The value of cases filed at the Dubai International Financial Centre’s (DIFC’s) Court of First Instance (CFI) reached AED4.5bn ($1.2bn) in 2015, up 187.7 per cent from AED1.6bn in 2014.

The number of cases filed rose just 9 per cent to 37.

“Bigger disputes are coming here,” says Mark Beer, CEO and registrar of the DIFC Courts. ”The main cause of the value of each case going up is the trust that people have in the system. They are chosing to come to us rather than London or New York, and they are chosing to come to us rather than arbitration.”

The rise was driven by a nine-fold increase in the average size of arbitration-related cases, from AED21m in 2014 to AED187m in 2015, while the average value of all CFI cases rose sharply to AED89m.

Six cases have been filed so far in 2016, and the CFI expects the value of cases to continue to grow.

Studies show 29 per cent of mergers and acquisitions in the Middle East selected the DIFC Courts as the forum for arbitration, although the majority had at least one party with a connection to the UAE.

The courts are working to maintain their high settlement rate, currently at 92 per cent. “It’s going to get harder as the cases get bigger and more complex,” says Beer. 

The number of cases settled by the Small Claims Tribunal for values less than AED500,000 rose from 116 in 2014 to 216 in 2015. About 90 per cent of these cases, usually involving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), were resolved within four weeks.

There were 42 enforcement cases in the DIFC Courts in 2015. A total of 66 per cent of DIFC judgements were complied with without enforcement, while a quarter had to go through enforcement at Dubai Courts, of which some received payment. The status of the remaining 9 per cent is unknown.

The DIFC Courts aim to become a leading global commercial court by 2021.

All DIFC court cases are made available on YouTube.