able to do that they can assist they can assist with that but no they cannot make a decision so my advice to young lawyers don't rely on this because it will first of all it will make you very lazy very lazy okay so there's no advancement in your career Two you might reach to the wrong conclu legal conclusion based on the AI okay okay so you still need to review their work absolutely if you're asking for a final product from an AI which is something I highly recommend not to do at least nowadays maybe 10 years from now on I don't know what will happen but maybe it will happen but nowadays never do this thank you Muhammad thank you very much for coming this is your dose from Monday legal see you next week