The international legal community gathering at the recent IBA conference in Dubai was among the first to hear about HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum signing a new law, (Law No. 16 of 2011 amending law No. 12 of 2004), extending the DIFC Court jurisdiction dramatically by enabling all parties to bring their commercial cases before the DIFC Court and thus putting the DIFC Court forward as a forum of choice.

Previously, the DIFC Court was somewhat limited by a restrictive jurisdiction clause asking for the contract or transaction in question to relate to the DIFC and not allowing parties to opt into the DIFC Court jurisdiction. The DIFC Court was initially designed to be a limited, specialised court for DIFC-related matters only.