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A dispute outside the courtroom… in a file no less organised

Murafe gives arbitration and settlement a litigation degree of its own: the arbitration file is opened before the Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration or another body, with its hearings, memoranda and award, the system proposes the last day for an annulment action from the periods set in the settings, and the execution file is then opened, linked to it.

  • Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration
  • Qatar Central Bank Disputes Settlement Committee
  • General Retirement and Social Insurance Authority Disputes Settlement Committee
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From opening the file to closing it

  1. Record the parties

    The client and their capacity as claimant or respondent, the opponents with their capacities, and companies with their commercial registration.

  2. Open an “Arbitration and settlement” file

    The forum is the arbitration centre or the competent committee, with the file number and year, the assignee and the case team.

  3. Run hearings and memoranda

    Each hearing’s decision and the next hearing, and memoranda from drafting to review to filing.

  4. Record the arbitral award

    Its date, outcome, operative part and amount, with the last day for an annulment action proposed from the settings.

  5. Link what follows the award

    The annulment action’s file is linked to the arbitration file, and the execution file is opened from it, linked to it.

  6. Close or archive the file

    The status “Closed” or “Archived”, and the papers and records stay where they are.

The file for arbitration and dispute resolution, as it should be

  • “Arbitration and settlement” degree

    A separate file for arbitration or amicable settlement, linked to the annulment action or to the execution file if either arises from it.

  • Arbitration centre or committee

    The Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration or a dispute settlement committee, and the office adds others to the lists.

  • Claimant and respondent

    The client’s capacity in the arbitration file, and more than one client on the same file, each with their own account and agreement.

  • Memoranda and their deadlines

    Statement of claim, defence and reply, each with a drafter, a reviewer and a deadline, and its status until filed.

  • Arbitral award

    The date, outcome, operative part and amount, with the means of challenge and its period as set in the settings.

  • Confidentiality

    A “Confidential case” option that keeps the file within its team, and a restriction on a single document to the names allowed to see it.

Dates the system watches

  • Arbitration hearings: reminders for the lawyer and the case team, as for court hearings
  • The last day for an annulment action, proposed from Settings → Appeal periods
  • An alert seven days and again two days before that deadline runs out
  • The filing date of an arbitration memorandum: an alert for the assigned lawyer and the reviewer
  • The fee agreement instalments of each client on the arbitration file
  • An alert before the client’s power of attorney in the arbitration file expires

The file’s papers

  • Arbitration agreement or arbitration clause in the contract
  • Request for arbitration
  • Memoranda and replies
  • Expert reports
  • Hearing minutes
  • Arbitral award
  • Power of attorney
  • Settlement agreement, if any

Uploaded to the case file and previewed inside the system; the office decides who can see them.

Arbitration is a degree with its own file

In Murafe, the office is never forced to squeeze an arbitration file into fields designed for the courts: this law firm management system knows five litigation degrees, one of which is “Arbitration and settlement”, whose file stands on its own and connects to the other files of the same dispute. The arbitration centre is chosen as the forum from a list that includes the Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration, and the system administrator adds any other centre under Settings → Lists. For disputes brought before specialised committees, such as the Qatar Central Bank Disputes Settlement Committee, the committee is chosen from the same list.

The arbitration file remains like any other file in the office: a client with their capacity, claimant or respondent; opponents with their capacities; an assignee and a case team; and a linked fee agreement. If more than one company stands on the same side, they are all added as clients on the file, each with its own account and fee agreement, so each company’s instalments are followed separately. “Arbitration and settlement” files appear in the statistics alongside the other degrees, for any period and any lawyer. And the arbitration file is opened directly from the client’s own file, so it appears among their cases, agreements and documents.

Hearings and memoranda at the pace of arbitration

Arbitration hearings in Murafe are run as court hearings are: a date and time, a hearing type, the attending lawyer and what is required, then a decision written once the hearing has been held, from which the next hearing is created without any new entry, and the team is reminded of it. These hearings go onto the day’s roll with the court hearings, sorted by forum and time, so the lawyer knows they have an arbitration hearing in the afternoon between two hearings at court. For each hearing, the office sets whether it shows to the client in their portal and whether they receive its reminders, so the representative of a client company knows its date without asking.

Memoranda follow one another between the parties in an arbitration file, so the team needs to know who is writing what, and when. Each memorandum in Murafe has a type, an assigned lawyer, a reviewer and a filing deadline, and it moves from drafting to review to ready until it is recorded as “Filed” with its actual date, while the assigned lawyer and the reviewer are alerted whenever the deadline approaches. And because many arbitration files are sensitive for their parties, “Confidential case” can be switched on to keep the file within its team, and a particular document can be restricted to named people, with every view and download recorded in the audit log.

After the arbitral award: annulment or execution

The arbitral award is recorded under the judgments tab with its date, type, outcome, operative part and the amount awarded. Because appeal periods in Murafe vary with the litigation degree, the system proposes, for the “Arbitration and settlement” degree, the last day for an annulment action from the period set under Settings → Appeal periods, and the means of challenge and its period are shown beneath it. The values are starting values that the office’s lawyers confirm or change, and the date can be changed on the award itself: the final decision and the legal responsibility lie with the office.

If an annulment action is filed, a file is created for it and linked to the arbitration file through “Link to another case”, so whoever opens either one sees the other. If the matter heads for execution, an “Execution” file is opened from the arbitration file, linked to it, and the parties and the case team move into it. Arbitration fees and experts’ fees, when the client bears them, are recorded in payment vouchers linked to the file, so they appear in the client’s statement of account alongside the fee agreement instalments and the receipt vouchers.

Questions about arbitration and dispute resolution

Yes. There are five litigation degrees in Murafe: first instance, appeal, cassation, execution, and arbitration and settlement. An arbitration file has its own hearings, memoranda, judgments and documents like any case, and it is counted in the statistics under its degree.

Yes. The competent court field accepts courts, committees and arbitration centres alike, including the Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration. If the office deals with another centre, it adds it to the list of arbitration and settlement centres under Settings → Lists.

It proposes the last day from the date of the arbitral award and the period set for the “Arbitration and settlement” degree under Settings → Appeal periods, and alerts seven days and again two days before it. The office’s lawyers review and adjust these values, and legal responsibility for deadlines lies with the office.

Yes. The roll gathers the day’s hearings from every file, sorted by forum and time, so the arbitration hearing appears alongside the court hearings, and the roll is printed or saved as a PDF to hand out to the lawyers.

Yes: the “Arbitration and settlement” degree also covers amicable settlement files. Any advice before that is recorded under “Consultations” with the question, the legal opinion, the duration and the fee, and the file is then opened from the client’s file once the course has been decided.

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