Arbitration hearing in Dubai: a logistics checklist for visiting counsel

What should visiting counsel confirm before an arbitration hearing in Dubai?

Confirm three things first: the hearing venue, the start time with the tribunal’s own timetable, and who travels in which car. Everything else follows from those. This guide is a logistics checklist for counsel flying in. It is not legal advice, and the procedural order always comes first.

Teams that run hearings in Dubai often rely on a car for the whole day, as set out on our page for chauffeur service for law firms. The reasons are simple: boxes, witnesses, and a hearing that finishes at an unknown time.

Where does a hearing actually take place?

The seat of an arbitration and the venue of its hearing are different things. The seat sets the supervisory court. The venue is the room where people sit. Under the DIAC Rules 2022, the DIFC is the default seat if the parties have not agreed one. That tells you nothing about the building.

The Dubai International Arbitration Centre was reshaped by Decree No. 34 of 2021, which took effect on 20 September 2021 and folded two older centres into it. DIAC’s own contact page lists its headquarters at the Dubai Chambers building on Baniyas Road in Deira, and a DIFC branch in Al Fattan Currency House (checked 25 October 2026). Use the official site, diac.com; the similar address diac.ae belongs to an unrelated business. A hearing can still sit in another room, so take the venue from the procedural order or ask the case manager.

DIFC Courts take hearing room bookings through [email protected], and the court sits at Level 3, Precinct Building 5 (South), The Gate District. Whether your tribunal uses those rooms is for counsel and the parties. Many hearings sit in law firm offices or hotels instead. For a map of the courts themselves, see our courts guide for visiting lawyers.

Which hotels and stations are near DIFC?

DIFC is served by two Dubai Metro Red Line stations, Emirates Tower and Financial Centre, and DIFC advises the Emirates Tower stop for the Gate Building. Gate Village is around a 7-minute walk from Emirates Towers station by pedestrian walkways, according to DIFC.

One hotel we could verify from its own site is Jumeirah Emirates Towers, on Sheikh Zayed Road with direct access to the Dubai Metro. We have not listed other hotels, because we could not confirm their distances to your hearing building. Ask the hotel for the walking route, and ask your chauffeur to test the drive the evening before if the hearing starts early.

How much time should you allow?

From the Terminal 3 area at DXB to DIFC Courts is about 12 km and about 13 minutes without traffic. Between DIFC Courts and Dubai Courts it is about 7 km and 9 minutes. The figures have no traffic in them. Dubai’s worst hour is 5 pm, according to the TomTom Traffic Index, and our guide to Dubai rush hour explains the pattern.

The allowances below are our own planning rules, not published figures.

Step	Allowance	Why
Hotel to hearing building, morning	Drive time plus 30 minutes	Peak traffic, lift queues, security
Arrive before start	30 to 45 minutes early	Boxes, bag checks, a quiet room
Lunch break	Plan 60 to 90 minutes in the building	Leaving the district at midday can cost 20 minutes each way
End of day to airport	Drive time plus 60 minutes if leaving after 16:00	Evening peak
Arrival flight day	Keep the evening free for prep, not a hearing	Delays at immigration and baggage

A hearing that runs late is the norm, not the exception. Tell the chauffeur the earliest and latest finish times, and agree who calls whom.

How do you move document boxes by car?

Count the boxes and weigh them. Counsel’s bundles are heavy, and a saloon boot takes fewer boxes than most people expect. Send the chauffeur a count and a size, and ask for the boot capacity in the quote. A larger vehicle such as a Mercedes V-Class or an SUV suits a team with several boxes plus passengers.

Practical points:

• Label every box with the case name and a number.
• Load boxes last at the hotel and first at the venue, so they come out in one go.
• Keep the working bundle on the seat with you, not in the boot.
• Do not leave boxes in an unattended car. Ask the chauffeur to stay with the vehicle or return at a fixed time.
• Agree which door the porter or trolley meets the car at.

Where does the car wait during the hearing?

DIFC lists visitor parking at Gate District, Gate Village and Gate Avenue as ticketless, with the first hour free and payment through Salik. After the free hour, DIFC lists AED 25 an hour in Gate District on weekdays. For a full day that adds up, so many teams ask the car to wait nearby and come to the entrance on a call. Our guide to getting around DIFC covers parking and drop-off in detail.

How do you plan witness transport?

Witnesses have a different day from counsel. They arrive later, leave earlier, and may need to stay apart. Counsel decides who travels with whom, and the tribunal may give directions. The transport plan follows those decisions.

• Give each witness a named pick-up point and time.
• Use a separate car for any witness group that must be kept apart.
• Ask the chauffeur not to discuss the case and to take instructions from one named person.
• Send the plate number and chauffeur’s name to the witness the evening before.
• Check the duty of care guidance if a witness is vulnerable or has mobility needs.

What does a timed hearing day look like?

Here is a worked example for a hearing at DIFC with a 9:30 start, using the allowances above. It assumes counsel stay in a hotel in the district, so the drive is short.

• 07:30: breakfast, boxes counted at the hotel door.
• 08:15: car loaded, chauffeur confirms the drop point with the building.
• 08:30: arrive, 60 minutes before the start, for bag checks and a quiet room.
• 09:30 to 13:00: hearing. The chauffeur waits nearby and holds a list of phone numbers.
• 13:00 to 14:00: lunch in the district, with the car on call, not parked at the door.
• 14:00 to 17:00: afternoon session.
• 17:15: counsel leave. The evening peak is starting, so a dinner within walking distance saves a drive.

Registry filing deadlines are a separate matter. DIFC Courts list registry hours of Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 16:00, so a same-day filing needs a car that can reach the building before 16:00, not after the hearing ends.

A checklist for the day before, the morning and the hearing

1. Confirm the venue and floor from the procedural order.
2. Send the chauffeur the building name, hearing start time and earliest finish time.
3. Send a box count and a passenger count.
4. Agree the pick-up time at the hotel, with a 30-minute buffer.
5. Agree where the car waits and how you call it.
6. Give each witness a pick-up point and time.
7. Confirm the return plan: hotel, airport or a second venue.

Assure plans cars, boxes and witness pick-ups against the hearing timetable. Our corporate transport page explains how an account works for firms that run several hearings a year.

What we could not confirm

We left out the current DIAC hearing address, any visitor security rules at DIFC Courts, and prices for hearing rooms. Each of these changes by case and by venue, so ask the case manager or the room booking team.