Dubai and Abu Dhabi courts for visiting lawyers: where they are and how long between them

Where are the main courts in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah?

Five court systems matter to most visiting counsel: DIFC Courts and Dubai Courts in Dubai, ADGM Courts and the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department in Abu Dhabi, and RAK Courts in Ras Al Khaimah. Only DIFC Courts publish a full street address that we could check. For the others, this guide gives the area and says what to confirm.

This guide covers where the buildings are and how long the drive takes. It does not say which court has jurisdiction over your dispute. That is for counsel. If you are planning cars for a team, our page on chauffeur service for law firms shows how a full day is set up.

Court	Where	What is published
DIFC Courts	Level 3, Precinct Building 5 (South), The Gate District, DIFC, Dubai	Full address, registry hours, room bookings
Dubai Courts	Umm Hurair, Dubai (OpenStreetMap: Riyadh Street)	Buildings, visitor hours, call centre
ADGM Courts	ADGM headquarters building, Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi	Island and building type only
Abu Dhabi Judicial Department	Al Rowdah, opposite Zayed Sports City	Area, neighbours, separate court locations
RAK Courts	Dafan Al Khor, Ras Al Khaimah (OpenStreetMap)	Hours, phone numbers, website

What is the address of DIFC Courts?

DIFC Courts are at Level 3, Precinct Building 5 (South), The Gate District, DIFC, PO Box 211724, Dubai. The registry is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 16:00, and the operations team from 8:00. The court warns that hours can change in Ramadan.

The court also takes bookings for hearing rooms. Requests go to [email protected], which matters if your tribunal sits there. The district’s two metro stations, Emirates Tower and Financial Centre, are on the Red Line. Our guide to getting around DIFC covers drop-off and parking in more detail.

Where are Dubai Courts?

Dubai Courts run three main buildings: the main building, the Personal Status Court with the Special Court of Inheritance, and the labour and execution court building. They also run external service centres. The customer charter gives visitor hours of Monday to Thursday, 8:00 to 15:00, and Friday until 11:30.

OpenStreetMap places the main Dubai Courts site on Riyadh Street in Umm Hurair. We could not load a street address from the Dubai Courts site itself, so check your hearing notice for the building. The call centre is 04 334 7777.

Where are the ADGM and Abu Dhabi courts?

ADGM Courts belong to Abu Dhabi Global Market, whose headquarters building on Al Maryah Island houses its Courts, according to Mubadala. We found no published floor or entrance for visitors, so ask the registry.

The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department is a separate system. Its headquarters sit on Arabian Gulf Street in Al Rowdah, in front of Zayed Sports City and next to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. Some courts sit elsewhere. The Labor Court is in the Mazyad Mall building in Mohammed bin Zayed City, and the Traffic Court is in Al Zafrana. The notice names the building, so read it twice.

Where are the Ras Al Khaimah Courts?

The RAK Courts Department lists office hours of Sunday to Thursday, 7:30 to 14:30, and a website at courts.rak.ae. OpenStreetMap places the Courts Department in Dafan Al Khor. The government portal gave no street address, so confirm the building by phone before a hearing day. Our note on the drive from Dubai to Ras Al Khaimah covers the road.

How long does it take to drive between the courts?

The table uses OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, with no traffic. Distances are about, and each row is one direction. DIFC is the Courts address above. ADGM is measured to ADGM Square on Al Maryah Island. The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department is measured to its Al Rowdah courthouse.

From	To	Distance	Time without traffic
DXB Terminal 3 area	DIFC Courts	about 12 km	about 13 minutes
DXB Terminal 3 area	Dubai Courts	about 6 km	about 7 minutes
DIFC Courts	Dubai Courts	about 7 km	about 9 minutes
DIFC Courts	ADGM, Al Maryah Island	about 142 km	about 90 minutes
DIFC Courts	Abu Dhabi Judicial Department	about 134 km	about 86 minutes
ADGM, Al Maryah Island	Abu Dhabi Judicial Department	about 15 km	about 16 minutes
Zayed International Airport	ADGM, Al Maryah Island	about 34 km	about 29 minutes
DXB Terminal 3 area	ADGM, Al Maryah Island	about 150 km	about 96 minutes
DIFC Courts	Courts Department RAK	about 105 km	about 76 minutes
Dubai Courts	Courts Department RAK	about 99 km	about 72 minutes

A few lessons follow from the numbers. Two Dubai courts in one morning is easy. Dubai to Abu Dhabi in a day is a planned trip of three hours or more on the road. Ras Al Khaimah is closer to Dubai than Abu Dhabi is, but the return leg crosses the evening peak.

What does a day across two courts look like?

Take a team flying into DXB for a morning filing at Dubai Courts and an afternoon meeting at DIFC. The drive from the airport to Dubai Courts is about 7 minutes without traffic, and from there to DIFC about 9 minutes. The driving is short, so the risk is the queue at each registry, not the road.

Now take a team based in Dubai with a morning hearing at DIFC and an afternoon one at ADGM. The 90-minute drive leaves at 11:30 at the latest, and only if the first hearing has a fixed end time. Judges rarely promise one. Many teams book the Abu Dhabi hearing for the next morning and stay overnight on Al Maryah Island instead.

For a team returning to Dubai after an Abu Dhabi hearing, the evening peak is the problem. Leave before 15:30 or after 19:30, as our own planning allowance, and use the waiting time to work in the car.

What should you allow on top of the drive time?

The table has no traffic in it. Dubai’s worst hour is 5 pm, according to the TomTom Traffic Index, and our guide to Dubai rush hour shows the pattern. For a hearing that starts at 10:00, plan to be at the building 45 minutes early. That covers security, registry queues and a lift to the right floor.

For the E11 trip between emirates, add Salik gates in Dubai and Darb in Abu Dhabi. Our guide to DIFC to ADGM in one day works through the tolls and a timed schedule.

Two hearings in two emirates on one day is possible only if the first is short and the second starts after 14:00. Arrive the evening before whenever the hearing date cannot move.

What do you send the chauffeur the day before?

A chauffeur needs facts the court notice already holds. Send them in one message.

1. The building name and floor from the hearing notice, not a pin on a map.
2. The hearing start time and the time you want to be inside.
3. The number of people and boxes, so the car matches the load.
4. A phone number for the registry or your host.
5. Whether the car waits nearby or returns at a set time.

Assure plans court days from this list, with a car and a chauffeur for the day. Our wider corporate ground transport guide and the corporate chauffeur page cover contracts and billing. For the hearing-day checklist, read our arbitration hearing logistics guide.

What we could not confirm

We left out street addresses for Dubai Courts, ADGM Courts, the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department and RAK Courts, because no official page we could load gave one. We also left out entry rules, security procedures and parking at those courts. Ask each registry before you travel, and trust the hearing notice over any map.