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10 - 14 NOVEMBER 2025

Schedules: Afternoon

Global Energy Disputes: Enforcement, ESG and Emerging Risks

This session, jointly organised by Orhan Legal (Istanbul) and DLS – Al-Dus aymani Legal Services (London), is part of Dubai Arbitration Week 2025. It will explore the dynamic landscape of international energy and commercial disputes, focusing on enforcement challenges, the integration of ESG considerations, and emerging risks arising from the global energy transition. Bringing together leading practitioners, in-house counsel, and industry experts, the event off ers participants practical insights into dispute resolution strategies across Europe, the UK, and the GCC.

Goals

To provide a forward-looking analysis of the most pressing issues in global energy arbitration.

To highlight evolving trends in enforcement and how practitioners are addressing cross-border challenges.

To assess the impact of ESG obligations and energy transition policies on dispute resolution frameworks.

To foster dialogue between practitioners from diff erent jurisdictions and strengthen professional networks during Dubai Arbitration Week.

Preserving Legacy through Effective Dispute Resolution: Arbitration & Family Businesses in the GCC

Family businesses form an integral part of the GCC region’s economic system. Over the past decade, family businesses have been facing increasing and unique challenges, part of which have flowed over to a foray of dispute resolution forums. More specifically, disputes have revolved around issue pertaining to generational transitions and successions, shareholders’ conflicts, and governance issues, amongst other things. This panel will explore how arbitration can serve as a culturally-sensitive and confidential mechanism to effectively resolve intra-family and commercial disputes while preserving both legacy and relationships.

Key Discussion Points:

  • Arbitrability of Family Business Disputes: Navigating local laws, public policy, and the scope of arbitration clauses in family constitutional documents and shareholder agreements.
  • Balancing Confidentiality and Transparency: Why institutional arbitration may be better suited than courts for handling sensitive internal disputes.
  • Governance and Succession Planning: How dispute resolution mechanisms are evolving in modern family charters.Enforcement Challenges & Regional Nuances: Lessons from GCC jurisdictions on the recognition and enforcement of awards involving family entities.
  • Case Studies: Insights from actual disputes involving family businesses with local activities or or cross-border investments.

Navigating a New Reality: Arbitrating Commercial and Investment Disputes in a Deglobalizing World

The event will be dedicated to the discussion of effects on international dispute resolution of the legal symptoms of the ongoing deglobalization process, such as tariffs, sanctions, investment restrictions, supply chain reshoring requirements, data localization laws, immigration and labour mobility controls, and other protectionist measures. We will discuss the effects of these measures across various industries, as well as legal protections and dispute resolution mechanisms available to businesses. We will also touch upon the role of arbitral institutions in effective resolution of disputes in this new reality.
The panel members will share their insights about the effects of various protectionist policies across industries. Issues to be discussed will include:
-disputes with sovereign states arising out of protectionist measures;
-claims from/against subcontractors due to failed projects;
-disputes arising out of disruption of supply chains;
-disputes relating to insurance of projects;
-disputes related to payments, bank guarantees and financing of projects;
-effect of restrictive measures on the agreed arbitration mechanism, barriers to recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards due to restrictive measures;
-role of arbitration institutions.
Presentations and discussions by the panel members will be followed by Q&A, refreshments and a networking session.

Cross-Border Innovation: Structuring, Regulating, and Resolving Tech-Driven Deals Between the GCC and California

As the US, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE move forward with transformative bilateral technology and infrastructure partnerships–backed by over $600 billion in announced investments–companies across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are poised to deepen engagement with Silicon Valley.

These tech-sector alliances are increasingly structured around AI infrastructure, sovereign partnerships, and access to advanced US chips, creating a new commercial and legal corridor between California and the Gulf. As such, Silicon Valley is becoming the commercial and legal hub for these deals. With most contracts governed by California law and calling for arbitration seated in San Francisco or Santa Clara, it is essential that GCC companies and investors understand the legal, regulatory, and dispute resolution landscape that underpins their partnerships with US tech and finance. Yet many GCC-based companies, investors, and counsel remain unfamiliar with the intersection of California’s legal, regulatory, and dispute resolution frameworks. Equally, California companies navigating investments in and with the GCC will develop fluency in local corporate structures, sovereign-linked investment vehicles, and legal systems that govern commercial partnerships.

This panel brings together voices from technology, venture capital, IP, and international arbitration to discuss what GCC companies, startups, investors, and legal counsel need to know when entering deals with US tech partners, particularly as artificial intelligence, fintech, green tech, semiconductors, and dual-use R&D drive cross-border collaboration. The conversation will also examine emerging risks that threaten deal execution and contract stability, including jurisdictional complexity, regulatory shifts, IP-considerations and sovereign counterparty concerns.

E L W I x Enyo Law x One Essex Court | Panel Discussion & Networking Drinks

In collaboration, E L W I, Enyo Law and One Essex Court invite you to a panel discussion on anti-suit injunctions in the wake of UniCredit v RusChemAlliance
.
The event will provide firsthand practical insights into the challenges posed by competing jurisdictions and highlight opportunities for practitioners navigating complex cross-border disputes.

Fine drinks and exclusive networking will follow the discussion at Waldorf’s rooftop terrace.

Investment arbitration in the Middle East

Baker Botts is pleased to host a roundtable discussion on Investor-State Dispute
Settlement (ISDS) in the Arab World: Recent Trends and Developments.
We have witnessed in recent years a significant increase in investor-state claims
involving Arab states. The session will bring together leading arbitration
practitioners and regional experts to examine the evolving landscape of ISDS in the
Arab world. The discussion will focus on recent cases, treaty reform efforts, and
practical implications for investors and states engaged in cross-border disputes in
the region.
Following opening remarks by Baker Botts co-head of the International Disputes
group, Dr. Johannes Koepp, Baker Botts associate Ms. Ana Martinez Valls will
present the most recent data and trends on ISDS in the Arab world. This will then
be followed by a roundtable discussion by a highly distinguished panel of speakers
featuring Ms. Samaa Haridi (international arbitrator partner at King & Spalding in
New York, currently serving as an officer in a number of arbitral organizations,
including as Vice President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, past Senior
Co-Chair of the Arbitration Committee of the International Bar Association, and a
member of ICCA’s Governing Board) and Dr. Faris Nasrallah (head of arbitration at
Crescent Petroleum) and author of numerous publications including “Bilateral
Investment Treaty Overview – United Arab Emirates”, Investment Claims, Oxford
University Press, 2019). The debate will be moderated by Baker Botts partner Ms.
Dorine Farah.
The session will be followed by a cocktail reception to continue what promises to be
an engaging and thought-provoking discussion.
This event offers an opportunity for practitioners, in-house counsel, and clients to
exchange views on current trends and future directions in investment arbitration in
the Arab region.
We look forward to welcoming you on 13 November.
This will be a hybrid event. Space is limited, so if you wish to attend in person, we
ask you to sign up as early as possible.

Mega-Projects, Mega-Disputes – Resolving disputes across Italy and the Gulf

Italian contractors and investors are heavily involved in the Gulf’s mega-projects and energy ventures – from skyscrapers in the UAE, new LGN projects, and ambitious infrastructures in Saudi Arabia – and these deals often spark high-value commercial disputes.

The panel will delve into managing and resolving such complex conflicts through arbitration, highlighting issues like differing contract standards (e.g. FIDIC conditions for constructions vs. long-term gas/LNG contracts), cultural and legal gaps between civil-law and common-law systems, and the massive claims arising from delays, cost overruns or supply disruptions.

Crucially, the speakers will explore the dispute resolutions tools available in Dubai – from the DIFC’s English language commercial courts to modern arbitral institutions like DIAC – and how these can serve as effective alternatives to more familiar venues Italian companies have used in Europe.

This strategic discussion is highly relevant to the region’s booming infrastructure and energy sectors, equipping Italian businesses with insight on resolving “mega-disputes” closer to their Gulf operations.

Paper Trails and Red Flags: The Challenges of Meeting Your Evidential Burden

Please join us for a panel discussion on the challenges of overcoming evidential hurdles in international arbitration.
Winning or losing a case can so often hinge on evidence. Building a persuasive narrative and robust case theory will always be an uphill battle where evidence is missing, incomplete, or in the possession of the other party. This can be particularly challenging in the context of bribery and corruption, fraud, and company mismanagement.

Our experts will discuss the ways in which evidentiary hurdles can be overcome while also mitigating the risks of evidence being discarded by a tribunal or deemed inadmissible.

This panel event is an interactive real-world scenario-based session during which the panellists (including senior Covington lawyers and members of FRA’s forensic accounting team) will share experiences from matters which involved a novel evidentiary issue. Each scenario will be outlined in turn for the audience, identifying the key issues and the dilemma that needed to be addressed, with audience members encouraged to offer their own perspectives.

The discussion will be followed by networking drinks. We look forward to seeing you there