Dubai Courts: New Controls for Referring Cases to Expert-Assisted Judicial Circuits

Technical expertise in Dubai litigation is moving to the forefront of the case. For disputes that turn on expert evidence, addressing the technical issues early can be critical to shape the case and its outcome.

At a glance

• In August 2026 the Dubai Courts issued Resolution No. 9 of 2026 on the controls for referring cases to judicial circuits assisted by experts (the “Resolution”).
• The Resolution allows specialised circuits, supported by registered experts, to be established, and sets out which cases may be referred to them.
• The defining feature is timing: the technical expert report must be obtained during the case-preparation stage before the Case Management Office, and placed on the case file before the matter is referred to the circuit and a hearing is listed.
• Eligible categories include civil, commercial, real estate and labour disputes. Several categories of case and application are excluded.
• Litigation, hearing and adjudication procedures continue to be governed by the Civil Procedure Law.

In onshore UAE litigation, the court-appointed expert is frequently the decisive figure in any dispute with a technical dimension. Construction claims, real estate valuation disputes, accounting-heavy commercial claims and end-of-service calculations are typically resolved on the expert’s findings, even though those findings are not binding on the court.

The difficulty has been sequencing. Expertise has conventionally been commissioned after proceedings are underway, which means the stage that in practice determines the outcome begins only once the case has already been listed, pleaded and set down. Rounds of supplementary reports, objections and re-referrals follow. The result is that technically complex cases take considerably longer than their legal complexity would suggest.

The Resolution addresses that sequencing directly, by moving the expert stage forward into case preparation rather than leaving it to be commissioned once the case is before a circuit.

The federal framework

It is worth noting that the technical expert’s report should be submitted and included in the case file before the case is referred to the judicial circuit and a hearing is scheduled. However, the litigation, hearing, and adjudication procedures remain governed by the applicable rules under Federal Decree – Law No. 42 of 2022 on Civil Procedure.

Establishing the circuits

The President of the Court of Appeal or the President of the Courts of First Instance may, in coordination with the competent organisational units of the courts, establish one or more circuits to assist in adjudicating the cases specified in the Resolution. Those circuits may draw on experts registered with the courts and experts registered with the Judicial Expertise Centre, who may be tasked with preparing or reviewing technical expert reports.

Referral is available where the nature of the dispute requires technical expertise during the case-preparation stage before the Case Management Office — the stage at which pleadings and documents are exchanged and the file is assembled before the case reaches a circuit. Eligible categories are civil, commercial, real estate and labour disputes.

The Resolution also sets out exclusions. Cases and applications falling within the jurisdiction of the Criminal Court, the Execution Court and the Personal Status and Inheritance Court are outside the mechanism. So too are certain categories of application, including administrative cases, urgent applications, applications for orders of payment, and bankruptcy and insolvency applications.

What this means in practice

The decisive stage now comes earlier

The most significant consequence is strategic rather than procedural. If expertise is commissioned during case preparation, a party’s technical case must be substantially complete when the claim is filed. Documents, records, measurements, valuations, programme evidence and calculations need to be assembled, organised and capable of being put to an expert at the outset.

For a well-prepared claimant this is an advantage, and a material one. For a party that has historically used the early stages of proceedings to build its technical position, it removes that latitude.

Construction and real estate in particular

These sectors will feel the change most, because expert evidence is not one element of such disputes but very often the whole of them. Delay analysis, defect assessment, variation and measurement claims and valuation disputes all turn on technical findings. Contractors, developers, consultants and employers should expect the front-loading of expert work to compress the period in which a case can be prepared, and should factor that into both dispute strategy and the timing of any decision to litigate.

Procedure otherwise unchanged

Litigation, hearing and adjudication procedures continue to be governed by the Civil Procedure Law. The Resolution alters when and how technical expertise enters the process; it does not create a separate procedural regime. The Presidents of the Courts of Appeal and the Courts of First Instance are responsible, within their respective jurisdictions, for issuing the decisions necessary to implement the Resolution in coordination with the organisational units of the courts, and further implementing decisions should be expected.

What to do now

• Front-load technical evidence. Where a dispute is likely, begin assembling the technical record before proceedings rather than after.
• Instruct your own technical advisers early, so that the material put before a court-appointed expert has already been organised and tested.
• Review internal record-keeping in technical functions — project records, valuations, measurements and payroll calculations are the raw material on which these cases will now turn earlier.
• Revisit dispute strategy and litigation budgets to reflect expert costs arising at the outset rather than mid-proceedings.
• Watch for the further implementing decisions of the Presidents of the Courts of Appeal and the Courts of First Instance.

The Resolution is a further step in a consistent direction: greater specialisation, earlier engagement with technical issues, and closer management of the litigation timetable. If it works as intended, technically complex disputes in Dubai should be resolved appreciably faster, which is a real benefit in sectors where the cost of a slow dispute is often greater than the amount in issue.

The corollary is that preparation matters more and can be deferred less. Parties that treat the expert stage as something to be dealt with once proceedings are underway will find it has already happened.

Hassan Tawakalna Senior Counsel [email protected]