Thought Leader: Mubarak Al-Sulaiti on Commercial Law
Founder and Chairman of the Qatar based Al-Sulaiti Law Firm, Mubarak Al-Sulaiti here reveals the passion and grit behind a fairly new law firm, intent on ‘Bridging Legal Traditions’. He tells Lawyer Monthly about the growth of the firm through its commercial law practice, and through its thought leadership in supporting the Qatari National Vision 2030.
‘Bridging Legal Traditions’
Al Sulaiti law firm is a full service law firm, providing cutting edge legal services and solutions to local, National and International clients. Al Sulaiti law firm’s main specialty is Middle East and North African laws; it is operating through its qualified lawyers from different legal systems to ensure that it provides clients with the most sufficient legal service not only in the State of Qatar but also across the MENA region. We have professional bonds with law firms in Italy, France, USA, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt, South Africa and India our global outreach enables us to provide the finest legal services to our clients.
We specialize in sectors that include Civil & Criminal Litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Corporate/ Commercial Law, Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity, Real Estate and Construction, Sports Law, Environmental Law, International Trade Law, Intellectual Property, Financial Fraud and Taxation.
At Al Sulaiti Law firm we believe in the power of teamwork, of being ‘One firm’, collegiality, communication and solidarity. Being focused on having an amicable relationship with our clients is an integral part of our performance; this permits us to build a strong bond with the client enabling us to perform at better and higher standards. Flexibility and creativity are essential characteristics and having the desire and drive to embrace new experiences and challenges that is why it’s a fundamental principle to require everyone in our team to put the interests of our clients and the Firm as a priority.
We are always committed to delivering the best quality of service to all of our respected clients. We have a strict policy on following all the laws and regulations of the State of Qatar. This includes clients, associates and employees. We believe in hard work and unlimited efforts.
We are always developing new strategies to better our practice and our performances. The level of ethical behavior required of a lawyer is something that sets them apart from the general public. A few examples of our Ethical standards are:
• Avoiding biased and superciliousness toward, and treat fairly with respect, all witnesses, lawyers, court employees, and other persons involved in the legal process.
• Always maintain high standards of the professional conduct
• Obedience to law exemplifies our respect for the law
• To assure the maintenance of high morals and educational standards of the legal profession
• The attorney client relationship is personal and unique and should not be established as a result of pressures and deceptions.
What have been the most recent developments businesses should be aware of in Qatar?
In actual fact, talking about the matters concerning the latest business developments in Qatar requires reference to the importance and the implementation of the Qatar National Vision 2030. The vision-as it is known-is based on economic, social, environmental and humanitarian development. The vision is the economic hub which is characterized as the spark that will ignite the rest of the other cores, so the promotion of this vision will promote investment and support the economic sector, which will lead to many investment opportunities for major companies and the global economic entities in their expansion of innovative or existing activities in Qatar.
The Qatar National Vision aims to promote effective economic development; one of the ways the Ministry of Economy and Commerce has contributed to this was by scrapping the compulsory 200,000QAR [minimum capital] in credit business owners [limited liability companies] needed to register a company. This change has opened up channels for new opportunities to benefit entrepreneurs and investors in the State of Qatar. The Ministries are working exceptionally hard to improve secure and promote a modern state with modern legislations and essential developments to promote economic development and give rise to new business opportunities, which benefits the country’s economy.
The publication of the International Institute for Management Development report (IMD), explains the province of the State of Qatar on its global competitiveness, where Qatar has achieved 13th place in the ranking of 61 countries. It should be noted here that the evaluation (IMD) is based on a set of statistical data and indicators, and the views of corporate executives and businessmen of the respondents of the report on the survey.
The introduction and the implementation of the Wage Protection System [WPS] as per Law 14 of 2004 [amendment of article 66] is also one of the important regulatory changes made to ensure that equal opportunities are granted and that every employee and employer secures his/her rights in the work place; salary payments. The wage protection system ensures that all employees receive their salaries on time in a valid Qatari bank account and guarantees the employer and his business security from being blocked. This change maintains the promotion of effective change and support of the national vision, securing the country from unequal and unfair activities is a must in order to promote successful economic growth. The government is penalizing all the corporations that do not follow the new changes, any company that is found ignoring the rules of the WPS entails itself to being penalized by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, the Company Registration will be blocked by the ministry meaning that the company cannot generate any business until it follows the laws and regulations of the state of Qatar. The law will come in to force from the 14th of December 2016. Much is being done in Qatar to improve business and achieve the National visions and goals set for 2030.
How is Al Sulaiti law Firm contributing towards the success of the Qatari National Vision 2030?
Being one of the leading Qatari Law firms it is our duty to support the nation’s vision by implementing it in to our corporate responsibility policy objectives. We take our legal duties towards clients and our community very seriously; we are more than just lawyers, our legal responsibilities are no doubt very important to us but part of this responsibility encourages us to take our corporate responsibility [CR] policy and objectives seriously. Forming and maintaining effective change is a core part of our CR, we concentrate on education, the environment and our community, which includes the importance of Pro Bono services. Putting an emphasis on the importance of corporate responsibilities and achieving as much as we can by working towards the success of the national vision 2030 is part of our contribution. We are strengthening our CR by performing ‘in depth’, starting from our offices and branching out. We are forming analytical criticisms to improve our strategies ‘in depth’, to improve the work place, the environment, our community, education and humanitarian developments.
How has the firm’s engagement in commercial law helped it achieve its status since its inception in 2002?
There is no doubt that the idea of legal specialization in itself has had an enchanted effect in the excellence of our practice and put it in the major ranks of legal institutions currently in place. We are a full serviced law firm, specializing in several branches of the law including commercial law. When Mr. Mubarak Al Sulaiti first opened the practice he set a ten year plan for the firm. One of the plans was to be one of the renowned firms in the state of Qatar, starting off mainly a commercial firm and then successfully branching the services and sectors within the practice. Al Sulaiti law firm has marked its print in the legal field in Qatar and our excellent unlimited commercial and corporate services and team have enabled us to deal with the most reputable local organizations, international institutions and governmental corporations.
Our work, mission and legal ethics have enabled us to deliver the best services starting from a limited number of clients in the commercial field, and now being one of the leading commercial firms in Qatar. We continuously try to improve our practice and our methods at delivering the best legal services customized differently for every client depending on their needs. We have worked hard to establish and maintain a good reputation for Al Sulaiti law firm, bringing the practice more clients through referrals due to our client satisfaction rates. We strive to deliver the best services, not just promising to deliver but we set our clients expectations and do our ultimate best to exceed them. With one of the largest teams of lawyers in private practice we are pride ourselves in expanding delivering the highest level of legal advice to current and potential clients.
The policies of internal management in our organization met all the declared targets last year, which yielded results that exceeded expectations desired for us and for our clients. We are also following our ‘in depth’ movement to internally discuss developments and annual plans by the end of each judicial year with the participation of our teams and a detailed client survey to assure higher satisfaction and successful changes and developments within the practice.
You were involved in the digitalization of Qatari and Egyptian laws and judgments for students to reference; what impact has this had?
Bridging Legal Traditions; as a legal institution that provides mechanisms for practical legal profession, our organizations first experience is unique in terms of the legal use of the means of information technology. This program was created to combine laws from the MENA region in order to promote student awareness to the differences in reform and legal strategies and regulations used. Being familiar with laws and regulations of other states in the region is very important as part of legal education, we do not want our future lawyers to only be limited to the laws of the state of Qatar but for them to be well aware and familiar with laws and regulations of our neighboring countries in the MENA region. It has had a great impact here in Qatar and we plan to broaden this idea in the near future.
The launch of the program demanded that those who will use it be familiar with it, that is why we first managed the training of members of the firm so that they are able to guide others, especially students, on how to benefit from the advantages offered by this program for their legal education. It is worth mentioning that our firm currently holds training for a number of young lawyers on the program encompassing all of these laws, as well as training on legal excellence and creativity, through rebounds directly from the most efficient advisors. All the legal institutions need to take care of and pay detailed attention to our youth, specifically those in the legal field, because young people are the backbone of the future, and the issue of interest by educating them and training them is one of the first national tasks to be worked on and improved in the coming period. In conclusion we believe that the digitalization of these laws has been successful and in the legal education field. We are striving to do our very best to promote the digitalization of the laws for all of the neighboring countries in the MENA region.
As a thought leader in Qatari commercial law, what improvements or reforms would you like to see benefit the sector?
It is acknowledged that the commercial sector’s interest lies with the recovery and accuracy of the level of contractual disputes, which requires us beginning to realize the nature of this sector. We see that the most beneficial factor for this sector would be to inform and educate companies and investment entities about the legal implications of the contracts entered into, so as far as what needs to be amended, detailed knowledge and accuracy when drafting contracts or entering in to new commercial contract. Entities must be aware of the recent regulatory changes and they must try to incorporate arbitration in to their business contracts.
Arbitration will increase the effectiveness and frequency of prompt settlement of disputes, through these pillars there will be a noticeable change in the commercial sector, including eventually expanding the investment opportunities of the State by encouraging businesses to develop and protect themselves from within. Incorporating new regulations and changes in to their contracts as well as using arbitration clauses, the corporation will be successfully managing to reduce the percentage of disputes in litigation.
How are you working towards implementing the further integration of arbitration in commercial law proceedings in Qatar?
The proliferation of arbitration in our society depends largely on educating lawyers on all the advantages provided recourse to arbitration, which, among those advantages ; secrecy and speed of adjudicating disputes are exceeding expectations, in addition to the excellence of arbitratorswith expertise and skills that will enable them to adjudicate the dispute with all ease. We try to incorporate litigation as the last resort in our firm, subject to the client’s wishes of course and depending on the type and contents within the contracts involved in the disputes; however, we are trying to use forms of arbitration and settlements to resolve disputes that may be resolved by incorporating these methods.
While recognizing that there are many seminars and courses on arbitration held recently regarding the deployment of the arbitration culture, Qatar Chamber is actually hosting the Second world conference on International Arbitration being held in the state of Qatar on the 18th and 19th of October 2016. In comparison to prior periods, we can say that a greater effort is being executed in the remarkable development of the field of arbitration, we must still acknowledge the wide spread of commercial disputes that are increasing as a result of large entry of economic institutions in the thousands of investment projects taking place in an ever evolving landscape.
We would like to invite all of our colleagues in the field of law in Qatar and the MENA region to assure the incorporation of arbitration clauses in contracts and advise their clients that there are other methods to achieve the results that are desired. In the event of a conflict the clients or the other party may resort to arbitration based on the contractual agreement between them instead of heading towards the process of litigation. This may be the most practical attempt to speed up the process and help businesses avoid the troubles and costs involved in litigation and court procedures.
