Amna Sultan Al Wais, Chief Registrar, DIFC Courts

Amna Al Owais is currently the Chief Registrar of the DIFC Courts and directs operations and quality management, supervising the Courts’ Judicial Officers and Registry personnel, as well as the delivery of a comprehensive suite of court public services.

In addition to her role as Chief Registrar of the DIFC Courts, Amna is also Registrar of the Special Tribunal Related to Dubai World, Chairwoman of the DIFC Courts’ Users’ Committee and a member of the Consulting Council for the University of Sharjah College of Law. In 2014, Amna was appointed to the Advisory Board of the International Bar Association’s Access to Justice and Legal Aid Committee.  

In 2014, Amna was selected to join the Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Leadership Development (MBRCLD) – the Young Leaders category, and furthermore in 2018 after the relaunch of the MBRCLD, under the Dubai Executive Office and after an extensive selection process, Amna was selected to join the first batch of the MBRCLD Impactful Leaders Programme. Amna successfully graduated in December 2018. 

Amna has played a key part in the establishment and development of the DIFC Courts and creation of the Dispute Resolution Authority in 2014. She also spearheaded the establishment of the DIFC Courts’ Pro Bono Programme, launched in 2009, which is the first scheme of its kind in the Middle East. In 2011 Amna was recognised by the International Bar Association as one of the Top 3 young lawyers in the world and was listed in the Top 50 Most Influential Women in the Arab World and in the Top 100 Influential People Helping to Shape the Emirate of Dubai by Arabian Business in 2018. Amna was also awarded Legal Services CEO of the Year at the Arabian Business CEO magazine Awards in 2018 and listed among the Top 30 Most Influential Women in the Arab World by Arabian Business magazine in 2019.

In 2019, Amna was invited to join the Dubai Future Councils, a new initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the Dubai Future Foundation. Consisting of 13 councils, its main mandate is to plan the future agenda of Dubai in strategic sectors and launch initiatives with both private and public sector partners to create the foundation for that future. Amna will specifically play an active role in the membership of the Dubai Future Council on Entrepreneurship & Innovation Ecosystems. Launched in 2019 by His Highness Sheikh Nahayan Al Nahayan, Minister of Tolerance, Amna has also been selected by the University Leadership Council and Université Paris II to be in the first cohort of the International Business Law LLM. 

Previous to her employment at the DIFC Courts, she practiced as a lawyer in the litigation department with Hadef Al Dhahiri and Associates now known as Hadef & Partners. Amna holds a Bachelor’s Degree of Law from the University of Sharjah and obtained a Masters (LLM) with Commendation in International Commercial Law from Kingston University, London. 

Distinguished Guest Speakers and Panellists

Chatura Randeniya, Partner, Afridi & Angell

Chatura Randeniya is a partner at Afridi & Angell. His practice focuses primarily on dispute resolution. He advises and represents clients in arbitration, and has represented clients in DIAC, ADCCAC, ICC and ad hoc arbitrations. He also works with local advocates on matters before the UAE Federal Courts, including the Federal Supreme Court in matters of national security, as well as the Courts of Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah.

Chatura regularly acts for clients in high value construction disputes. He also advices on maritime and shipping disputes,  banking disputes, employment disputes, as well as disputes relating to commercial transactions. 

Prior to joining Afridi & Angell in 2008, Chatura was in the private bar of Sri Lanka practicing in the Law Chambers of Dr Harsha Cabral, President’s Counsel.  He was also a visiting lecturer in law at the Faculties of Law and Management at the University of Colombo. 

Chatura is a recommended practitioner in dispute resolution in Legal 500 EMEA.

Christopher Gunson, Partner, Amereller

Christopher Gunson is a partner with Amereller based in the firm’s Dubai office. He represents more than two hundred multinational companies on commercial transactions, strategic investments, joint ventures and regulatory compliance across the Middle East. Gunson is fluent in Japanese and many of his clients are Japanese companies.

In additional to his corporate and commercial work, Gunson conducts substantial work in the oil and gas sector, and he is a frequent speaker and commentator in news media concerning developments in the oil and gas sector in Abu Dhabi, Iraq and Iran. 

Benjamin Hopps, Of Counsel, Herbert Smith Freehills

Ben is Of Counsel in Herbert Smith Freehills' Dubai dispute resolution team and Head of Employment for the Middle East. He has over 17 years' experience of advising and representing clients in international legal disputes across a wide range of industry sectors including construction, energy, infrastructure, real estate and financial services. Based in the firm's UAE offices for the last 9 years, Ben spent the prior 7 years practising as a litigator in London. 

Ben's wider practice stems from his commercial litigation background and incudes JV disputes, employment, real estate and professional negligence. He also advises on regulatory and governance issues and has provided training sessions on anti-bribery & corruption and cybersecurity to clients in the financial services and energy sectors.  

Ben's international arbitration practice includes disputes under the institutional rules of the DIFC-LCIA, DIAC, ICC, LCIA, SIAC, ADDCAC and GCC, and his Middle East litigation practice includes assisting clients with disputes in the SAMA Committee and Board of Grievances (Saudi Arabia), the Dubai, Abu Dhabi and DIFC courts (UAE), and the BCDR (Bahrain). He is a member of the Society of Construction Law (Gulf) and sit as Chair of Herbert Smith Freehills' Middle East Pro bono & Citizenship Committee.

Nadine Stuttle, Managing Director, Legal Management Practice, Duff & Phelps

Nadine Stuttle is a managing director in the Legal Management Practice and located in the firm’s Zurich office. She brings over 18 years of experience advising intellectual property (IP) and legal clients on technology implementation, global IP management and operational improvements, and will focus on leading the growth of the Legal Management Consulting Practice in Switzerland and the broader EMEA market in close collaboration with the broader GRID business unit and other services across Duff & Phelps.

Prior to joining Duff & Phelps, Nadine was a managing director and global head of IP Solutions at Yerra Solutions. In this role, she was a member of the Executive Leadership team and was responsible for strategic growth, client satisfaction delivery and oversight of global IP, legal and compliance-focused engagements, along with all operational aspects of the Swiss entity, including human resources, marketing and IT. During her time at Yerra Solutions, Nadine delivered many client projects and solutions, including a transformation project with a global pharmaceutical company including IAM system implementation and paperless solutions, transitioning to new global operations and ensuring IP department visibility and business integration; overseeing eDiscovery services for an international financial institution; and establishing and overseeing the Yerra Clearly Spend Management service, a vendor due diligence platform.

Nadine is SixSigma qualified, an ESI Certified Advanced Project Manager and holds a Patent Administrators Qualification from the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents. She received a B.A. with honors in law and sociology from the University of Reading.

Bob Storey, Director, Legal Management Consulting Practice, Duff & Phelps

Bob Storey is a Director in the Legal Management Consulting Practice (LMC) at Duff & Phelps, located in the firm’s London office. Bob brings over 22 years of experience in the enterprise application space with a diverse background ranging from application development through technical sales and delivery to senior consulting and executive leadership in the legal sector. In his role, Bob works closely with the global LMC team and partners to lead the practice’s growth in the broader EMEA market.

Kevin Wong, Senior Vice President, Cyber Risk, EMEA, Kroll, a Division of Duff & Phelps

Kevin Wong leads the Middle East Cyber Risk practice of Kroll, a division of Duff & Phelps, based in the Dubai office. A Cyber Investigations leader within law enforcement prior to joining Kroll, Kevin has significant investigative expertise in cybercrime and fraud. 

Kevin joined the London Metropolitan Police in 2004 and worked as a Detective within the Criminal Investigation Division on serious acquisitive crime, sexual offences, fraud, and kidnap, firearms and drug offences. He was commended for a proactive drugs operation which involved the arrest and prosecution of 20 members of an organised criminal group. In 2011, Kevin joined the Police Central E-crime Unit, providing an international response to cybercrime threatening the UK. Kevin received a crown court judge’s commendation for bringing to justice an international organised criminal group. In 2013, with the remit of cybercrime being taken over by the National Crime Agency, Kevin led investigations for the National Cyber Crime Unit. 

Dr. Fatma Salah, Partner, Riad & Riad Law Firm

Dr. Fatma is a partner of Riad & Riad Law Firm. She currently leads the project finance and dispute resolution teams. She has 20 years’ experience in the legal practice representing multinational and major local companies in the different sectors including oil & gas, infrastructure, renewable energy, pharmaceutical and healthcare, manufacturing, retail and leisure and tourism.

She has significant experience in advising clients on corporate governance matters, merger and acquisition transactions, project finance, complex litigation and arbitration.

Dr. Fatma is a professor of law at Cairo University in Egypt since 2009 where she teaches civil and commercial procedures, international commercial arbitration and business law. She was a visiting scholar at George Washington Law School in USA during the period from 2006 to 2008.

Dr. Fatma holds a Ph.D in international commercial arbitration, obtained her LLM degree from George Washington Law School in USA, and finished her Masters Decree in Private Law and Judicial Sciences at Cairo University.

Fatma is a member of the Egyptian Business Association, the American Chamber of Commerce, the British Business Associations and the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Her expertise comes from the solid ties to both the academic and the business communities.