Ahmed Odeh, the co-founder of WASI, worked in various types of matters and cases across multiple jurisdictions within the UAE. After more than 10 years of legal practice, Ahmed has experienced first-hand many of the business and legal challenges faced by law firms and in-house counsel. Moreover, Ahmed became frustrated with the lack of relevant legal technologies available for UAE lawyers to effectively document their matters and cases.

One of the key differentiating aspects of the legal landscape in the UAE is that all court procedures (with the exception of DIFC Courts) are conducted in Arabic whereas the predominant population is non-Arabic speakers. It follows that the legislative aspect of UAE laws are first enacted in Arabic and then translated into English. In addition, UAE legislative system is divided into Federal and State courts with some emirates having complete independent jurisdiction from the Federal courts. The separation of the court systems also applies to court procedures, fees and case precedents. The main issues facing both lawyers and clients today are:

• Language: A critical complaint that many clients have is that they do not understand court procedures and the manner in which case updates are being relayed to them. Hence, a strong command of Arabic and English has now become a requirement for local law firms to effectively conduct business with their clients. This is so that there is no miscommunication when firms deal with non-Arabic speaking clients.
• Jurisdictions: Jurisdictions in the UAE have become segregated to the point that there can be multiple independent jurisdictions with a single emirate. This poses an administrative and logistical issue for law firms that operate across such jurisdictions as there is no system that is currently available to consolidate all the jurisdictions.
• Documentation: Clients do not have direct access to their case and matter documentation at all times
• Performance Issues: The lack of consistent and effective communication with clients is further exacerbated when client email updates are poorly translated from Arabic to English leaving the clients confused and worried about the status of their cases. The eventual result of this can cause clients billing problems, complaints and loss of time addressing client concerns.