NOURA LAWYERS
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Co-counsel · Foreign law firms

UAE co-counsel for foreign firms.
Conflict-free, no client poaching, white-label deliverables.

When a matter touches UAE assets, UAE courts, Dubai or Abu Dhabi arbitration or Arabic procedure, we step in as your local team — with same-day conflict checks, white-label memoranda, and a written no-poaching commitment. The relationship stays yours.

Brief our partner desk → Capability statement

On this page

Capability statement — what foreign firms can ask us to do

  • UAE court filings. Onshore courts of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, RAK, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain and Fujairah. Bilingual Arabic / English pleadings drafted by qualified Arabic legal drafters.
  • DIFC and ADGM Courts. Common-law forum work in English, including conduit-enforcement strategy.
  • Interim relief. Precautionary attachment, evidence preservation, travel restrictions in qualifying matters — same-day to 14-day depending on threshold.
  • Enforcement. Foreign judgement recognition (treaty + reciprocity); foreign arbitration award enforcement (New York Convention); UAE Execution Court attachments. See the enforcement & asset-recovery desk.
  • Asset recovery. Public-record asset mapping; coordination with licensed forensic and intelligence partners; bank, real-estate and share / licence attachments.
  • Arabic pleadings. Drafted, not translated. Reviewed by a UAE national advocate before filing.
  • Local procedural advice. Service of process, notarisation, apostille, ministry attestation, court-fee structures, expert appointment.
  • Expert coordination. Engineering, quantum, delay, forensic accounting, valuation. Pre-vetted panel for construction, real estate, banking and corporate disputes.
  • Same-day conflict check for new matters; written response within 24 hours.
  • White-label memoranda. Drafted in your house style if requested, with clear authorship credit to your firm.

How we work as co-counsel

The structure is intentionally simple. You retain the client; we retain you (or accept your instruction on letterhead). The matter is yours; the local execution is ours. The split is documented in a co-counsel engagement at the start of every matter, including:

  • Scope of UAE work (advice / drafting / filing / attendance / enforcement).
  • Fee arrangement — fixed-phase, capped, or hourly depending on what suits the foreign firm's billing model.
  • Reporting cadence (typically weekly written, monthly partner call).
  • Client-communication protocol — we copy you on everything; we never go direct without your express request.
  • No-poaching commitment in writing (see below).
  • Confidentiality, conflicts and document-handling provisions consistent with your firm's professional rules where relevant.

The principle

Your client trust is the asset. We are the local mechanism. We don't try to convert your client; we try to make you look good in front of them — because that's what produces the next instruction.

Co-counsel products

Four packaged services that work cleanly across borders:

  • UAE Capability Memo — a 5-7 page written brief on the UAE legal position relevant to your matter (forum, procedure, enforcement, timing, cost). White-labelled if you prefer. Fixed fee from AED 10K. Turnaround: 3 working days.
  • 72-Hour Enforcement Readiness Review — can your client realistically recover from UAE assets? Asset map, route selection, document checklist, recovery-range view. Fixed fee from AED 15K. See the enforcement page.
  • UAE Filing & Hearing Pack — we file, attend, report. Phase-priced. Reporting in your house style.
  • Urgent Injunction Sprint — precautionary attachment, evidence preservation or travel-restriction application, scoped over 5–14 days. Quoted at intake; we decline if the threshold isn't met.

No-poaching policy

The firm operates a written no-poaching policy on co-counsel matters. In substance:

  • We will not solicit your client for work that falls within your competence.
  • If your client approaches us directly for work that overlaps with what you would handle, we refer them back to you and copy you on the response.
  • We will not pitch your client for work outside the scope of the co-counsel engagement without your prior written consent.
  • The policy is documented in every co-counsel engagement and survives termination of the matter for 12 months.

The policy is one of the reasons foreign firms have come back. It removes the awkward conversation before it happens.

Brief the partner desk

Confidential intake. We confirm conflict-check status and a fee proposal within one business day. Engagement is conditional on conflict clearance and signed engagement letter.

Confidential. Submissions do not create a co-counsel relationship until conflict checks are cleared and a co-counsel engagement is signed by both firms. Privacy notice.

Frequently asked

How do you bill foreign firms?

Fixed-phase fees on most products; hourly where the matter shape doesn't permit a fix; capped fees where you need certainty for your client. Invoices direct to your firm or your client — whichever is cleaner for your billing model. UAE VAT is added where applicable.

Can you attend a hearing remotely on our behalf?

For UAE onshore courts, an Arabic-speaking advocate must be physically present in most procedural settings. Foreign firms typically attend remotely (where permitted by the court) while we attend in person and report the same day. For DIFC, ADGM and arbitration hearings, remote attendance for both teams is routine.

How fast is your conflict check?

Same business day in 90% of cases; within 24 hours for everything else. The check runs against our internal client and matter database plus a check against current and recent UAE Lexzur conflict data.

Will you do white-label memoranda?

Yes — the firm produces written outputs in your house style if requested. Authorship credit goes to your firm. Internal QA stays with us, and we record the work for our own audit purposes only.

What sectors does the desk see most often from foreign firms?

Construction (FIDIC, mega-projects), real estate (developer, investor, broker), shareholder / JV disputes, banking and finance enforcement, family-business cross-border, and increasingly virtual-asset / fintech. We have pre-vetted experts in each.