The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts and Dubai Future Foundation have invited global experts in law, technology, IT and business to offer their insights on rules governing what will constitute the courts of the future.
Launched through a worldwide open-source consultation alongside the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils 2017, the forward-looking rules devised by the Courts of the Future Forum are designed to help ‘techpreneurs’ and companies of the future innovate securely.
Founding Principles for the Courts of the Future are explained through the imagined set of Part 40,000 rules for processing claims in a new specialist division of a court. This division would be designed to support companies developing new technologies, sectors and applications – from Blockchain to 3D-printing.
The rules also include details of how the court itself could use these technologies, such as artificial intelligence for adjudicating small claims.
Mark Beer, co-chief executive and registrar general, DIFC Courts, said, “While the courts of the future are still being imagined, we can say with certainty that they will be both global and multilingual. Our first step is to begin to determine new types of rules that could underpin commercial justice in the future. That is why we are inviting experts from around the world to participate in this unprecedented global consultation to shape the Courts of the Future.”
Dr. Noah Raford, chief operating officer and futurist-in-chief, Dubai Future Foundation, said, “This joint project is exploring new ways to facilitate safe pre-legal innovation and assist legal and judicial systems as they evolve to meet the challenges posed by the economic and commercial impact of technology. A key ingredient for this is knowing the tools are available to navigate and reduce the risks and to innovate securely.”
Speaking at the launch event, Marvin Ammori, chief general counsel, Virgin Hyperloop One, said: “With the help of a top accounting firm, we are currently researching where to house our IP to protect it and Dubai was among the top cities on our list. To have something like the Courts of the Future initiative, with the thinking and intelligence that’s gone into this, it ticks all the boxes.”
The kick-off event saw over 120 invited members of the international legal, business and development communities hear talks around the theme of the “Rules of the Future.” Among the speakers was noted academic and author of Rules for a Flat World, Professor Gillian Hadfield.
