New chambers plans to train Qatari students
27 Mar 2008
McNair Chambers, the first barristers’ chambers to be established outside the United Kingdom, will use its presence in Doha to train Qatari students in the specialist area of international arbitration.
Khawar Qureshi QC, head of chambers, told Gulf Times ahead of Sunday’s official launch of his new offices at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce: “We are very strongly committed to help develop the knowledge base within Qatari society by way of training and education.”
He added: “Many of us have very strong links with academic institutions. For my part I have done a great deal of professional training work throughout the world and this is something we look forward to. We have already been talking to organisations and we hope to be able to formalise those discussions in the coming weeks.” While McNair has represented Qatari institutions for some time, Qureshi is expecting local businesses to embrace arbitration as the method of choice to resolve contract disputes. “It is speedier and cheaper because you do not have the layers of challenges through appeals that you would before a domestic court,” he said.
“In England we only really developed the process of arbitration comprehensively 10 years ago. Now it is one of the most developed legal systems around. Before then the object of arbitration was defeated through the intervention of the courts.
The education process will extend to mature businesses in Qatar as well. “At the contract level they can decide whether they want to go to a domestic court or to arbitration. It is very important for businesses to become increasingly aware of the consequences of making that decision. “It is often a decision made towards the tail-end of negotiations without appreciating how important it is. We want to be able to help them understand the business of contract drafting,” Qureshi said.