From September 15-17 in Dubai, UAE, CLDP conducted a workshop to help several Iraqi agencies develop a guidebook for drafting arbitration clauses consistent with international best practice. Iraqi officials from the State Shura Council, Ministry of Planning, Council of Ministers Secretariat, Ministry of Agriculture and National Investment Commission attended. The workshop was led by arbitrator and law professor John Crook of the George Washington Law School and Wissam Dagher, Senior Legal Counsel at DLA Piper in Dubai. These experts shared best practices in creating effective dispute resolution clauses. Extensive written material including a sample guidebook created by the International Bar Association, model clauses, arbitration rules and arbitration laws were used in the workshop to assist the participants in developing a framework for Iraq’s future arbitration guidebook. At the conclusion of the workshop, the participants agreed that a draft of the guidebook would be finalized in the next two months. 

This workshop was the second of three phases of a program to build the capacity of legal and contracting offices in Iraq’s ministries to understand and draft binding and enforceable arbitration clauses for its contracts with foreign parties. The third phase will take place in December for a larger audience of Iraqi contracting officers and lawyers and will use the final arbitration guidebook as the core reference document.