On January 24-26, CLDP conducted a workshop in Kuwait, in coordination with the Supreme Council on Planning and Development, on best practices in making specialized business courts more competent, efficient and transparent. The workshop focused primarily on the procedural elements that are needed for a successful business court including the development of local procedural rules, mechanisms to fast track cases and obtain injunctive relief, clear and efficient jurisdictional boundaries, and judicial education programs to prepare judges for complex domestic and cross-border disputes. The workshop also highlighted he importance of court automation, particularly for the business community, and the need for transparent publication of court decisions.

The program faculty featured Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York, Helen Freedman, a former justice from the New York State Supreme Court’s Commercial Division (the first business court in the U.S.) and the current Chief Judge of the Dubai Commercial Court, Mohamed Al-Sabousy. The program audience  included judges and court administrators from Bahrain, Tunisia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Morocco and each of these delegations contributed best practices and lessons learned from their jurisdictions to the program discussions.

This workshop is part of CLDP’s multiphase contract enforcement program to assist countries in the MENA region with improving the level of efficiency, predictability and transparency in the adjudication of commercial disputes.