Dispensing justice in the DIFC Courts

Sir Anthony Colman divides his time between London, where he works as an international arbitrator, and Dubai, where he acts as the deputy chief justice of the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts. He describes a typical day dispensing justice.

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7am

I get up. I was invited to become a judge before I retired from the high court in London. I thought about it, and what I thought was it was such an interesting venture that I ought to do it. We have pre-designated periods of one week, and I come for my particular week on the roster whenever it is, probably about once every four months.

9.15am

I leave for court. It takes exactly seven minutes to walk from the hotel lobby to the court. I know that because I have developed a shortcut which involves going across the grass land in between the motorways and up to the gate.

9.22am

I arrive at court. There will be papers to read beforehand, maybe not for that case that I am hearing that day but maybe paperwork in relation to other cases.

10am

I am in court … They are all commercial cases. [It could be] a dispute about a contract for the sale of commercial property or something like that; disputes about banking contracts; the duty of a bank to give advice to a customer; all those sorts of things. You … have to concentrate quite hard, and if you sit longer than 4.30pm … which I have to do sometimes to finish a trial or hearing that particular day because I have something else the next day or I am leaving Dubai, you feel quite tired at the end of it. I do not remember the detail of cases. My mind has an automatic delete button because I have so many arbitrations and other things going on all the time that I just delete the rest.

1pm

Lunch. I walk across to the hotel and then back again.

2pm

We start again. Sometimes I form a preliminary opinion; sometimes it's no opinion, because it's too complicated. It's only when you get to the end of everything, when you have all the final submissions, and I go back to London and come to a conclusion.

4.30pm

Court finishes. Usually there is more paperwork to do. Sometimes I make notes about the hearing that I have just had, but sometimes I just do paperwork for the following day, or files for the following day. I am an international arbitrator and a lot of arbitrations I hear, I hear in London, so that's where I spend most of my time. In most of the judgements that I have had in Dubai, I have written them in London. We try and get the judgements out in two months at the end of the hearing.

6.30pm

I get back to the hotel. Sometimes I take stuff back to the hotel and work on it before dinner, but not after. I have a drink, a club [soda], read the newspapers and usually go out to dinner. It depends if I have a guest or someone has invited me out.

11.30pm to 1am

I go to bed.

* Gillian Duncan

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TEACHERS' PAY - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:

- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools

- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say

- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance

- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs

- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills

- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month

- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat

UAE SQUAD FOR ASIAN JIU-JITSU CHAMPIONSHIP

Men’s squad: Faisal Al Ketbi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Kathiri, Thiab Al Nuaimi, Khaled Al Shehhi, Mohamed Ali Al Suwaidi, Farraj Khaled Al Awlaqi, Muhammad Al Ameri, Mahdi Al Awlaqi, Saeed Al Qubaisi, Abdullah Al Qubaisi and Hazaa Farhan

Women's squad: Hamda Al Shekheili, Shouq Al Dhanhani, Balqis Abdullah, Sharifa Al Namani, Asma Al Hosani, Maitha Sultan, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Maha Al Hanaei, Shamma Al Kalbani, Haya Al Jahuri, Mahra Mahfouz, Marwa Al Hosani, Tasneem Al Jahoori and Maryam Al Amri

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