Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) won the 2020 Global Arbitration Review (GAR) award for “the jurisdiction that has made great progress.” In 2019, the Arbitration Guidelines were published (October), the ADGM court issued its first two arbitration-related decisions (October) and the Litigation Funding Rules applying both court and arbitral proceedings were enacted (April).

In 2019, a team from Shearman & Sterling led by partner Alex Bevan and ADGM jointly developed the ADGM Guidelines following extensive consultation with a wide cross-section of the dispute resolution community, including senior in-house counsel from leading Abu Dhabi organizations, arbitrators, as well as local and international law firms. The Arbitration Guidelines contain unique and innovative features that offer parties best practice procedures to assist parties and tribunals to bring greater certainty and efficiency to the arbitral process.  Alex Bevan and the team also advised ADGM on the establishment of the ADGM Arbitration Centre (ADGMAC) and the Arbitration Regulations 2016.

The Team