ADGM launches eCourt platform with Microsoft

ADGM launches eCourts platform. Christopher Pike / The National

Abu Dhabi Global Market Courts, ADGM’s independent court, has partnered up with Microsoft to launch a digital eCourts platform,  a one-stop dispute resolution portal, serving global investors and the business communities.

“Technological advances in ADGM resonate with the digital transformation of Abu Dhabi’s economy,” Ahmed Al Sayegh, chairman of ADGM, said in a statement on Saturday.

“We believe that the establishment of these end-to-end, unique, fully digital and mobile-enabled judicial resolution service is transformative. There will be no boundaries of time, location or efficiency in progressing cases before ADGM Courts; they are courts that truly serve the local and global investors and business communities.”

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With the new e-court platform, users can initiate, manage and monitor cases 24 hours a day, seven days a week online. The system will also allow users to file documents and receive SMS notifications about their cases, as well as making changes, ADGM said.

Court hearings can be conducted through video conferencing and electronic evidence bundles are included in the court file at no additional cost to any party.  Lawyers can also be paid through the new system, it noted.

ADGM Courts supports the free zone with a fully independent, common law framework to adjudicate civil and commercial disputes. The courts and its judiciary are broadly modelled on the English judicial system, and its regulations and supporting rules were enacted by ADGM’s board of directors and the Chief Justice respectively in December 2015.

ADGM, the emirate’s budding financial district, is making efforts to improve range of its products and services to attract more global financial services players to the financial centre. It is gaining traction, and in September, ADGM rose three places to number 25 in the closely-watched Global Financial Centre Index, compiled every six months by market intelligence firm Z\Yen in London.

“We have worked tirelessly to be innovative with our digital services and to exceed the expectations of users,“ said Linda Fitz-Alan, registrar and chief executive of ADGM Courts.

“We consulted widely to understand the pinch points of the legal profession’s interaction with courts so that we could ensure a seamless experience with ADGM.”

The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department and ADGM Courts have signed an agreement for the reciprocal enforcement of their judgments, the financial freezone said last week.

The move aims at supporting the Abu Dhabi Government in enhancing the emirate's international competitive position and creating an environment capable of attracting investment.