Choice of law and jurisdiction provisions in the UAE

Analysis

This article will briefly discuss choice of law and jurisdiction provisions in international and local contractual relationships in the UAE.

As their names suggest, the governing law clause in a contract specifies the laws that will govern the relevant contract, while a jurisdiction clause specifies the courts or arbitration tribunal that will have exclusive or non-exclusive jurisdiction to hear any disputes that may arise out of the contract.  These clauses can sometimes be overlooked during drafting as they tend to be included in the “boiler plate” language towards the end of the contract.