Litigation and Arbitration

Our lawyers have extensive litigation and arbitration experience, handling cases in the Saudi Courts including the Saudi Arabian Board of Grievances (Diwan Al-Mazalan) and the shari'ah courts. We handle all phases of litigation, in both English and Arabic as necessary, including claim preparation, document review and discovery, witness interviews and preparation, claim submission and briefing, hearings, appeal and enforcement of judgments. Our practice includes both the presentation of claims to Saudi tribunals and directing cases in foreign jurisdictions.

The nature of our litigation work is quite diverse and not readily described in general terms. A sampling of four matters we have handled for our clients includes:

Repudiatory Breach of Charter Party

We acted for an international shipping company in defense of a claim for repudiatory breach of charter which involved multi-party arbitration proceedings in London under the charter party for one vessel, proceedings in South Africa against another vessel as security for the arbitration claims and a threatened action in Saudi Arabia before the Board of Grievances for damages arising from the South African proceedings. Our office acted as lead counsel for the entire case, preparing the overall legal strategy in the three jurisdiction, overseeing and directing the London and South Africa proceedings and advising the client in connection with its rights under Saudi Arabian law.

Sharia'ah Inheritance Claim

We represented a local client in connection with her claims for recovery of her rightful share in her late father's estate including his business interests. The matter was argued before the shari'ah courts in accordance with the shari'ah principles of inheritance. In conjunction with the court proceedings we also represented the client in negotiating a valuation of her share in her father's business concerns.

Construction Dispute

On behalf of our client, an internationally affiliated engineering and architectural office, we commenced arbitration proceedings to recover additional costs amounting to several million Riyals for design changes requested by the owner and to recover equitable compensation for wrongful termination. The proceedings were conducted in accordance with the Saudi Arabian Arbitration Regulations and involved hearings in English and Arabic, the production of substantial technical documentation and numerous submissions concerning the legal basis for the claims.

Trademark Infringement Claim

We acted for our client as owner of a registered trademark in bringing an infringement action before the Saudi Board of Grievances to prevent the unauthorized use of the mark and recover damages for such infringement.