A large number of legal officers and experts from local government entities has been participating in Legislative Week 2021 – entitled “Legislation and the Future”; an event organised by the General Secretariat of the Supreme Legislation Committee in the Emirate of Dubai (SLC) from November 14 to 18, 2021. The event aims to address key issues impacting the ongoing modernisation of the legal and legislative systems with a view to supporting the Dubai future drive.
As part of the SLC commitment to legal knowledge enrichment, the event’s third day featured an interactive workshop titled ‘Legalese.’ During the session, legal officers and professionals from the Dubai Government learned more about the characteristics of the Arabic legal language, ways of retrieving linguistic information, the types of Arabic writing styles, and the common mistakes in Arabic legal drafting.
“The third day of the event focused on legal language and electronic contracts to fast-track the development and implementation of new legislation that is key to reshaping the country’s future in the next 50 years. Highly praised by the participating legal officers, the interactive ‘Arabic Legalese’ workshop has contributed to enriching linguistic knowledge by honing the participants’ skills necessary to draft viable, agile, clear, and balanced legislation.”, said Ahmad bin Meshar Al Muhairi, SLC Secretary General, adding: “We are very confident about the positive outcomes of the ‘Electronic Contracts’ workshop, which is aimed to educate law students and members of the community about the legislative, legal, and regulatory aspects related to electronic contracts. Both sessions added value to the digital transformation of Dubai and the UAE.”
Salem Ibrahim Al Ahmad, Head of the SLC Research and Publications Section, led the “Arabic Legalese” workshop, reviewing some of the Arabic linguistic rules that are critical for balanced legal drafting. The workshop witnessed a remarkable interaction by participants from the Dubai Government.
Al Ahmad said: “Language is a fundamental tool for legal professionals. It is through language that a legislator expresses his intent; a judge renders his ruling; an advocate presents his defence; and a counsel gives his opinion. A legal professional must fully master the linguistic tools, so he may draft in a clear, decisive, and expressive style. We are thrilled about the large turnout witnessed in the workshop, which focused on essential linguistic and spelling skills that must be mastered to avoid common mistakes in drafting legislation. The workshop also included some practical exercises cited from actual legislative texts.”
Equally successful and well-received was the ’Electronic Contracts’ workshop, led by legal officer Hussain Mohamed AlHammadi, who tackled the definition and various aspects of an electronic contract. Al Hammadi also discussed the best practices in drafting an electronic contract; the mechanisms of electronic offer and acceptance; and the means of establishing evidence relating to electronic contracts and their evidential weight.