Dubai court cases fall as emirate overcomes financial crisis

Number of criminal and civil cases drops by more than 8 per cent as emirate increases stability in wake of global financial crisis.

DUBAI //  The number of criminal and civil cases heard in Dubai's courts dropped by more than 8 per cent last year, according to the courts' annual report released yesterday.

According to the report, the number of criminal cases heard in Dubai's courts dropped by 9 per cent in 2011, with 41,973 cases heard compared with 46,160 cases in 2010.

The number of civil cases fell by 7.5 per cent, with 55,311 civil cases registered in 2011 compared to 59,833 the previous year.

At a joint ceremony with the DIFC Courts yesterday, the Head of Dubai Courts, Dr Ahmed Saeed bin Hazeem Al Suwaidi attributed the decrease to changes made to challenge the global financial crisis.

Dr Al Suwaidi said the courts had expanded their digital technology for judicial transactions and had also organised programmes to develop their human capital.

"The Emirate of Dubai was affected by the world crises in 2009 but the stability the country witnessed in 2011 helped achieve the drop in the number of cases," he said.

Michael Hwang, Chief Justice of DIFC courts, said the collaboration with the Dubai courts helped maintain a solid, and assuring judicial environment for businesses.

Mark Beer, Registrar at the DIFC courts, said Dubai had become a safe destination for many businesses who were earlier seeking courts in cities like London, Singapore, and New York.